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THE MILLENNIUM BIBLE 


Being a Help to 
Piel Ye Ol THH HOLY SCRIPTURES 
In Their Testimony to 


THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD 
AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST 


B ~ 
Me 7” 
WILLIAM EDWARD BIEDERWOLE 


7 Z 4 ~ 
Aunv #exov, Ktore Inood 
Revelation 22.20 


The Bible Text used in this work is 
taken from the American Standard 
Edition of the Revised Bible, copy- 
right 1901 by Thomas Nelson and 
Sons, and is used by permission. 


THE W. P. BLESSING COMPANY 
208 So. Wabash Ave. Chicago, Il. 


Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1924 
by 


WILLIAM EDWARD BIEDERWOLF 


In the office of the Librarian of Congress 
at Washington 


Printed in the United States of America 
International Copyright Secured 
Right of Translation for All Countries Reserved 


“The Redeemer’s second appearing is the very pole- 
star of the Church. That it is so held forth in the New 
Testament is beyond dispute. Let any one do himself 
the justice to collect and arrange the evidence on the 
subject, and he will be surprised—if the study be new 
to him—at once at the copiousness, the variety and the 
conclusiveness of it.’ 


—Dr. Davin Brown (post-millennarian ) 


“Bickersteth affirms, after careful examination, that 
one verse in thirty of the New Testament relates to the 
second coming of Christ. If to these are added the 
numerous references in the Old Testament to the same 
momentous event, surpassing the allusions that are 
made to His first coming in the proportion of at least 
twenty to one, Some conception may be formed of the 
prominence. given in the word of God to the doctrine 
here advocated.” 


—Dnr. JAMEs H. Brooks (pre-millennarian ) 


“The second coming of our Lord is as well estab- 
lished by Scripture testimony as it 1s possible for a 
matter thus to be established. The testimony is thor- 
oughly convincing and exists in greatest abundance 
Indeed it is, as an eminent writer on the subject has 
called tt, “the very pole-star of the Church’—the star 
not only directing and prompting our Christian activ- 
ity, but the object also of our aspiration and desire.” 


—Dnr. Davin HEAGLE (non-millennarian ) 


TO THOSE EVERY WHERE WHO LOVE THE WORD 


and 


earnestly desire to know whereof it testifies concern- 
ing that which the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of 
His servant, has been pleased to call ‘‘The Blessed 
Hope. ’’ . 


THIS VOLUME OF INTERPRETATION 


Is Humbly Dedicated 


ByaW Aye Orw ME RODUG ION 


This volume is not designed, and will prove uninterest- 
ing, as mere cursory reading. It is intended the rather, as 
indicated on its title page, as a help to those who desire to 
study for themselves as to what the Scriptures really do 
testify concerning the important event known as the 
Second Coming of the Lord. 


The volume is neither a Pre-millennial, nor a Post- 
millennial, nor a Non-millennial one. It is an impartial 
study from the standpoint of pure exegesis of such parts of 
the Old and New ‘Testaments as deal with the glorious 
appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It has 
been born out of the author’s own experience and has con- 
sumed by far the larger part of ten years of his time in the 
course of its preparation. 


The author confesses to a ministry of twenty years with- 
out a single reference to the coming of the Lord. Other 
lines of study and his own ignorance of Scripture testimony 
as to the theme now under investigation furnished him 
with an excuse of seemingly sufficient validity, in those 
days, for his mental reserve as to this matter, which he has 
later found to be so highly important and so extremely 
vital. 


A series of doctrinal sermons were prepared and the 
nature of the volume demanded that the Second Coming of 
Christ should find a place in it. But the writer, better 
than anyone else, of course, knew how shallow his knowl- 
edge of the subject really was, and at that time was formed 
the determination not to speak until at least he could speak 
with something of an authority born out of an honest and 
thorough investigation of the matter at issue. 


The study was undertaken with no thought of commit- 
ting the manuscript to the printer. But as the volume of 
the work, its intricacy and ofttimes its perplexity began to 
assert themselves, there came the conviction that the charac- 
ter of the volume, regardless of any merit the author's own 
conclusions might have, would be helpful to others who 


were desirous of more than the usual superficial knowledge 
of the subject, but who might not have the necessary time 
for independent investigation nor the privilege of dealing 
in the original text of the Word. We have been encour- 
aged in this by a very large number of ministerial and lay 
friends. 


The work has been prepared not so much with the view 
of setting forth the author's own conclusions, although 
this, as a rule,has been done; but with the view of setting 
forth in popular, plain and concise style the arguments on 
each side of any portion ‘of Scripture bearing upon the sub- 
ject in hand, where difference of opinion as to its meaning 
exists, and thus make it possible for every interested reader 
to intelligently form his own conclusions as to what such 
Scriptures doubtless teach. | 


We have included in our study the ancient covenants 
and the promises made by Jehovah to Israel and the many 
prophecies concerning Israel’s future only because they are 
closely related in the minds of so many to the events con- 
nected with the coming again of our Lord. 


The volume has been not a little reduced from its original 
draft, and an endeavor has been made at all times to avoid 
unnecessary technicality. While the work is presented as a 
study and cannot therefore at times avoid being somewhat 
difficult because of the nature of the subject, the author has 
earnestly tried to keep in view a style and a content such as 
the average mind can with conscientious application ap- 
preciate. 


There is always great satisfaction in knowing what the 
various scholarly interpreters have held concerning any 
Scripture testimony at issue, and one’s own belief is natur- 
ally confirmed and strengthened when he knows how large 
a number of the keenest expositors stand with him in his 
views. For this reason we have quoted freely and referred 
copiously to some five hundred or more authorities through- 
out the work. ‘The mention and repetition of these names, 
if written in full, would too largely encumber the volume 
and we have therefore used the briefest possible abbreviation 
of these names. For the convenience of the student we have 
placed these abbreviations with the names they represent in 
alphabetical order at the end of the volume. Whenever the 


expression, ‘our text’, is used the reference is, of course, to 
the text employed throughout the entire work, being that 
of the American Revised Version, used with its accompany- 
ing notes through the courtesy of ‘Thomas Nelson and Sons. 


Some may wonder why so many verses not dealing 
directly with the subject in hand have been interpreted 
along the way. Our answer is that we have given a run- 
ning comment to the entire passage containing such refer- 
ence as may be pertinent to the subject, in order that the 
student may the easier understand the setting of the refer- 
ence in question, inasmuch as this is as a rule essential to 
an intelligent grasp of the subject matter under discussion. 


The work has been a source of keen satisfaction to the 
author. It has been at times difficult and laborious, but it 
has proven so richly remunerative that he has been already 
more than repaid. If now this humble effort to magnify 
the grace of God, so richly bestowed upon those who love 
His appearing, shall prove to be equally helpful to others, 
it will make him doubly grateful for the rare opportunity 
and the high privilege of giving himself to so sacred a task 
and for His precious approval, thus attested, we earnestly 
pray as this volume is released to those who may find com- 
fort and inspiration in its study. 


WILLIAM EDWARD BIEDERWOLEF. 


e 


THE NAMES OF 


THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS 


ARRANGED IN THEIR CUSTOMARY ORDER 


THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 


GENESIS I. Kings Eeclesiastes Obadiah 
Exodus II. Kings Song of Solomon Jonah 
Leviticus I. Chronicles Tsaiah Micah 
Numbers Il. Chronicles Jeremiah Nahum 
Deuteronomy Ezra Lamentations Habakkuk 
Joshua Nehemiah Ezekiel Zephaniah 
Judges Esther Daniel 3 
Ruth Job Hosea Haggai 

I. Samuel Psalms Joel Zechariah 
II, Samuel Proverbs Amos Malachi 


THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 


ST. MATTHEW 
St. Mark 

St. Luke 

St. John 

The Acts 
Romans 

I. Corinthians 


IT. Corinthians 
Galatians 
Ephesians 
Philippians 
Colossians 

I. Thessalonians 
II. Thessalonians 


I. Timothy 
II. Timothy 
Titus 
Philemon 
Hebrews 
James 

I. Peter 


IL. Peter 
I. John 


I. John 
TEE John 
Jude 
Revelation 


NAMES OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS 


ACTS 

Amos 
Chronicles (I.) 
Chronicles (II.) 
Colossians 
Corinthians (1.) 
Corinthians (II.) 
Daniel 
Deuteronomy 
Ecclesiastes 
Ephesians 
Esther 

Exodus 

Ezekiel 

Ezra 

Galatians 
Genesis 


ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED 


Habakkuk 
Haggai 
Hebrews 
Hosea 
Isaiah 
James 
Jeremiah 
Job 

Joel 

John 
John (1.) 
John (II.) 
John (III.) 
Jonah 
Joshua 
Jude 
Judges 


Kings (1.) 
Kings (II.) 
Lamentations 
Leviticus 
Luke 
Malachi 
Mark 
Matthew 
Mieah 
Nahum 
Nehemiah 
Numbers 
Obadiah 
Peter (1I.) 
Peter (II.) 
Philemon 
Philippians 


Proverbs 
Psalms 
Revelation 


‘Romans 


Ruth 

Samuel (I.) 
Samuel (II.) 
Song of Solomon 
Thessalonians (I.) 
Thessalonians (II.) 
Timothy (I.) 
Timothy (IT.) 
Titus 

Zechariah 
Zephaniah 


Vers, 1-3. 


irik BOOK Ob 


GENESIS 


(< 





B. C. 1689) 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get 
thee out of thy country, and from thy 
kindred, and from thy father’s house, 
unto the land that I will show thee: 
2 and I will make of thee a great 


nation, and I will bless thee, and make 
thy name great; and be thou a bless- 
ing: 3 and I will bless them that bless 
thee, and him that curseth thee will I 
curse: and in thee shall all the families 
of the earth be blessed. 


THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT FORMED. 


“T will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I 
curse.’ “This seems to have been wonderfully fulfilled in the history of the 
dispersion. It has invariably fared ill with the people who have perse- 
cuted the Jews, and the favor of God seems to have been with those who 
have given the Jews protection. Will the future still more remarkably 
pale this prediction? (Deut. 30.7; Isa. 14.1,2; Joel 3.1-8; Matt. 25.40, 
45.) 


CMoarre Re DARL EEIN 


14 And Jehovah said unto Abram, 


earth: so that if a man can number 


after that Lot was separated from 
him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look 
from the place where thou art, north- 
ward and southward and _ eastward 
and westward: 15 for all the land 
which thou seest, to thee will I give 
it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And I 
will make thy seed as the dust of the 


the dust of the earth, then may thy 
seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk 
through the land in the length of it 
and in the breadth of it: for unto thee 
will I give it. 18 And Abram moved 
his tent, and came and dwelt by the 
oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, 
and built there an altar unto Jehovah. 


Vers. 14-18. “THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT CONFIRMED. 


Ver. 15. “for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and 
to thy seed forever.’”’ Does the latter part of this promise pertain to Abra- 
ham’s literal seed or to his spiritual seed? 

Says Keil, ‘““The possession of the land is promised forever. “The 
promise of God is unchangeable. As the seed of Abraham was to exist 
before God forever, so Canaan was to be its everlasting possession. But 
this applied not to the lineal posterity of Abraham, to his seed according 
to the flesh, but to the true spiritual seed, which embraced the promise in 
faith and held it in pure, believing heart. The promise therefore neither 
prevented the expulsion of the unbelieving seed from the land of Canaan, 
nor guaranteed to existing Jews a return to the earthly Palestine after their 
conversion to Christ.”’ 


Scofield, on the other hand, remarks, ‘The gift of the land is modified 
by prophecies of three dispossessions and restorations (Gen. 15.13, 14, 16; 


9 


GENESIS 


Jer. 25.11,12; Deut. 28.62-65; 30.1-3). “Two dispossessions and restor- 
ations have been accomplished. Israel is now in the third dispersion, 
from which she, the literal seed of Abraham, will be restored to Palestine 
at the Second Coming of the Lord as King under the Davidic Covenant 
(Deut. 33.3% Jer; 23,528" Ezk, 37:21-25 ul 0-3 see ctsel eet ee 


Ver. 16. “J will make thy seed as the dust of the earth’’,—To 
Abram, accustomed to the petty tribes that then roamed over the pastures 
of Mesopatamia and Palestine, a people who should fill the land of Canaan 
would seem innumerable. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 


15 And the angel of Jehovah called 
unto Abraham a second time out of 
heaven, 16 and said, By myself have I 
sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast 
done this thing, and hast not withheld 
thy son, thine only son, 17 that in 
blessing I will bless thee, and in mul- 


tiplying I will multiply thy seed as the 
stars of the heavens, and as the sand 
which is upon the sea-shore; and thy 
seed shall possess the gate of his ene- 
mies; 18 and in thy seed shall all the . 
nations of the earth be blessed; because 
thou hast obeyed my voice. 


Vers. 15-18. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT AGAIN CONFIRMED. 


Ver. 17. “thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies’’,—1. e., be 
masters and rulers of their cities and territories. (K. Mu.) 


Lange says, ‘‘But the gate here points to a deeper meaning. The 
hostile world has a gate or gates in its susceptibilities through which the 
believing Israel should enter (Ps. 24.7-9), and the following words prove 
that this is the sense here.”’ 


Ver. 18. “and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
blessed’’,—This great promise was first given without reference to his 
character (Chap. 12.3) ; now it is confirmed to him because he has proven 
himself to be actually righteous after the inward man. 

Campbell Morgan says, ‘“This prophecy has never been realized, 
except to some extent in the first advent of Christ, but it awaits complete 
and very literal fulfillment in the Millennium age. All Gentile nations 
are to come into a place of blessing as a result of this restored nationality 
of Israel. The same truth is taught in Isa. 56.6,7.” 

“The conquests of the seed of Abraham’’, says Gerlach, ‘‘are those 
of the Christian Church’’, and, says Jacobus, ‘‘the multiplying of the seed 
looks beyond mere natural posterity to spiritual progeny’. 

Again it is a question of literal or spiritual fulfillment. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 


By many Isaac is taken as a type of the Bridegroom (Christ) who 
goes out to meet and receive His Bride (verse 63 and I Thess. 4.14-16), 
the Church; and the servant is a type of the Spirit bringing the Bride to 
the meeting with the Bridegroom. (I Thess. 4.14-16.) 


10 


LEVITICUS 


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 


3 sojourn in this land, and I will 
be with thee, and will bless thee; for 
unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will 
give all these lands, and I will establish 


the oath which I sware unto Abraham 
thy father; 4 and I will multiply thy 
seed as the stars of heaven, and will 
give unto thy seed all these lands; and 


in thy seed shall all the nations of the 
earth be blessed; 

23 And he went up from thence to 
Beer-Sheba. 24 And Jehovah appeared 
unto him the same night, and said, I 
am the God of Abraham thy father; 
fear not, for I am with thee, and will 
bless thee, and multiply thy seed for 
my servant Abraham's sake. 


Vers. 3, 4, 23, 24. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT CONFIRMED TO ISAAC. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 


13 And, behold, Jehovah stood 
labove it, and said, I am Jehovah, the 
God of Abraham thy father, and the 
God of Isaac: the land whereon thou 
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy 
seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the 


10r, beside him. 


dust of the earth, and thou shalt 
2spread abroad to the west, and to the 
east, and to the north, and to the 
south; and in thee and in thy seed 
shall all the families of the earth be 
blessed. 

2Heb., dreak forth. 


Vers. 13, 14. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT CONFIRMED TO JACOB. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE 


mighty: be fruitful and multiply; a 
nation and a company of nations shall 
be of thee, and kings shall come out of 


thy loins; 12 and the land which I 
gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee 
I will give it, and to thy seed after 
thee will I give the land. 


Vers. 9-12. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT CONFIRMED AGAIN TO JACOB. 


9 And God appeared unto Jacob 
again, when he came from Paddanaram, 
and blessed him. 10 And God said 
unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy 
name shall not be called any more 
Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: 
and he called his name Israel. 11 And 
God said unto him, I am God Al- 





HE SBOOK OR 


LEVITICUS 


CD pon ) 


CHAPTER TWO 


11 No meal-offering, which ye shall 
offer unto Jehovah, shall be made with 
leaven; for ye shall burn no leaven, 


Ver. 11. LEAVEN, THE APT SYMBOL OF CORRUPTION. 


nor any honey, as an offering made by 
fire unto Jehovah. 


Some think the reason why leaven and honey were excluded from 
the offerings unto the Lord is that they were used in the idolatrous rites 


al 


PEM I@Gs 


of the heathen. ‘The chief, and perhaps the sole reason, however, is un- 
doubtedly their fermenting quality. Honey was anciently used in the 
preparation of vinegar. Fermentation has ever been recognized as ‘‘an apt 
symbol of the working of corruption in the human heart,’ as Adam Clark 
says, both in Scripture (Lu. 12.1; I Cor. 5.8; Gal. 5.9), and among the 


ancients generally, and hence was unsuitable for the altar of Jehovah. 


The leavened bread of Chap. 7.13 was simply used for the sacrificial 
meal and was not placed upon the altar at all, and so there is no conflict 
there with the prohibition of our verse and of Ex. 23.18 and 34.25. 
Leavened bread was common at feasts and was offered with the peace-offer- 
ing besides the usual accompaniments of the other sacrifices. Christ is our 
peace-offering, and in Chap. 7.12 we have this in type, and so leaven is of 
course excluded, as in Him there is no sin; but in verse 13 of this same 
chapter the one bringing the peace-offering is giving thanks for his partici- 
pation in it, and so may it not be that leaven seems here to fitly signify, that 
though having peace with God through the work of the Sinless One, there 
is still sin in him who presents the offering. (Amos. 4.5.) 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


18 And he shall go out unto the 
altar that is before Jehovah, and make 
atonement for it. 


Ver. 18. “THE COMING FROM THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY SET FORTH 
IN TYPE. 


This verse, and in fact the whole chapter, should be read in connec- 
tion with Hebrews 9. 


Scofield says, ‘‘Dispensationally, for Israel, this is yet neue the 
High Priest is still in the Holiest. When He comes out to His ancient 
people they will be converted and restored (Rom. 11.23-27; Zech. 12.10, 
12; 13.1; Rev. 1.7). Meantime, believers of this dispensation, as priests 
(I Pet. 2.9), enter into the holiest where He is (Heb. 10.19-22). It will 
be at His second coming that He will come forth, the Great High Priest 
returning unto His people as Lord of lords and King of kings.”’ 


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 


34 Speak unto the children of 
Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of 
this seventh month is the feast of *taber- 
nacles for seven days unto Jehovah. 

1Heb., dooths 


Ver. 34. “THE KINGDOM-SABBATH SET FORTH IN TYPE. 


Just as the Lord’s Supper for the Church is both memorial and pro- 
phetic (‘‘in remembrance of me,’ and “‘ye do show forth the Lord’s death 
until He come’’), so likewise is the feast of tabernacles a memorial as to 
redemption of Israel out of Egypt (verse 43), and, says Scofield, “‘it is 
prophetic as to the kingdom- rest of Israel after her regathering and restor- 
ation, when the feast again becomes memorial, not for Israel alone, but 
for all nations (Zech. 14.16-21).” 


72 


LEVITICUS 


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 


Vers. 14-39. 


THE CURSE FOR APOSTACY AND CONTEMPT OF THE LAW. 


The divine threats contained in this chapter embrace the whole of 


Israel's history. 


They are not to be thought of as in historical or tem- 


poral succession; they were not to multiply continuously, but were in each 


case to correspond to the amount of the sin. 
apostacy of the nation and not the sins of individuals. 


The subject is the general 
“There are five 


degrees,’ says Gerlach, ‘‘in the ever seven times more severe punishment.”’ 


14 But if ye will not hearken unto 
me, and will not do all these command- 
ments; 15 and if ye shall reject my 
statutes, and if your soul abhor mine 


ordinances, so that ye will not do all 
my commandments, but break my cove- 
nant; 16 I also will do this unto you: 
I will appoint terror over you, even 


Vers. 14-17. 


consumption and fever, that shall con- 
sume the eyes, and make the soul to 
pine away; and ye shall sow your seed 
in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 
17 And I. will set my face against you, 
and ye shall be smitten before your ene- 
mies; they that hate you shall rule over 
you; and ye shall flee when none pur- 
sueth you. 


‘THE PUNISHMENT IN THE FIRST DEGREE. 


If Israel gave herself. up to ungodliness, then Jehovah would appoint 
over them “‘terror,’’ a general notion particularized in verses 16 and 17 by 


disease, famine and defeat. 


18 And if ye will not yet for these 
things hearken unto me, then I will 
chastise you seven times more for your 
sins. 19 And I will break the pride of 
your power: and I will make your 


Vers. 18-20. 


heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; 
20 and your strength shall be spent in 
vain; for your land shall not yield its 
increase, neither shall the trees of the 
land yield their fruit. 


THE PUNISHMENT IN THE SECOND DEGREE. 


If the punishments already mentioned did not cause the nation to 
keep the statutes of the Lord, then they would be punished still more 
severely, even with a sevenfold measure. 

“‘seven times’’,—Seven is at once the number of. perfection, indicat- 
ing the full strength of the visitation, and also the Sabbatical number, 
reminding the people of the broken covenant. 


In the verses before us the sevenfold punishment consists in the bar- 


- renness of the land. 


The earth was to be hard and dry as metal and not 


a drop of rain was to fall from heaven to moisten it. 


21 And if ye walk contrary unto 
me, and will not hearken unto me, I 
will bring seven times more plagues up- 


I will send the beast of the field among 
you, which shall rob you of your chil- 
dren, and destroy your cattle, and make 
vou few in number; and your ways 


on you according to your sins. 22 And shall become desolate. 


Vers: 71-272. 


By beasts of prey Jehovah would destroy their cattle and by barren- 
ness the nation would become small so that the highways would be deserted. 
“This is an exact picture of the present state of the Holy Land,” says 
Jamieson, ‘‘which has long lain in a state of desolation, brought on by the 
sins of the ancient Jews.’ (See Isa. 33.8 and Zeph. 3.6.) 


13 


THE PUNISHMENT IN THE THIRD DEGREE. 


LEVITICUS 


23 And if by these things ye will not ered together within your cities: and | 
be reformed *unto me, but will walk will send the pestilence among you; and 
contrary unto me; 24 then will I also ye shall be delivered into the hand of 
walk contrary unto you; and [| will the enemy. 26 When I break your 
smite you, even I, seven times for your staff of bread, ten women shall bake 
sins. 25 And [ will bring a sword up- your bread in one oven, and they shall 
on you, that shall execute the vengeance deliver your bread again by weight: and 
of the covenant; and ye shall be gath- ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. 

1Or, by 


Vers. 23-26. “THE PUNISHMENT IN THE FOURTH DEGREE. 


If they still rose up in hostility to the Lord they were to be punished 
sevenfold with war, plague, and hunger. 

By “‘the vengeance of the covenant’”’ is meant the punishment inflicted 
for a breach of the same, the severity of which, says Keil, “corresponded 
to the greatness of the covenant blessings forfeited by a faithless apostacy.”’ 

The means of sustenance would become so scarce that ten women 
could bake their bread in a single oven, whereas in ordinary times every 
woman required an oven for her self. 


27 And if ye will not for all this abhor you. 31 And J will make your 


hearken unto me, but walk contrary un- cities a waste, and will bring your sanc- 
to me; 28 then I will walk contrary tuaries unto desolation, and I will not 
unto you in wrath; and J also will chas- smell the savor of your sweet odors. 
tise you seven times for your sins. 29 32 And [ will bring the land into deso- 
And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, lation; and your enemies that dwell 
and the flesh of your daughters shall ye therein shall be astonished at it. 33 And 
eat. 30 And I will destroy your high you will I scatter among the nations, 
places, and cut down your sun-images, and I will draw out the sword after 
and cast your dead bodies upon the you: and your land shall be a desola- 
bodies of your idols; and my soul shall tion, and your cities shall be a waste. 


Vers. 27-33. “THE PUNISHMENT IN THE FIFTH AND SEVEREST DEGREE. 


Verse 29 refers to a fact which literally occurred in Samaria during 
the period of the Syrians (II Kings 6.28,29), and in Jerusalem during the 
time of the Chaldeans (Lam. 2.20; 4.10), and in the most appalling 
manner during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus in A. D. 70. 


The judgment is then more minutely described in four leading feat- 
ures: the idolatrous abominations were to be overthrown (verse 30), the 
towns and sanctuaries were to be destroyed (verse 31), the land was to be 
devastated (verse 32), and the people were to be dispersed among the 
heathen (verse 33). 


The cities of Israel were made waste (verse 31) by the forced removal . 
of the people during and long after the captivity. It is realized to even a 
far greater extent now. 


Jehovah, in verse 33, says He will draw out a sword after them; i. e., 
He will drive them away with a drawn sword, and scatter them to all the 
winds of heaven. For the story of these deportations look at Jewish 
history all the way from Alexander to Hadrian. 


34 Then shall the land enjoy its sab- had not in your sabbaths, when ye 
baths, as long as it lieth desolate, and dwelt upon it. 36 And as for them that 
ye are in your enemies’ land; even then are left of you, I will send a faintness 
shall the land rest, and enjoy its sab- into their heart in the lands of their 
baths. 35 As long as it lieth desolate it enemies; and the sound of a driven leaf 
shall have rest, even the rest which it shall chase them; and they shall flee, as 


14 


NUMBERS 


one fleeth from the sword; and they 
shall fall when none pursueth. 37 And 
they shall stumble one upon another, as 
it were before the sword, when none 
pursueth; and ye shall have no power 


ye shall perish among the nations, and 
the land of your enemies shall eat you 
up. 39 And they that are left of you 
shall pine away in their iniquity in your 
enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities 
of their fathers shall they pine away 
with them. 


to stand before your enemies. 38 And 
Vers. 34-39. “THE ERRECT OR THESE PUNITIVE VISITATIONS. 


Verses 34 and 35 express the restorative effect upon the land. It 
would enjoy the sabbaths of which it had been deprived by the avarice 
and apostacy of the people—weekly and yearly. It would be allowed 
por to rest throughout the duration of the captivity, seventy years, in 
act. 

Verses 36 and 39 describe in fearful terms the effect upon the remnant 
who should escape immediate destruction. (See Num. 13.32 and Ezek. 


36,15.) | 


40 And they shall confess their in- 
iquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, 
in their trespass which they trespassed 
against me, and also that, because they 
walked contrary’ unto me, 41 I also 
walked contrary unto them, and brought 
them into the land of their enemies: if 
then their uncircumcised heart be hum- 
bled, and they then accept of the punish- 
ment of their iniquity; 42 then will I 
remember my covenant with Jacob; and 
also my covenant with Isaac, and also 
my covenant with Abraham will I re- 
member; and I will remember the land. 
43 The land also shall be left by them, 
and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it 
lieth desolate without them; and they 
shall accept of the punishment of their 


iniquity; because, even because they re- 
jected mine ordinances, and their soul 
abhorred my statutes. 44 And yet for 
all that, when they are in the land of 
their enemies, I will not reject them, 
neither will I abhor them, to destroy 
them utterly, and to break my cove- 
nant with them; for I am Jehovah their 
God; +5 but I will for their sakes re- 
member the covenant of their ancestors, 
whom I brought forth out of the land 
of Egypt in the sight of the nations, 
that I might be their God: I am 
Jehovah. 

46 These are the statutes and ordi- 
nances and laws, which Jehovah made 
between him and the children of Israel 
in mount Sinai by Moses. 


Vers. 40-46. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT STILL ENDURES. 


Upon repentance and obedience He would renew again this Covenant 
and gather them again out of the heathen and adopt them as His nation. 


THE BOOK OF 


NUMBERS 
(B. C. 1490—B. C. 1451) 


CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 


Balaam the son of Beor saith, 


14 And now, behold, I go unto my 
And the man whose eye * was closed 


people: come, and I will advertise thee 


what this people shall do to thy people saith; 

in the latter days. 16 He saith, who heareth the words of 
15 And he took up his parable, and God, 

said, 1Or, is opened 


15 


NUMBERS 


And knoweth the knowledge of the 
Most High, 
Who seeth the vision of the Almighty, 


Falling down, and having his eyes 
open: 


17 I see him, but not now; 


I behold him, but not nigh: 
There shall come forth a star out of 
Jacob, 


And a scepter shall rise out of Israel, 


And shall smite through the corners 
of Moab, 


And break down all the sons of 


Seir also shall be a possession, who 
Were his enemies; 


While Israel doeth valiantly. 


19 And out of Jacob shall one have ~ 


dominion, 

And shall destroy the remnant from 
the city. 

23 And he took up his parable and 
said, 

Alas, who shall live when God doeth 
this? . 
24 But ships shall come from the 

coast of Kittim, 
And they shall afflict Asshur, and 


tumult. shall afflict Eber; 
18 And Edom shall be a possession, And he also shall come to destruction. 


Vers. 14-19. “THE VICTORIOUS SUPREMACY OF ISRAEL’S MESSIANIC 
DAyYs FORETOLD. 


Balaam’s fourth prophecy is distinguished from the previous ones by 
the fact that according to verse 14 it is occupied exclusively with the future 
and foretells the victorious supremacy of Israel over all her foes and the 
destruction of all the powers of the world. 

The Jews always held that this prophecy received its preliminary 
fulfillment in David but that it pointed farther on to the Messiah in whom 
Oa eee was to reach perfection and who was to destroy all the enemies 
of Israel. 


Ver. 17. The prophecy commences with a picture from “‘the latter 
days’ (verse 14), which rises up before the mental eye of the seer. Says 
Gosman, “ ‘The latter days’ for Moses and Balaam could only be when 
the strifes and hindrances should be removed, the enemies overcome. “These 
days for them began with the line of David. The prophecy then received 
its preliminary and partial fulfillment. But that fulfillment was only 
relatively perfect, since the entire opposing powers to the people of God 
were not yet destroyed. ‘There remained yet a future and a wider fulfill- 
ment. The ‘latter days’ were not yet complete.”’ 

“T see’’,—A prophetic insight like that of Abraham. 

“him’,—We think Jamieson is wrong in referring this pronoun to 
Israel. “The sentence extends rather in its typical significance to the time 
of the kings of Israel, but still farther on to the time of the ideal king. 

“but not now’’,—1. e., not as having already appeared. 

“but not nigh’’,—i. e., not to appear immediately, but to come forth 
out of Israel in the far distant future. 

“a stat out of Jacob’’,—This refers, says Jamieson, primarily to 
David, but secondarily and pre-eminently to the Messiah. 

“If there could be any doubt,”’ says Keil, “‘that the rising star repre- 
sented the appearance of a glorious ruler or king, this doubt would be 
entirely removed by the parallel, ‘a sceptre shall arise out of Israel’.”’ “This 
ruler would destroy all the enemies of Israel. 

“‘corners of Moab’’,—This expression is equivalent to the two sides 
of Moab, i. e., Moab from one end to the other. It is an expression that 
is often put for the whole country. 


16 


NUMBERS 


“all the sons of tumult’’,—i. e., those rising up tumultuously against 
Israel, like the Moabites who were men of wild, warlike confusion. 


_ Ver. 18. Edom and Seir are to be taken by this ruler who is to arise. 
They were to become his possession, and Israel’s through him, by reason of 
which possession Israel shall become empowered and do valiantly. Edom 
is the name of the people and Seir the name of the country. The fulfill- 
ment of this prophecy began with the subjugation of the Edomites by 
David, but it will not be completed until the “latter days,’’ when all the 
enemies of God and his Church will be made the footstool of Christ. Keil 
remarks, ‘‘Edom, as the leading foe of the kingdom of God, will only be’ 
utterly destroyed when the victory of the latter over the hostile powers of 
the world has been fully and finally secured.” 


Ver. 19. The subject of this verse is indefinite and is to be supplied 
from the verb, but it is quite evident from the sense of the words that we 
have to think of the ruler foretold as a star and a sceptre. 


“the remnant from the city’’,—Out of every city in which there is 
left a remnant of Edom it shall be destroyed. Jamieson thinks the refer- 
ence is to those who flee from the fields to the fortified cities, but we prefer, 
with Lange, to think of the fugitives fleeing from the captured cities. “The 
explanation of Ewald which refers the city to Jerusalem is forced and 
cannot be sustained from the parallelism. 

' The prophecy closes with single sentences foretelling the general de- 
struction of all heathen powers. 


Ver. 23. This is the fourth division of the prophecy, all introduced 
by the words, “‘he took up his parable’, the first relating to Edom and 
Moab (verses 17-19), the second to Amalek, the arch enemy of Israel 
(verse 20), the third to the Kenites, who were allied to Israel (verses 21, 
22); while in the fourth (verses 23,24) the overthrow of the great powers 
of the world is predicted. 


“when God doeth this?’’—Keil regards the lamentation as introduc- 
tory to the prophecy concerning Asshur (Assyria), Balaam’s own people. 
Lange and Knoble, however, with perhaps better reason, think that Balaam 
is still bewailing the future of Israel and explain this particular expression 
as meaning, ‘‘when God appoints, establishes (see margin) Asshur to do 
this’, i. e., to so afflict Israel. This disjunctive particle ‘“‘But’’ in verse 24, 
and that the fact that the judgment upon the naval power from Chittim 
is not introduced with a:new parable, favor the latter view. 


Ver. 24. At last the universal ruin of the nations of the world 
appears in the vision. The nations that were to come to humble Assyria 
are not mentioned by name because this lay beyond the range of the 
prophet’s vision, but the reference is without doubt to the Greek and the 
Roman empires. 

“and he also shall come to destruction’’,—The reference is not to 
Asshur and Eber, but to their conquerors. 

‘Whatever powers might rise up in the world of peoples,’’ says Hof- 
mann, ‘‘the heathen prophet of Jehovah sees them all fall, one through 
another, and one after another; but at last he loses in the distance the power 
to discern whence it is that the last which he sees rise up is to receive its 
fatal blow.” 


LZ 


DEUTERONOMY 


“The overthrow of this last power of the world, concerning which 
the prophet Daniel was the first to receive and proclaim new revelations,” 
says Keil, ‘‘belongs to ‘the end of the days’ in which the star out of Jacob 
is to arise upon Israel as a ‘bright morning star’ (Rev. 22.16), and by the 
‘end of the days’, both here and everywhere else, we are to understand the 
Messianic era, and that not merely at its commencement, but in its entire 
development, until the final completion of the kingdom of God at the 
return of our Lord to judgment.” 


DHE BOOKOR 


DEUTERONOMY 
(BAGS RASTS) 


CHAPTER FOUR 


26 I call heaven and earth to witness 
against you this day, that ye shall soon 
utterly perish from off the land where- 
unto ye go over the Jordan to possess 
it; ye shall not prolong your days upon 
it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27 
And Jehovah will scatter you among 
the peoples, and ye shall be left few in 
number among the nations, whither 
Jehovah shall lead you away. 28 And 
there ye shall serve gods, the work of 


neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 
29 But from thence ye shall seek Je- 
hovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, 
when thou searchest after him with all 
thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 
When thou art in tribulation, and all 
these things are come upon thee,” in the 
latter days thou shalt return to Jehovah 
thy God, and hearken unto his voice: 
31 for Jehovah thy God is a merciful 
God; he will not fail thee, neither de- 
stroy thee, nor forget the covenant of 


men’s hands, wood and stone, which thy fathers which he sware unto them. 


1Or, if in the latter days thou return 


Vers. 26-31. “THE FUTURE DISPERSIONS OF ISRAEL FORETOLD. 


Ver. 26. The dispersion was of course conditioned on their own 
forgetfulness of God. 

“heaven and earth’’,—These are hardly to be taken as the rational 
beings dwelling in them, but they are the rather personified and repre- 
sented as capable of thought and speech. It was and is a solemn and 
common form of adjuration. They were to be witness, to rise up against 
Israel, not to proclaim vengeance but to bear witness that God was just in 
punishing them, because He had warned them and had set before them the 
choice of life and death. 


Ver. 27. For the thing intended see Lev. 26.33,36,38,39; and 
Deut. 28.64. From these passages it is evident that the author had.in 
mind not any particular dispersion; not, “‘the fate of the nation in the 
time of the Assyrians,’’ as Knobel says; but rather, as Keil says, “‘all the 
dispersions which would come upon the rebellious nation in future times, 
even down to the dispersion under the Romans which still continues; so 
that Moses contemplated the punishment in its fullest extent.” 

“and ye shall be left few in number among the nations.’,—This is 
hardly ‘‘few’’ as compared with the number of the heathen, as Schroeder 


18 


DEUTERONOMY 


says, but rather, as Keil says, “because they should'so far perish through 
want, persecution and suffering.” 


The word scatter here is in a form that denotes a driving, urgent 
pressure. 


Ver. .29. 


Ver. 30. “tn the latter days thou shalt return to Jehovah’’,—Says 
Schroeder, ‘‘In the kingdom of God last times are ever times of need. The 
expression has, indeed, a more or less Messianic form.”’ 


The literal of the expression is, ‘‘at the end of the days,’’ and does 
not therefore refer merely to some future time, but the rather to the end in 
contrast with the beginning; hence not the future generally, but the last 
future (Hen.), the Messianic age of consummation. (II Pet. 3.3; Heb. 1.2; 
Acts 2.17; II Tim. 3.1.) The main reference therefore is to the age of the 
Messiah, which is commonly called “the latter days’, when the scattered 
tribes of Israel shall be converted to the Gospel of Christ. This does not 
mean, however, that a preliminary fulfillment is not to be found in the 
destined close of their captivities. 


Wee ee SHI 
Him. 


“the covenant of thy fathers’’,— (See Lev. 26.42-45; Gen. 17 and 
2,6.3,4.) 


Necessity will lead the holy seed, the remnant to prayer. 


The Lord is always found by those who earnestly seek 


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 


Vers. 64-68. 


are not to be found. 


64 And Jehovah will scatter thee 
among all peoples, from the one end of 
the earth even unto the other end of the 
earth; and there thou shalt serve other 
gods, which thou hast not known, thou 
nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. 
65 And among these nations shalt thou 
find no ease, and there shall be no rest 
for the sole of thy foot: but Jehovah 
will give thee there a trembling heart, 
and failing of eyes, and pining of soul; 
66 and thy life shall hang in doubt be- 
fore thee; and thou shalt, fear night and 


Ver. 64. 


day, and shalt have no assurance of thy 
life. 67 In the morning thou shalt say, 
Would it were even! and at even thou 
shalt say, Would it were morning! for 
the fear of thy heart which thou shalt 
fear, and for the sight of thine eyes 
which thou shalt see. 68 And Jehovah 
will bring thee into Egypt again with 
ships, by the way whereof I said unto 
thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: 
and there ye shall sell yourselves unto 
your enemies for bondmen and for 
bondwomen, and no man shall buy you. 


THE FUTURE DISPERSIONS OF ISRAEL FORETOLD. 


There is perhaps not a country in the world where Jews 
The Jews have not, however, served gods of wood 


and stone among the nations where they are scattered today, nor have they 
so done since the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity; therefore the refer- 
ence to this in the verse shows that these earlier dispersions were also, and 
perhaps primarily, included in the words of the author. 


Ver. 65. When banished among these nations Israel could find no 
place where it could quietly set its foot and be at peace; even a trembling 
heart, a failing of the eyes (the going out of the lamp of life) and a pining 
of soul was to be their heritage. 


19 


DEUTERONOMY 


Ver. 66. “and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee’’,—‘‘It will 
be’’, says Knobel, ‘‘like some valued object, hanging by a thin thread before 
thine eyes, which any moment might tear down.”’ It will be ever hanging 
in the greatest danger. 

On these verses Scofield says, ““How wonderfully, and with what 
exact literalness, this passage has been fulfilled. Written more than 3000 
years ago, in the wilderness of Moab, before the tribes had gone into the 
promised land, before the nation had been constituted, these chapters con- 
tain in a prophetic form a synopsis of the entire history of the chosen 
people from that day to this—closing with such a prophecy as might be 
taken bodily for a description of the present-day Israel. In Russia with 
her 4,000,000 Jews, everywhere they are persecuted. Again, wherever 
the Jew is persecuted he is orthodox, believing that the prophecies will 
be literally fulfilled in him.’ It is a fact that as the Jew becomes wealthy 
and established in power he gradually ceases to believe in the literal fulfill- 
ment of the prophecies, and loses all desire, as is seen in the case of the 
Reformed Jew, to go back to the Holy Land or to have his national life 
reconstituted. 


Ver. 67. They wiil say what is here announced because of perpetual 
dread of what each day or night might bring to them. 


Ver. 68. The worst is mentioned last, their being taken back into 
rere to ignominious slavery. 


“I said unto thee; thou shalt see tt no more again”’,—God will cause 
them to take a way which they would never have seen again if they had 
been faithful i in their loyalty to Him. 

“in ships’’,—i. e., in violence, packed in slave ships and without any 
POs ELULY, of escape. 


“and no man shall buy you’’,—Says Schroeder, ‘“‘Even in the ane 
markets of Egypt, their look, the curse of God, would frighten the buyer 
away.’ ‘The clause is one which indicates the utmost contempt. 

Under Titus, according to Josephus, multitudes of Jews were trans- 
ported in ships to Egypt and there sold into bondage, and also under 
Hadrian Jews without number were sold. ‘‘But the word of God is not 
so contracted. The curses were fulfilled in the time of the Romans in 
Egypt, but they were also fulfilled in a terrible manner during the middle 
ages, and are still in a course of fulfillment, opouee frequently less sensibly 


felt.” © (Schultz. ) 


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 


The Covenant which God here makes with His people is not a new 
covenant besides the one He made with them in Horeb, but it is rather a 
renewed declaration of that same covenant. The conditions of the cove- 
nant they had violated, and Moses here rehearses these conditions and sum- 
mons the people to enter again into the covenant which God was now once 
more making with them, in order that He might be their God and fulfill 
His promises concerning them (verses 10-15). Then comes in the closing 
verses the allusions to the punishments which threatened them in case of 
apostacy. 


20 


DEU TERONOMY 


CHAPTER THIRTY 


1 And it shall come to pass, when 
all these things are come upon thee, the 
blessing and the curse, which I have set 
before thee, and thou shalt call them to 


mind among all the nations, whither 
Jehovah thy God hath driven thee, 2 and 
shalt return unto Jehovah thy God, and 
shalt obey his voice according to all that 
I command thee this day, thou and thy 
children, with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul; 3 that then Jehovah thy 
God will* turn thy captivity, and have 
compassion upon thee, and will return 
and gather thee from all the peoples 
whither Jehovah thy God hath scat- 
tered thee. 4 If any of thine outcasts be 
in the uttermost parts of heaven, from 
thence will Jehovah thy God gather 
thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 
5 and Jehovah thy God will bring thee 
into the land which they fathers pos- 
sessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he 
will do thee good, and multiply thee 


above thy fathers. 6 And Jehovah thy 
God will circumcise thy heart, and the 
heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, that thou mayest live. 7 And 
Jehovah thy God will put all these 
curses upon thine enemies, and on them 
that hate thee, that persecuted thee. 
8 And thou shalt return and obey the 
voice of Jehovah, and do all his com- 
mandmenis which I command thee this 
day. 9 And Jehovah thy God will make 
thee plenteous in all the work of thy 


‘hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in 


the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit 
of thy ground, for good: for Jehovah 
will again rejoice over thee for good, as 
he rejoiced over thy fathers; 10 if thou 
shalt obey the voice of Jehovah thy 
God, to keep his commandments and 
his statutes which are written in this 
book of the law; if thou turn unto Je- 
hovah thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul. 


1Or, return to 
Vers. 1-10. 


Ver. 1. “the blessing and the curse’’,—1. e., the blessing for the obed- 
ient and the curse for the obdurate. Even in the direst times and deepest 
apostacy on the part of the nation there would always be a holy seed to 
which the blessings pertained, as well as the incorrigible majority upon 
whom the curse exhausted itself. 


Wier. %..5)(oee Chap, 4.29.) 


Ver. 3. “will turn thy captivity’’,—This does not mean to bring 
back the captives (Kn. Ges. Mic.), in as much as this is said in what 
fcllows to be the consequence of the turning of their captivity; while fur- 
thermore the form of the verb will not permit this interpretation. 


It must be taken either in a figurative sense, to turn the imprisonment, 
i. e., to put an end to the captivity (K. Mei.), or be taken, as Hengstenberg 
and Schroeder take it, in the sense of the marginal rendering of our text, 
“The return of the Lord to the captivity, from which, with the wretched- 
ness of His people, He had hitherto concealed His face.’’ ‘This latter ren- 
dering seems to suit the connection and especially the parallelism with the 
“return’’ of the Lord in the following part of the verse. (See Jer. 29.14; 
Boe) sl.) 

“and will return’’,—This return of Jehovah to His people seems to 
resume the thought of the first “‘return’’ and thus confirms somewhat the 
interpretation given above. 


Vers. 4,5. ‘‘These words’, says Keil, ‘““do not furnish any proof 
that the Jews will ultimately be brought back to Palestine. The posses- 
sion of earthly Canaan for all time is nowhere promised to the Israelitish 
nation in the law. The words ‘multiply thee above thy fathers’, while 


21 


THE PROMISE OF RESTORATION DECLARED. 


DEUTERONOMY 


they have some reference to the final redemption of Israel, are fatal to the 
view of any literal restoration. If there is to be an increase in the number 
of the Jews, when they are gathered out of their dispersion, above the num- 
ber of their fathers, and therefore above the number in the time of Solomon 
and the first monarchs of the two kingdoms, Palestine will never furnish 
room enough for a nation multiplied like this.”’ 

There is little, if any force at all, in this objection, which is also 
voiced by Wordsworth and others. If the Lord pleased to make the land 
capable of sustaining larger numbers He could easily do so. ‘The passage 
does seem to point to a national and local return. It has received partial 
fulfillment again and again in the history of the Jews, but whether, after 
the conversion of the Jews to Christ, they are to be literally restored to 
the earthly Canaan must be determined in keeping with the various other 
Scriptures on this matter. 

Keil says, ‘“The multiplication promised here will consist in the reali- 
zation of the promise given to Abraham, that his seed should grow into 
nations, not of ‘Israel according to the flesh,’ but of ‘Israel according to 
the spirit’, whose land is not restricted to the boundaries of an earthly 
Palestine.’’ (Schr. Wor. Gosman.) 

Jamieson, on the other hand, contends that, ‘“The promise was not 
fulfilled on the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, for Israel was not 
then scattered in the manner here described—‘among all nations’, ‘unto the 
utmost parts of heaven’ (verse.4) ; and when God recalled them from that 
bondage all the Israelites were not brought back, and they were not multi- 
plied above their fathers (verse 5), nor were their hearts nor those of their 
children circumcised to love the Lord (verse 6). It is not, therefore, of 
the Babylonish captivity Moses is speaking in this passage; it must be of 
the dispersed state to which they have been doomed for 1800 years. ‘This 
prediction may have been partially accomplished upon the return from 
Babylon; for, according to the structure and design of Scripture prophecy, 
it may have pointed to several similar eras in their national history. But 
undoubtedly it will receive its complete and full accomplishment in the 
conversion of the Jews to the Gospel of Christ, after which they will return 
and obey the voice of the Lord. ‘The words may, therefore, be interpreted 
either wholly in a spiritual sense (John 11.51,52), or, as many think, in a 
literal sense also.”’ 

Scofield says, ‘Here, then, if there were no other passage, is.a plain 
declaration of the purpose of God to plant again his ancient people in their 
own land.”’ 


Ver. 6. ‘The fulfillment of this promise,’ says Keil, ‘‘does not take 
place all at once. It commenced with small beginning at the deliverance 
from Babylonish exile, and in a still larger degree at the appearance of 
Christ in the case of all the Israelites who received Him then as their 
Saviour. Since then it has been carried on through all ages in the conver- 
sion of individual children of Abraham to Christ, and it will be realized 
in the future in a more glorious manner in the nation at large (Rom. 


ld2baee 


Ver. 7. The reverse side of these acts of grace, after the manner of 
Gen, 12.3. 


Vers. 8-10. Now follows the general thought that the Israelites 
7) 


II SAMUEL 





would come again into right relations with Jehovah, their God, would 
enter into true covenant relationship with Him and enjoy the blessings 
of the covenant under Him. 

The “fathers” are not the patriarchs alone but all the pious ancestors 
of the people. 

‘These verses Scofield calls ‘“The Palestinian Covenant,’ and says that 
it ‘gives the conditions under which Israel entered the promised land. It 
is important to see that the nation has never yet taken the land under the 
unconditional Abrahamic Covenant, nor has it ever possessed the whole 
land. ‘The Palestinian Covenant is in seven parts: 

Dispersion for disobedience, verse 1. 

The future repentance of Israel while in the dispersion, verse 2. 
The return of the Lord, verse 3. 

Restoration to the land, verse 5. 

National conversion, verse 6. 

The judgment of Israel’s oppressors, verse 7. 

7) National prosperity, verse 9.” 

In verse 20 is set forth once more the condition of life, and of long 
life in the land promised to their fathers. 


1 
fs 
3 
4 
5 
6 


CN Ne oe 


THE SECOND BOOK OF 


SAMUEL 


(B. C. 1056—B. C. 1017) 


GHAPTER SEVEN 


8 Now therefore thus shalt thou say 13 He shall build a house for my name, 
unto my servant David, Thus saith and I will establish the throne of his 
Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the kingdom for ever. 14 I will be his 
‘sheepcote, from following the sheep, father, and he shall be my son: if he 

. that thou shouldest be *prince over my commit iniquity, I will chasten him 
people, over Israel; 9 and I have been with the rod of men, and with the 
with thee whithersoever thou wentest, stripes of the children of men; 15 but 
and have cut off all thine enemies from my lovingkindness shall not depart from 
before thee; and I will make thee a great him, as I took it from Saul, whom I 
name, like unto the name of the great put away before thee. 16 And thy 
ones that are in the earth. 10 And I will house and thy kingdom shall be made 
appoint a place for my people Israel, sure for ever before thee: thy throne 
and will plant them, that they may shall be established for ever. 17 Ac- 
dwell in their own place, and be moved cording to all these words, and accord- 
no more; neither shall the children of ing to all this vision, so did Nathan 
wickedness afflict them any more, as at speak unto David. 
the first, 11 and as from the day that I 24 And thou didst establish to thy- 
commanded judges to be over my peo- self thy people Israel to be a people 
ple Israel; and I ‘will cause thee to rest unto thee for ever; and thou, Jehovah, 
from all thine enemies. Moreover Jeho- becamest their God. 
vah telleth thee that Jehovah will make 29 now therefore “let it please thee to 
thee a house. 12 When thy days are bless the house of thy servant, that it 
fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy may continue for ever before thee; for 


fathers, I will set up thy seed after thou, O Lord Jehovah, hast spoken it: 
thee, that shall proceed out of thy and with thy blessing let the house of 
bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. thy servant be blessed for ever. 

1Or, pasture 4Or, begin and bless 


*Or, leader 
8Or, have caused 


23 


Il SAMUEL 


Vers. 8-17,24,29. "THE COVENANT WITH DAVID. 


Ver. 10. ‘‘The gradually advancing manifestations of the Lord’s 
favor to David as set forth in verses 8 and 9 look to the well-being of the 
people of Israel.’’ (Er.) 


“T will appoint a place’’,—By subduing their enemies the Lord made 
room for a safe and unengendered expansion by the people of Israel in the 
promised land. 

“will plant them’’,—This is the promise of a firm, deep-rooted 
national life. 


“dwell in their own place’’,—1. e., within the limits secured for them 
by the Lord. 


“as at the first’’,—This doubtless refers to the beginning of their his- 
tory in Egypt. 

The sense is, as W. J. Erdman says, that after all the manifestations 
of His favor in the past up to this time, the Lord will for the future assure 
His people a position and an existence wherein they shall no more experi- 
ence the affliction and oppression that they formerly suffered from godless 
nations. 


Ver. 11. “and I will cause thee to rest’’»,-Some take the verb in the 
perfect tense as in the Authorized Version, resuming the thought from 
verse 9, but this is inadmissible because the discourse has already in the pre- 
ceding words turned to the future, and such a retrogressive repetition would 
be intolerable considering especially the rapid advance in thought. 

“Jehovah will build thee a house’”,—There is here no allusion to 
David's house of cedar, the building of the house being here naturally figur- 
ative of the bestowment of a blessed posterity, etc. (See I Chron.-17.25.) 


Ver. 12. After David's death the promise was to be fulfilled. 


“thy seed’’,—This does not refer to the whole posterity of David, 
as is clear from the explanatory words in I Chron. 17.11, “thy seed that 
shall be of thy sons’’; nor is it merely a single individual, but a selection 
from the posterity, which will be appointed by God’s favor to succeed 
David on the throne. 


Ver. 13. “‘for my name’’,—The name stands for God Himself— 
not simply in His honor, or as a place to call on Him, but a place which 
should be the sign and pledge of His presence in Israel. 


Ver. 14. “the rod of men’’,—This means with such punishment 
as men suffer for their sins and not merely “moderate punishments’, as 
Clericus says. | 


Ver. 15. Hengstenberg finely remarks, ‘“The contrast is that be- 
tween the punishment of sin in individuals and the favor that remains 
permanently with the family, whereby the divine promise becomes an un- 
conditional one.” 


“before thee’’,—1. e., before thy face. 


Ver. 16. David, as ancestor and beginner of the line of kings, is 
conceived of as he who passes all his successors before him in vision, as 
Gerlach supposes, or as Keil says, “continues to exist in his descendants’. 


24 


[ CHRONICLES 


When David's earthly throne became extinct God raised up Christ as his 
seed to sit on his throne forever. 


Ver. 24. ‘The first clause does not refer merely to the liberation of 
Israel out of Egypt, nor hardly to the conquest of Canaan alone, as W. J. 
Erdman supposes, but rather as Keil says, “‘to all that the Lord had done for 
the establishment of Israel as the people of His possession, from the time 
SS Moses till His promise of the eternal continuance of the throne of 

avid.” 


“establish’’,—The thought is of the establishment of their dwellings, 
their possessions and their whole life. 

“to be a people unto thee forever’’,—Gerlach says, ‘“‘All nations are 
finally merged in this people, the divine Israel, the congregation of Jesus 
Christ.’’ Again, as throughout the passage, it is a question of literal or 
spiritual interpretation. 


Ver. 29. “for thou, O Lord Jehovah, hast spoken it’’,—This rep- 
resents the content of verse 21] as the divine ground of the desired fulfill- 
ment of the promise. 

“with thy blesstng’’,—This is better rendered, ‘from thy blessing’, 
as the source of all blessings. Then instead of the optative form of the 
Authorized Version and of our text, the future form of the last clause 
gives a richer sense and one more appropriate to the connection, i. e., God 
hath spoken it and it WILL be so. ‘The sentence best reads, ‘“‘And from 
thy blessing will the house of thy servant be blessed forever.” 

Says Scofield, ““This Davidic’ covenant has but one condition: dis- 
obedience in the Davidic family is to be visited with chastisement, but not 
to the abrogation of the Covenant (II Sam. 7.15; Psa. 89.20-37; Isa. 
24.5; 54.3). The chastisement fell; first in the division of the kingdom 
under Rehoboam, and, finally in the captivities (II Kings 25.1-7). Since 
that time but one King of the Davidic family has been crowned at Jerusa- 
lem and He was crowned with thorns. But the Davidic covenant con- 
firmed to David by the oath of Jehovah, and renewed to Mary by the 
angel Gabriel, is immutable (Psa. 89.30-37), and the Lord God will yet 
give to that thorn-crowned One ‘the throne of His father David’ (Luke 
iene oeerncts 2,29-52; 15,14-17)." 


_ THE FIRST BOOK OF THE 


CHRONICLES 
(BG 015) 


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 


7 Now therefore thus shalt thou say that thou shouldst be “prince over my 
unto my servant David, Thus saith people Israel: 8 and I have been with 
Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the thee whithersoever thou hast gone, and 
"sheepcote, from following the sheep, have cut off all thine enemies from be- 

1Or, pasture *Or, leader 


25 


I CHRONICLES 


fore thee; and I will make thee a name 
like unto the name of the great ones 
that are in the earth. 9 And I will 
appoint a place for my people Israel, 
and will plant them, that they may 
dwell in their own place and be moved 
no more; neither shall the children of 
wickedness waste them any more, as at 
the first, !0 and as from the day that I 
commanded judges to be over my people 
Israel; and I “will subdue all thine 
enemies. Moreover I tell thee that 
Jehovah will build thee a house. 11 And 
it shall come to pass, when thy days are 
3Or, have subdued 


fulfilled that thou must go to be with 
thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed 
after thee, who shall be of thy sons; 
and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He 
shall build me a house, and I will estab- 
lish his throne for ever. 13 I will be 
his father, and he shall be my son: and 
I will not take my lovingkindness away 
from him, as I took it from him that 
was before thee; 14 but I will settle. 
him in my house and in my kingdom 
for ever; and his throne shall be estab- 
lished for ever. 15 According to all 
these words, and according to all this 
vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. 


Vers. 7-15. THE DAVIDIC COVENANT. 


(See II Samuel 7.8-17.) 

“David is here,’’ says Scofield, “‘as often, a type of his Son after the 
flesh (Matt. 1.1; Rom. 1.3), Jesus the Shepherd-King. At His first com- 
ing He took the shepherd’s place, first in death (John 10.11), and now in 
resurrection power (Heb. 13.20). At His return He will take the place 
of ‘‘ruler-over Israel”: (Isa. 1 1.10-12: Jer..23.5-8; Lukevi§32) jopmeners 
15.14-17). This is the precise order of Psalms 22,23,24. In the first 
the Good Shepherd is giving His life for the sheep; in the second He is 
caring for the sheep; in the third He comes to reign as King in glory.” 


Ver. 9. “I will appoint’’,—The perfects here are to be taken as 
future statements of that which God will further show to His people. 
Some would have the promises of future salvation begin only with verse 11. 


“children of wickedness’’,—The Egyptians are doubtless chiefly in- 
tended. 


Ver. 10. “I tell thee’’,—It is inadmissible to give this a past mean- 
ing, as do some, and render, ‘‘I have told thee’; because we cannot discover 
that such an announcement was made before, in as much as our historical 
books nowhere mention it. 


Ver. 11. ‘“‘who shall be of thy sons’’,—II Sam. 7.12 no doubt 
presents the original, ‘‘that shall proceed out of thy bowels’’. 


Keil, Starke, and older commentators say that the writer here meant 
to designate not so much Solomon but the Messiah. But the first words 
of verse 12 seem to indicate that Solomon was meant, as in II Chron. 7.18 
his person and not that of some future Messianic descendant is manifestly 
designated. Accordingly, as in II Sam. 7.12, so in Chronicles the Messi-. 
anic element is limited essentially to the eternal duration that is promised 
to the kingdom of Solomon (verses 12-14). 


Wert 13) 


Ver. 14. “in my house and in my kingdom’’,—First in the Old 
Testament theocracy and then in the Messianic kingdom of the new cove- 
nant, the full glory of which is yet to come. 


26 


“him that was before thee’’,—1. e., Saul. 


JOB 


THE BOOK OF 
Cie 0)) 
CHAPTER NINETEEN 
25 But as for me I know that my Re- 26 And after my skin, even this body, is 
deemer liveth, destroyed, 
And at last he will stand up upon Then without my flesh shall I see 
the earth; God. 


Ver. 25-26. JOB’S FAITH IN HIS FUTURE VINDICATION. 


There is really some doubt as to whether this passage in Job can 
rightly be said to hold any reference to Christ, or to Job’s resurrection or 
to any contemplated vision of the coming Lord. 


The Hebrew word ‘‘Goel’’ may quite as properly be translated ‘‘Vin- 
dicator’’; the words ‘‘day’’, ‘“worms”’ and “‘body”’ are not in the text, and 
it is somewhat doubtful whether even the idea of death inheres in the 
passage. Many modern translators think Job meant to say no more than 
that even though his skin, that is, his body, waste away, yet “‘tn his flesh’, 
that is, before he dies, he would see God interposing to vindicate his char- 
acter, even as the concluding part of the poem shows to have been the case. 
While these expositors do not question that Job did believe in the immor- 
tality of the soul, they contend that it is a question whether at that early 
period he could have had any such well defined doctrine of the Resurrection. 
or would have used it in this connection if he had. 


By far the majority of modern expositors, however, it is held that 
Job does refer to his resurrection, and that although no reference is made to 
his resurrection body, the hope is expressed of a future spiritual beholding 
of God as a glorified spirit. But, with Delitzsch, we do not believe this 
exhausts the meaning of Job’s confession. 


If the translation, ‘“‘in my flesh’, be retained, the reference, accord- 
ingly, must be to his resurrection body. ‘The translation of our text, 
however, (‘‘without my flesh’’) is much to: be preferred and.is held by 
practically all of our ablest commentators. It must further be noticed 
that Job says that not merely he, but his eyes shall behold God, and he 
must therefore have imagined his spirit clothed with a new spiritual body 
instead of the old decayed one, all of which points to a rather clear hope of 
a coming resurrection. 


“And at last He will stand upon the earth’’,—In view of the fore- 
going it is certainly within the limits of sound interpretation to see in 
these words a prophecy of the Redeemer’s Second Coming, or, as is often 
the case with the prophets, a double prophecy, viz., of the Redeemer’s in- 
carnation and His coming to judgment, the first necessary to the second 
and the second the compliment of the first. Certainly as thus taken, this 
magnificent passage is worthy, as one has said, to be “‘written in gems and 
gold’’, 


27 


THE PSALMS 


THE PSALMS 


(B. C. 1055) 





PSALM ONE 


5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand 
in the judgment, nor sinners in 
the congregation of the righteous. 


Ver. 5. THE WICKED AND THE RIGHTEOUS IN JUDGMENT-TIME. 


“the wicked shall not stand tn the judgment’’,—We are reminded by 
certain scholars that it is not without significance that the Greek version 
reads here, “‘the wicked shall not rise’, and for “‘sinners in the congregation 
of the righteous”’ it reads, “‘sinners in the counsel of the righteous’, as if 
not only would the ungodly not rise at the same time with the righteous, 
but that the latter would be a congregation or a company to whom special 
judicial functions would belong. (Deut. 7.22 and Rev. 20.4.) Exegetical 
refinement of this character is, however, not to be relied upon. 


PSALM TWO 


The first three verses of this Psalm describe the conduct of the rebel- 
ious nations, the next three set forth God as replying to them by word 
and deed, while in the next three the Messiah, the Anointed Himself, speaks 
without being introduced and declares the divine decree in relation to Him- 
self, and in the last three verses the Psalmist exhorts the nations to sub- 
mission. 

Scofield says this Psalm gives the order of the establishment of the 
Kingdom. He says, “‘It is in six parts. (1) The rage of the Gentiles, 
the vain imagination of the ‘people’ (the Jews), and the antagonism of the 
rulers against Jehovah’s Anointed (verses 1-3). [he inspired interpre- 
tation of this is in Acts 4.25-28, which asserts its fulfillment in the cruci- 
fixion of Christ. (2) The derision of Jehovah (verse 4) that men should 
suppose it possible to set aside His covenant (II Sam. 7.8-17), and oath 
(Psa. 89.34-37). (3) The vexation (verse 5) fulfilled, first in the De- 
struction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70; and in the final dispersion of the Jews 
at that time; and to be fulfilled more completely in the tribulation (Matt. 
24.29) which immediately precedes the return of the King (Matt. 24.30). 
(4) The establishment of the rejected King upon Zion (verse 6). 
(5) The subjection of the earth to the King’s rule (verses 7-9). (6) The 
present appeal to the world-powers (verses 10-12).” 


1 Why do the nations ‘rage, Against Jehovah, and against his 
And the peoples meditate a vain anointed, saying 
thing? ait 3 Let us break their bonds asunder, 
E And cast away their cords from us. 
2 The kings of the earth set them- 4 He that sitteth in the heavens will 
selves, laugh: : 
And the rulers take counsel together, The Lord will have them in derision. 


10Or, tumultuously assemble 


28 


THE PSALMS 


5 Then will he speak unto them in his 
wrath, 
And ‘*vex them in his sore dis- 
pleasure: 
6 Yet I have set my king 
Upon my holy hill of Zion. 
7 1 will tell of the decree: 
Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my 
son; 
This day have I begotten thee. 
8 Ask of me, and I will give thee the 
nations for thine inheritance, 
And the uttermost parts of the earth 


9 Thou shalt break them with a rod 
of iron; 
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like 
a potter’s vessel. 
10 Now therefore be wise, O ye kings: 
Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 
11 Serve Jehovah with fear, 
And rejoice with trembling. 
12 Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye 
perish in the way, 
For his wrath “will soon be kindled. 
“Blessed are all they that take refuge 


for thy possession. in him. 
“Or, trouble 3Or, may 
4Or, Happy 
Vers. 1-12. “THE REIGN OF JEHOVAH’S ANOINTED. 
Ver. 5. This verse Scofield thinks is to find its final and more com- 


plete fulfillment in the great tribulation just before Christ’s coming in glory 
and especially in the moment of that coming, while verse 6 he thinks refers 
to the establishment of the rejected Messiah upon Mount Zion, and the 
three following verses to the submission of the earth to His rule. With 
this we find those of the same school of interpretation in agreement. There 
is no question whatever as to the Messianic character of the Psalm, and in 
so far as it has not as yet found fulfillment it must of course look still to 
the future. 

Says Alexander, ““The same rash and hopeless opposition to the Lord 
and His Anointed still continues, and is likely to continue until the king- 
doms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.”’ 
These authorities, belonging to opposite schools of interpretation, con- 
tend, as will be noted, the one for a literal and the other for a spiritual 
fulfillment of this prophetical Psalm. 


Ver. 7. “I will tell the decree’’,—1. e., the statute, the organic law 
or constitution of my kingdom. 

“Jehovah said unto me’’,—-1. e., at my inauguration or induction into 
office. 

“This day have I begotten thee’’,—The relation here described as 
manifest in time rests upon one that is essential and eternal, and the inter- 
pretation of the passage as describing the inauguration of Christ as Media- 
torial King by no means impugns the Eternal Sonship of His Divine nature. 
It does not therefore, by implying something recent, exclude the eternal 
reference any more than the universality of Christ’s kingdom is excluded 
by the local reference to Zion. The phrase, “I have begotten thee’’, is 
equivalent to saying “I have become thy Father.”’ 


Ver. 8. Here Jehovah speaks to His Son. 

“attermost parts of the earth’’,—1. e., all that lies between the utter- 
most ends of the earth. This is to be the Messiah’s kingdom. ‘That He 
has asked for this and received it as His heritage is implied in verses 2 and 
3 where the nations are represented as in revolt against Him as their right- 
ful sovereign. This verse of course asserts the share of the Gentiles in the 
blessings of the Messiah’s rule yet not as heathen, but as submissive to the 
Messianic kingdom. 


Ae) 


THE PSALMS 


Seiss remarks here that this Psalm and especially this verse is much 
upon the lips of those who expect the world’s conversion, and a blessed 
Millenium prior to the return of Christ to judge the alien world. But 
he says, ‘“This is a mistake. We have here the Father's covenant to the 
Son, and not to men in this world; and the time given for its fulfillment 
is the judgment time; the time when the confederated anti-christian powers 
are to be dashed to pieces like brittle pottery; the time when God shall 
enthrone His King on the holy hill of Zion. This Psalm synchronizes 
in its import with Dan. 2.44-45; 7.9-14 and Lu. 19.15-27.” 


Ver.9. “Thou shalt break them with arod of iron’’,—The Messiah ~ 
is thus represented also in Rev. 12.5 and 19.5. ‘This utterly shatters the 
objection of De Wette to the Messianic interpretation. The Messiah's 
power is to be exercised in wrath as well asin mercy. [he Septuagint and 
several older versions change some of the vowel points and make it read like 
Micah 7.14, ‘‘to rule’, or “‘to feed with a rod of iron’’ (as a shepherd). 
This last figure is a common one to represent the exercise of regal power, 
and there may be an ironical allusion to this here. 


“Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s wheel’’,—A descrip- 
tion of the easy and immediate destruction of a worthless vessel. 

Blackstone remarks here, ‘‘He is coming to sit upon the throne of His 
glory (Matt. 25.31), and to be admired in all them that believe (II Thess. 
1.10), and to rule, in judgment and equity, all the nations of the earth. 
His coming in His Kingdom and His coming in His glory are synonymous, 
and both are yet future.’’ 


PSALM EIGHT 


4 What is man, that thou art mindful 6 Thou makest him to have dominion 


of him? over the works of thy hands; — 
And the son of man, that thou visit- Thou hast put all things under his 
est him? feet: 


7 All sheep and oxen, 
Yea, and the beasts of the field, 
8 The birds of the heavens, and the 


5 For thou hast made him but little 
lower than *God, 


And crownest him with glory and fish of the sea, 
honor. Whatsoever passeth through the 
10r, the angels. Heb. Elohim. paths of the seas. 


Vers. 4-8. CHRIST'S FUTURE DOMINION FORETOLD. 


This Psalm is taken by many as next in order of the Messianic Psalms. 
That its main reference, however, is to the dignity of human nature, as 
it was at first and as it is to be restored in Christ, there can be no doubt. 
“Tt is very evident, however,’’ says Jamieson, ‘‘by the Apostle’s inspired 
expositions (Heb. 2. 6-8; I Cor. 15.27,28) that the language here em- 
ployed finds its fulfillment only in the final exaltation of Christ’s human’ 
nature.” 

In Psalm 2 Jehovah’s rejected and crucified Son is yet to reign in 
Zion; here, though in His human nature made a little lower than the 
angels (verses 4-6), He is to have dominion over the redeemed creation. 
(See Heb. 2.6-11.) 

Says Scofield, ‘‘Heb. 2.6-11, in connection with this Psalm and Rom. 
8.17-21, shows that the ‘many sons’, whom He is bringing to glory, are 


30 


THE PSALMS 


joint heirs with Him in both the royal right of Psa. 2 and the human right 
of Heb. 2.” 


PSALM SIXTEEN 


9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my Neither wilt thou suffer *thy holy 
glory rejoiceth; one to see “corruption. 
My flesh also shall dwell in *safety. 
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul to 


‘ *Or, godly; or beloved. Another reading is, 
Sheol; holy ones. 
10Or, confidently %Or, the pit 


Vers. 9,10. CHRIST’S RESURRECTION FORETOLD. 


This is the next in order of the Messianic Psalms. According to 
Peter (Acts 2.25) and Paul (Acts 13.35), this Psalm relates to Christ, 
and expresses, as Jamieson says, ‘‘the feelings of His human nature in view 
of His sufferings and victory over death and the grave, including His subse- 
quent exaltation at the right hand of God.” 


Vers. 9,10. ‘As a prophet’, says Scofield, ‘“‘David understood 
that, not at His first advent, but at some time subsequent to His death and 
resurrection Christ would assume the Davidic throne.”’ 


PSALM TWENTY-TWO 


This Psalm is next in order as Messianic. 


28 For the kingdom is Jehovah's; and 30 A seed shall serve him; 
he is the ruler over the nations. It shall bet told of the Lord unto th 
29 All the fat ones of the earth shall ast deh tees aR eee 
eat and worship: : ‘ : d 
All they that go down to the dust 31 They shall come and shall declare his 


shall bow before him, righteousness 
Even he that cannot keep his soul Unto a people that shall be born, 
alive. that he hath done it. 


1Or, counted unto the Lord for his gener- 
ations 


Vers. 28-31. “THE LORD SHALL RULE THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH. 


In verse 28 the kingdom is said to be Jehovah’s, while in verse 30 
the Lord is in view as ruling on behalf of Jehovah. 

The great end and object of the rule of the Lord is the restoration of 
the kingdom to Jehovah (I Cor. 15.23,24). 


The true meaning here of the word “‘seed”’ is ‘‘posterity’’. 


PSALM TWENTY-FOUR 


The Messianic reference of the Twenty-fourth Psalm (S. Hen. Mic. 
Schm.) is somewhat doubtful, but Alexander has well said of it, ‘“The 
sanctuary of the old economy was intended to symbolize God’s special 
presence and residence among His people; and as this was realized in the 
advent of Christ, the Psalm before us may in a certain sense be described as 
Messianic.”’ 


Dal 


THE PSALMS 


7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; 


And be ye lifted up, ye ‘everlasting 


doors: 
And the King of glory will come in. 
8 Who is the King of glory? 
Jehovah, strong and mighty, 
Jehovah, mighty in battle. 


9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; 
Yea, lift them up, ye iid 
doors 
And the King of glory will come in. 
10 Who is this King of glory? 
Jehovah of hosts, 
He is the King of glory. 


1Or, ancient 


Vers. 7-10. THE THRONE GIVEN TO THE KING OF GLORY. 


The order of the Psalm is somewhat as follows: . First, The declar- 
ation of Title, ‘‘the earth is the Lord’s’’ (verses 1,2) ; Second, The Require- 
ment of Holiness for rulership of the earth (verses 3-6); Third, The 
Ascension to the throne of the worthy One, the King of Glory. 

“Tt is’, says Scofield, ‘‘a question of worthiness, and no one is worthy 
but the Lamb, and thus the Lamb, the King of Glory, takes the throne of 
the earth.”’ 


PSALMS FORTY AND FORTY-ONE 


These are the two next in order of the Messianic Psalms. 

Psalm Forty speaks of Jehovah’s Servant obedient unto death, while 
Psalm Forty-one relates to the betrayal of the Son of man, as Jesus Him- 
self taught in the thirteenth chapter of John’s Gospel. 


PSALM FORTY-FIVE 


1 My heart overfloweth with a-goodly 
matter; 
1] speak the things which I have 
made touching the king: 
My tongue is the pen of a ready 
writer. 
2 Thou art fairer than the children of 
men; 
Grace is poured * into thy lips: 
Therefore God hath blessed thee for 
ever. 
3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O 
mighty one, 
Thy glory and thy majesty. 
4 And in thy majesty ride on prosper- 
ously, 
"Because of truth and meekness and 
righteousness: 
And “thy right hand shall teach thee 
terrible things. 
5 Thine arrows are sharp; 
The peoples fall under thee; 
They are in the heart of the king’s 
enemies. 
6 °Thy throne, O God, is for ever and 
ever: 
1Or, 1 speak: my work is for a king 
2Or, upon 
3Or, /x behalf of 


4Or, let thy right hand teach 
5Or, Thy throne is the throne of God &c. 


A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of 
thy kingdom. 


“7 Thou hast loved righteousness, and 
hated wickedness: 
Therefore God, thy God, hath 


anointed thee 
With the oil of gladness above thy 
fellows. 
8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, 
and aloes, and cassia; 
Out of ivory palaces stringed instru- 
ments have made thee glad. 
9 Kings’ daughters are among thy hon- 
orable women: 
At thy right hand doth stand the 
queen in gold of Ophir. 
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, 
and incline thine ear; 
Forget also thine own people, 
thy father’s house: 
11 So will the king desire thy beauty; 
For he is thy lord; and-~ reverence 
thou him. 
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be 
there with a gift; 
The rich among the people shall en- 
treat thy favor. 


and 


ee 


THE PSALMS 


13 The king's daughter’ within the They shall enter into the king’s 
palace is all glorious: palace. 
Her clothing is inwrought with gold. 16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy 
14 She shali be led unto the king in children, 
broidered work: Whom thou shalt make princes in all 
The virgins her companions that fol- the earth. 
low her 17 I will make thy name to be remem- 
Shall be brought unto thee. bered in all generations: 
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall Therefore shall the peoples give thee 
they be led: thanks for ever and ever. 


‘Or, in the inner part of the palace 


Vers. 1-17. THE UNION AND GLORY OF CHRIST AND HIS TRIUMPHANT 
CHURCH DESCRIBED. 


Next in order is the Forty-fifth Psalm, to which the Messianic sense 
is given by the oldest interpreters, both Jewish and Christian. Says Faus- 
set, ‘‘Several Jewish monarchs, from Solomon to the wicked Ahab and 
various foreign princes, have been named as the hero of the song. But to 
none of them can the terms here used be shown to apply, and it is hardly 
probable that any mere nuptial song, especially of a heathen king, would 
be permitted a place in the sacred songs of the Jews.’’ It is the union of 
Christ and the Church finally triumphant that is set forth. Scofield says, 
“This great Psalm of the King obviously looks forward to the advent in 
glory. The divisions are: (1) The supreme beauty of the King (verses 
1,2); (2) the coming of the King in glory (verses 3-5). (Compare Rev. 
19.11-21); (3) the Deity of the King and the character of His reign 
(verses 6,7) ; (4) as associated with Him in earthly rule, the queen is pre- 
sented (verses 9-13); (5) the virgin companions of the queen, who would 
seem to be the Jewish remnant, are next seen (verses 14,15); and (6) the 
tel) closes with a reference to the earthly fame of the King’ (verses 

On the other hand some have sought to find in the bride the Jewish 
Church and in the companions of the bride,.the Gentile Churches. But 
it is not necessary to find in the history of Christ and His Church exact 
parallels for every part of this splendid allegory, and it will not do to press 
the interpretation of the details in this manner. 


Fausset remarks that, “‘As to the time in which the prophecy is to be 
fulfilled, it may be said that no periods of time are especially designated. 
The characteristics of the relation of Christ and His Church are indicated, 
and we may suppose that the whole process of His exaltation from the dec- 
laration of His Sonship, by His resurrection, to the grand catastrophe of the 
final judgment, with all the collateral blessings to the Church and to the 
world, lay before the vision of the inspired prophet.”’ 


PSALM FORTY-EIGHT 


THE BEAUTY AND THE GLORY OF ZION. 


This, some would have us believe, is next in order of the Messianic 
Psalms. Indeed the Jewish interpreters take it to be descriptive of Jerusa- 
lem in the Messianic times, after the victory over Gog and Magog. The 
Psalm was most probably written to commemorate the same event as does 
the one before it, namely, the victory of Jehosaphat over the Ammonites 


aM] 


THE PSALMS 


and the Edomites as recorded in the twentieth chapter of Second Chron- 
icles, and the simpler method of interpretation is that it celebrates Jehovah 
and Jerusalem as His residence and sets forth the privileges and blessings of 
Jehovah's spiritual dominion as the terror of the wicked and the joy of the 
righteous. “The older Christian expositors apply the Psalm to the eternal 
glory of the spiritual Zion. 


PSALM SIXTY-EIGHT 
THE KING IN TRIUMPHANT ASCENSION AND UNIVERSAL DOMINION. 


This is next in order of the Messianic Psalms. Indeed the Fathers, 
most of the older theologians and some moderns (Mic.) take it as a direct 
prophecy of Christ, as to His advent, His saving doctrine, His triumphant 
ascension into heaven (Eph. 4.8) and His all-embracing sovereignty and 
divine glory; while Jamieson, Stier and others consider the Psalm to be 
typically Messianic. 


21 But God will smite through the head 
of his enemies, 

The hairy. scalp of such a one as 
goeth on still in his guiltiness. 

22 The Lord said, I will bring again 
from Bashan, 

I will bring them again from the 
depths of the sea; 

23 That thou mayest crush them, 
dipping thy foot in blood, 

That the tongue of thy dogs may 
have its portion from thine ene- 
mies. 

24 They have seen thy goings, O God, 

Even the goings of my God, my 
King, *into the sanctuary. 

25 The singers went before, the min- 
strels followed after, 

In the midst of the damsels playing 
with timbrels. 

26 Bless ye God in the congregations, 

Even the Lord, ye that are of the 
fountain of Israel. 

27 There is little Benjamin their ruler, 

The princes of Judah and their 
“council, 

The princes of Zebulun, the princes 
of Naphtali. 

28 Thy God hath commanded thy 
strength: 


1Or, ix the. sanctuary Or, in holiness 
“Or, company 


*Strengthen, O God, that which thou 
“has wrought for us. 
29 Because of tiiy temple at Jerusalem 
Kings shall bring presents unto thee. 
30 Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds, 
The multitude of the bulls, with the 
calves of the peoples, 
*Trampling under foot the pieces of 
silver: 
“He hath scattered the peoples that 
delight in war. 
31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; 
‘Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out 
her hands unto God. 
32 Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the 
earth; 
Oh sing praises unto the Lord; 
[Selah 
33 To him that rideth upon the heaven 
of heavens, which are of old; 
Lo, he uttereth his voice, a mighty 
voice, 
34 Ascribe ye strength unto God: 
His excellency is over Israel, 
And his strength is in the skies. 
35 O God, thou art terrible out of thy 
holy places: 
The God of Israel, he giveth strength 
and power unto his people. 
Blessed be God. 


°Or, Be strong, O God, thou that hast &c. 

4Or, hast wrought for us out of thy temple. 
Unto Jerusalem &c. 

*Or, Every one submitting himself with pieces 
of stlver 

Or, as otherwise read, Scatter thou 

THeb. Cush. 


‘The entire Psalm,”’ says Scofield, “is pervaded by the joy of Israel 
in the kingdom, but a stricter order of events begins with verse 18, which 
verse is quoted by Paul in the fourth chapter of Ephesians of Christ’s 
ascension ministry. Verses 21-23 refer to the regathering of Israel, and 
the destruction of the Beast and his armies. Verses 24-35 are descriptive 
of full and universal kingdom blessing.”’ 


34 


THE PSALMS 
PSALM SIXTY-NINE 


THE KING IN HUMILIATION. 


Next in order of the Messianic Psalms is the Sixty-ninth. It is the 
Psalm of His humiliation and rejection. “The quotations from it and the 
references to it in the New Testament show how far the older interpreters 
were justified in so construing it. 


35 For God will save Zion, and build 36 The seed also of his servants shall 


the cities of Judah; inherit it; 
And they shall abide there, and have And they that love his name shall 
it in possession. dwell therein. 


Vers. 35,36. JEHOVAH'S SERVANTS. TO. DWELL IN THE CITIES OF 
JUDAH. 


Says Moll, ‘“This does not expressly state a restoration of Zion and 
a repeopling of the cities of Judah. The words admit of being under- 
stood generally on the basis of the promise contained in the Law, of con- 
tinuance and growth and of our supposing that there is a prophetic glance 
at the fate of the land and people in individual experience.”’ 

Alexander says, ‘“‘As temporal and spiritual blessings were insepar- 
ably blended in the old dispensation, the promise of perpetual possession 
and abode in Palestine is merely the costume in which that of everlasting 
favor to the Church is clothed in the Old Testament.” 

Fausset says, ‘“Though, as usual, the imagery is taken from terms 
used of Palestine, the whole tenor of the context indicates that the spiritual 
privileges and blessings of the Church are meant.” 

The reference here, however, to a literal restoration in the holy land is 
not to be easily brushed aside, as the words may quite as readily contain 
such reference, provided, of course, such interpretation harmonizes with 
the teaching of the Scriptures elsewhere, and if other prophetical passages 
do teach a literal restoration, then it would seem fitting to so interpret here. 


PSALM SEVENTY-TWO 


1 Give the king thy judgments, O God, 6 He will come down like rain upon 
And thy righteousness unto the the mown grass, 
king’s son. te As showers that water the earth. 
2 He will judge thy people with right- 7 In his days shall the righteous flour- 
eousness, ish, 
And thy poor with justice. And abundance of peace, till the 
3 The mountains shall bring peace to moon shall be no more. 
the people, 8 He shall have dominion also from 
And the hills, in righteousness. sea to sea, 
4 He will judge the poor of the people, And from the River unto the ends of 
He will save the children of the the earth. 
needy, 9 They that dwell in the wilderness 
And will break in pieces the op- shall bow before him; 
pressor. And his enemies shall lick the dust. 
5 They shall fear thee while the sun 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the 
endureth, isles shall render tribute: 
. And *so long as the moon, through- The kings of Sheba and Seba shall 
out all generations. offer gifts, 


WHeb. before the moon 


35 


THE PSALMS 


1t Yea, all kings shall fall down before 
him; 
All nations shall serve him. 
12 For he will deliver the needy when 
he crieth, 
And the poor, “that hath no helper. 
13 He will have pity on the “poor and 
needy, 
And the souls of the needy he will 
save. 


14 He will redeem their soul from ‘op- 
pression and violence; 
And precious will their blood be in 


16 There shall be “abundance of grain 
in the ‘earth upon the top of the 
mountains; 

The fruit thereof shall shake like 
Lebanon: 

And they of the city shall flourish 
like grass of the earth. 

17 His name shall endure for ever; 

His name shall “be continued °as long 
as the sun: 

And men shall *be blessed in him; 
All nations shall call him happy. 
18 Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of © 
Israel, 


his sight: Who only doeth wondrous things: 
15 And ‘they shall live; and to him 19 And blessed be his glorious name for 
shall be given of the gold of ever; 
Sheba: And let the whole earth be filled with 
And men shall pray for him con- his glory. 
tinually; Amen, and Amen. 
“They shall bless him all the day 20 The prayers of David the son of 
long. Jesse are ended. 
“Or, and him that hath 6Or, a handful 
3Or, weak 7Or, land 
4Or, fraud SOr, have issue 
5Or, he "Heb. Jefore the sun 
WOr, bless themselves 
Vers. 1-20. “THE REIGN OF THE RIGHTEOUS KING. 


Next in order of the Messtanic Psalms is the one before us. It is a 
glowing description of the reign of the Messiah. His reign shall be a 
righteous one (verses 1-7), a universal-one (verses 8-11), a beneficent one 
(verses 12-14) and a perpetual one (verses 15-17). 

By the older Jewish and most modern Christian interpreters this 
Psalm has been referred to Christ, whose reign, present and prospective, says 
Fausset, alone corresponds with its statements. 

While the one school of interpretation spiritualizes the picture and 
makes it prophetic of Christ’s present spiritual reign on earth, Morgan, 
Seiss, Scofield, and others of their school, believe that the Psalm as a whole 
forms a complete vision of the Millennium kingdom which is to be ushered 
in with Christ’s personal return to earth. 


Says Scofield, ‘Verse 1 refers to the investiture of the King’s Son with 
the kingdom, of which investiture the formal description is given in Dan. 
7.13,14; Rev. 5.5-10. Verses 2-7 and 12-14 give the character of the 
kingdom, while verses 8-11 speak of its universality. Verse 16 hints at 
the means by which universal blessing is to be brought in. Converted 
Israel will be the ‘handful of corn’ (Amos 9.9), as the King Himself in 
death and resurrection was the single grain, the ‘corn of wheat’ (John 
12.24). ‘To the Jew first’ is the order alike of Church and kingdom. It 
is through restored Israel that the kingdom is to be extended over the 
earth.” 


‘The sublime 72nd Psalm,”’ says Seiss, ‘‘is also largely drawn upon 
to adorn and sustain the theory of a universal peace and glory for this 
world before the present dispensation ends. It is there recorded that the 
Son of David ‘shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to 
the ends of the earth. (Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him; all 
nations shall serve Him’, Wonderful changes for the better, in the whole 


36 


THE PSALMS 


government and condition of the world are thus foretold, which are too 
good not to be seized and appropriated to crown the outcome of human 
progress and effort. But notes of the time are not thus to be ignored. 
If we ask when all this is to be, the answer is given: ‘When He shall judge 
the people’-—when ‘He shall come down’—when ‘God shall give the King 
His judgments’—and hence not in the present course of things; not before 
the period of great consummation.”’ 


PSALM EIGHTY-FIVE 


JEHOVAH’S RETURNING FAVOR UPON THE NATION. 


Blackstone would have us believe that this Psalm is Messianic and 
that it refers, as seen especially in such verses as 10 and 11, to kingdom 
blessings. The Psalm is a description of God’s returning favor, and as 
Fausset says, ‘“The writer doubtless had in view that more glorious period, 
when Christ shall establish His government on God’s reconciled justice 
and abounding mercy.’’ This view of the Psalm is, however, not to be 
accepted without hesitation. The Psalm is a prayer for deliverance from 
present evils on the ground of former benefits. “‘It seems,’’ says Alexan- 
der, ‘‘to be appropriate to every case in which the fulfillment of the promise 
in Lev. 26.3-13 was suspended or withheld.”’ ‘The older commentators, 
however, looked upon the Psalm as prophetic. 


PSALM EIGHTY-NINE 


11 will sing of the lovingkindness of Who is a mighty one, like unto thee, 
Jehovah for ever: O “Jehovah? 
With my mouth will I make known And thy faithfulness is round about 
thy faithfulness to all generations. thee. 
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built 9 Thou rulest the pride of the sea: 
up for ever; When the waves thereof arise, thou 
Thy faithfulness wilt thou establish stillest them. ; 
in the very heavens. 10 Thou -bast broken “Rahab in pieces, 
3 I have made a covenant with my as one that is slain; 
chosen, Thou hast scattered thine enemies 
I have sworn unto David my servant: with the arm of thy strength. 
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, 11 The heavens are thine, the earth also 
And build up thy throne to all gen- euihines 
erations. [Selah The world and the fullness thereof, 
5 And the heavens shall praise thy thou hast founded them. 


wonders, O Jehovah; 
Thy faithfulness also in the assembly 
of the holy ones, 
6 For who in the skies can be com- 
pared unto Jehovah? 
Who among the ‘sons of the *mighty 
is like unto Jehovah, 


12 The north and the south, thou hast 
created them: 
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in thy 
name, 


13 Thou hast °a mighty arm; 
Strong is thy hand, and high is thy 


7 A God very terrible in the council of right hand. car 
the holy ones, 14 Righteousness and justice are the 
And to be feared above all them that foundation of thy throne: 
are round about him? Lovingkindness and truth go before 
8 O Jehovah, God of hosts, thy face. 
10r, sons of God SHeb. Jah 
2Or, gods See Ps, 29. 1. 4Or, Egypt 


5Heb. an arm with might 


ay 


THE PSALMS 


15 Blessed is the people that know the 
‘joyful sound: 
They walk, O Jehovah, in the light 
of thy countenance 
16 In thy name do they rejoice all the 


day; 
And in thy righteousness are they 
exalted. 
17 For thou art the glory of their 
strength; 
And in thy favor ‘our horn shall be 
exalted. 
18 For our shield belongeth unto Je- 
hovah; 
*And our king to the Holy One of 
Israel. 
19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy 
*saints, 


And saidst, I have laid help upon 
one that is mighty; 
I have exalted one chosen out of the 
people. 
20 1 have found David my servant; 
With my holy oil have I anointed 
him: 
21 With whom my hand shall be estab- 
lished; 
Mine arm also shall strengthen him. 
22 The enemy shall not “exact from 
him, 
Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. 
23 And I will beat down his adversaries 
before him, 
And smite them that hate him. 
24 But my faithfulness and my loving- 
kindness shall be with him; 
And in my name shall his horn be 
exalted. 

25 I will set his hand also on the sea, 
And his right hand on the rivers. 
26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my 

Father, 
My God, and the rock of my salva- 
tion. 
27 I also will make him my firstborn, 
The highest of the kings of the 
earth. 
28 My lovingkindness will I keep for 
him for evermore; 
And my covenant shall “stand fast 
with him. 
29 His seed also will I make to endure 
for ever, 
And his throne as the days of heaven. 
30 If his children forsake my law, 
And walk not in mine ordinances; 
31 If they “break my statutes, 
And keep not my commandments; 
®Or, trumpet sound 
7Another reading is, thou shalt exalt our horn 
‘Or, Even to the Holy One of Israel our King 
"Or, as otherwise read, saint 
WOr, do him violence 


"Or, be faithful 
Heb. profane 


38 


32 Then will I visit their transgression 
with the rod, 
And their iniquity with stripes. 
33 But my lovingkindness will I not 
utterly take from him, 
Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. 
34 My covenant will I not “break, 
Nor alter the thing that is gone out 
of my lips. 
35 “Once have I sworn by my holiness: 
I will not lie unto David: 
36 His seed shall endure for ever, 
And his throne as the sun before me. 
37 “It shall be established for ever as 


the moon, 
And as the faithful witness in the 
sky. [Selah 


38 But Se hast cast off and rejected, 
Thou hast been wroth with thine 
anointed. 
39 Thouhast abhorred the covenant of 
thy servant: 
Thou hast profaned his crown. by 
casting it to the ground. 


40 Thou hast broken down all his 
hedges; ‘ 

Thou hast brought his strongholds 
to ruin. 


41 All that pass by the way rob him: 
He is become a reproach to his neigh- 
bors. 
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of 
his adversaries; 
Thou hast made all his’ enemies to 
rejoice. 


43 Yea, thou turnest back the edge of 
his sword, 
And hast not made him to stand in 
the battle. 
44 Thou hast made his brightness to 
cease, 
And cast his throne down to the 
ground. 
45 The days of his youth hast thou 
shortened: 
Thou hast covered him with shame. 


[Selah 
46 How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou 
‘hide thyself for ever? 
How long shall thy wrath burn like 
fire? 
47 Oh remember how short my time is: 
For what vanity hast thou created all 
the children of men! 
48 What man is he that shall live and, 
not see death, 
That shall deliver his soul from the 
“power of Sheol? [Selah 


30r, One thing 

MOr, As the moon which is established for ever 
SOr, And the witness in the sky is faithful 
16H eb, hand 


THE PSALMS 


49 Lord, where are thy former loving- reproach of all the “mighty 
kindnesses, peoples, 
Which thou swarest unto David in 51 Wherewith thine enemies have re- 
thy faithfulness? proached, O Jehovah, 


Wh ith they h hed th 
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy pape. Lad epi e C ; ‘ 


servants; 52 Blessed be Jehovah for evermore. 
How I do bear in my bosom the Amen, and Amen. 


NOr, many 


Vers. 1-52. “THE COVENANT WITH DAVID CONFIRMED. 


This Psalm Scofield thinks is next in order as Messianic. He says, 
“It is at once the confirmation and the exposition of the Davidic Covenant, 
and that the Covenant itself looks far beyond David and Solomon is sure 
from verse 27: ‘Higher than the kings of earth’ can only refer to King 
Immanuel.’’ This same description, however, is applied elsewhere to 
Israel (Ex. 4.22), and to Ephraim (Jer. 31.9), and may with propriety 
be applied to David himself and successors as well as to Christ (Heb. 1.6), 
and therefore it will not do to rest the defense of the Messianic interpre- 
tation of this Psalm upon this ascription and promise alone. 


The Psalm has, however, been applied prophetically to the suffering 
Messiah by the ancient and the older English commentators as well as by 
Wordsworth and others of the more recent times. Jewish commentators 
have applied it to the miseries of the Jews since the prevalence of Chris- 
tianity, while Calvin, Stier and others apply it to the afflicted Church, in- 
asmuch as Christ lives and suffers in His followers. 

The Psalm, we think, has, as Moll says, a Messianic application only 
insofar as it was intended to set forth the necessary conflict which was 
to be waged before the great fundamental promise could be realized. 


The particular promise insisted upon in this Psalm is that in II Sam. 
7, ‘‘which’’, says Alexander, “‘constitutes the basis of all Messianic 
Psalms.” 

Scofield says, ‘“The Psalm is in four parts: (1) The Covenant, 
though springing from the loving kindness of Jehovah, yet rests upon His 
oath (verses 1-4). (2) Jehovah is glorified for His power and goodness 
in connection with the Covenant (verses 5-18). (3) The response of 
Jehovah (verses 19-37). This is in two parts; (a) He confirms the 
Covenant (verses 19-29), but (b) He warns that disobedience in the 
royal posterity of David will be punished with chastenings (verses 30-32), 
Historically this chastening began in the division of the Davidic kingdom 
and culminated in the captivities and that subordination of Israel to the 
Gentiles which still continues. (4) The plea of the remnant, who urge 
the severity and long continuance of the chastening.”’ 


PSALMS NINETY-THREE TO NINETY-NINE 


THE RULE OF JEHOVAH AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNBELIEVING 
y NATIONS. 


These Psalms constitute a series which celebrate the coming of Jeho- 
vah as King. The Jewish and many of the older expositors took these 
Psalms as Messianic, and understood the past tenses as being employed 


39 


THE.-PSALMS 





prophetically, and as describing the end of the world and its final judg- 
ment. The same reason exists for taking one as Messianic as for taking 
them all in this sense. (See the opening and closing verse of Psalm 94; 
also Psalm 96.13, and the 97th Psalm, as well as Psalm 98.9.) 


PSALM ONE HUNDRED TWO 


1 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, 
And let my cry come unto thee. 
2 Hide not thy face from me in the 
day of my distress: 
Incline thine ear unto me; 
In the day when I call answer me 
speedily. 
3, For my days consume away ‘like 
smoke, 
And my bones are burned “as a fire- 
brand. 
4 My heart is smitten like grass, and 
withered ; : 
For I forget to eat my bread. 
5 By reason of the voice of my groan- 
ing 
My bones cleave to my. flesh. 
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness; 
I am become as an owl of the waste 
places. 
7 I watch, and am become like a spar- 
row 
That is alone upon the housetop. 
8 Mine enemies reproach me all the 
day; 
They that are mad against me do 
curse by me. 
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, 
And mingled my drink with weep- 


ing, 
10 Because of thine indignation and thy 
wrath: 
For thou hast taken me up, and cast 
me away. 
11 My days are like a shadow that 
*declineth; 


And I am withered like grass. 
12 But thou, O Jehovah, ‘wilt abide 


for ever; 
And thy memorial name unto all 
generations. 
13 Thou wilt arise, and have mercy up- 
on Zion; 


For it is time to have pity upon her, 
Yea, the set time is come. 
14 For thy servants take pleasure in her 
stones, 
And have pity upon her dust. 


10Or, in smoke 

2Or, as a hearth 
8Or, is stretched out 
4Or, sittest as Kings 


15 So the nations shall fear the name of 
Jehovah, 
And all the kings of the earth thy 
glory. 
16 For Jehovah hath built up Zion; 
He hath appeared in his glory. 
17 He hath regarded’ the prayer of the 
destitute, 
And hath not despised their prayer. 
18 This shall be written for the genera- 
tion to come; ash 
And a people which shall be created 
shall praise “Jehovah. 
19 For he hath looked down from the 
height of his sanctuary; 
From heaven did Jehovah behold the 
earth; 
20 To hear the sighing of the prisoner; 
To loose “those that are appointed to 
death; 
21 That men may declare the name of 
Jehovah in Zion, 
And his praise in Jerusalem; 
22 When the peoples are gathered to- 
gether, 
And the kingdoms, to serve Jehovah. 
23 He ‘weakened my strength in the 
way; : 
He shortened my days. 
24 I said, O my God, take me not away 
in the midst of my days: 
Thy years are throughout all genera- 
tions. ; 
25 Of old didst thou lay the foundation 
of the earth; 
And the heavens are the work of thy 


hands. 
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt 
endure; 
Yea, all of.them shall wax old like a 
garment; 


As a vesture shalt thou change them. 
and they shall be changed: 
27 But thou art the same, 
And thy years shall have no end. 
28 The children of thy servants shall 
continue, 
And their seed shall be established 
before thee. 
5Heb. Jah 
®Heb. the children of death 
TAnother reading is, afflicted me with his 
strength 


Vers. 1-28. “THE HUMILIATION AND THE COMING GLORY OF THE KING. 


The only reason for considering this Psalm Messianic is that verses 
25-27 are in Hebrews 1:11-12 referred to Christ, and consequently a 


40 


THE PSALMS 


reasonable ground is furnished for thinking that the preceding verses 
express for us the exercises of His holy soul in the days of his humiliation 
and rejection, together with certain prophetic statements of the glory await- 
ing Him in the time of the consummation of His kingdom. 

Says Fausset, “‘Hebrews 1.10 quotes verses 25-27 as addressed to 
Christ in His divine nature. The scope of the Psalm, as already seen, 
so far from opposing, favors this view, especially by the sentiments of 
verses 12-15 (compare Isa. 60.1). The association of the Messiah with 
a day of future glory to the Church was very intimate inj the minds of 
Old Testament writers, and with correct views of His nature it is very 
consistent that He should be addressed as the Lord and Head of His Church, 
who would bring about that glorious future on which they ever dwelt 
with fond and delightful anticipations.”’ 

Accordingly Seiss, Blackstone, Morgan, and others of the same school 
take verse 16, For Jehovah hath built up Zion, as a reference to the second 
coming of Christ. “The Millennium or universal peace and righteousness, 
says Seiss, cannot take place before His second coming, but it is to begin 
when ‘‘He shall appear in His glory’’. ‘‘God does not restore Israel and 
rebuild Zion,’’ says Blackstone, ‘‘until Christ appears in glory, nor does 
He build up Zion until He has taken out the Church” (Acts 15.13-17). 


PSALM ONE HUNDRED TEN 


1 Jehovah saith unto my Lord, sit 
thou at my right hand, 


Until I make thine enemies thy foot- 
stool. 


2 Jehovah will ‘send forth the *rod of 
thy strength out of Zion: 


Rule thou in the midst of thine 


enemies. 
3 Thy people “offer themselves will- 
ingly ; 
In the day of thy ‘power, “in holy 
array: 


Out of the womb of the morning 
*Thou hast the dew of thy youth. 
10r, stretch 
*Or, sceptre 
8Heb. are freewill-offerings 
4Or, army - 
5Or, in the beauty of holiness 


4 Jehovah hath sworn, and will not 
repent; 
Thou art a priest for ever 
After the ‘order of Melchizedek. 
5 The Lord at thy right hand 
“Will strike through kings in the day 
of his wrath. 
6 He will judge among the nations, 
"He “will fill the places with dead 
bodies; 
He ‘will strike through the head “in 
many countries. 
7 He will drink of the brook in the 
way: 
Therefore will he lift up the head. 


TOr, manner 

SOr, Hath stricken 

"Or, The places are full of & ec. 
WOr, hath filled 

NOr, over a wide land 


®Or, Thy youth are to thee as the dew 


The explicit application of this Psalm to our Lord by Himself and 
the Apostles leave us in no doubt as to its purely Messianic character. 
As Fausset says, ‘“The Psalm celebrates the exaltation of Christ to the 
throne of an eternal and increasing kingdom, and a perpetual priesthood, 
involving the subjugation of His enemies and the multiplication of His 
subjects.” 

Historically, the Psalm begins with the Ascension of Christ (verse 1); 
prophetically, it looks on to the time when Christ is to appear as the rod 
of Jehovah’s strength, the Deliverer out of Zion (verse 2), to the con- 
version of Israel (verse 3) and on to the judgment upon the Gentile 
powers (verses 5,6). 


41 


THE PSALMS 


Vers. 1-7. “THE KINGDOM, WITH ITs POWER AND GLORY, GIVEN TO THE 
KING. 


Ver. 1. “my Lord’’,—i. e., David’s Lord. “The Messiah is meant; 
so recognized by the Jews of ancient times, and clear not only from their 
traditions, but from Matt. 22.46. David is here not to be thought of 
merely as a private person, nor even as an individual king, but as repre- 
senting his own royal race and the house of Israel over which it reigned. 

“Sit thou at my right hand’’,—A seat at the right hand of a king 
implies a participation in his power. ‘The participation in the divine 
power thus ascribed to Christ is a special and an extraordinary one, having 
reference to the total subjugation of His enemies. It does not imply in- 
activity while Jehovah conquered His foes for Him, but it is in and through 
the Messiah that Jehovah acts for the destruction of His enemies and for 
that very end He is vested with almighty power, as denoted by His sitting 
at the right hand of Jehovah. This session is to last until the total sub- 
jugation of His enemies, and this special and extraordinary power of the 
Messiah is then to terminate, as Paul puts it in I Cor. 15.24-28, where the 
verse before us is distinctly referred to, though not expressly quoted. 


Ver. 2. David now addresses the Messiah directly. 

“the rod’’,—1. e., of correction and chastisement. 

“of thy strength’’,—The rod by means of which thy strength is to 
be exerted. 

“rule thou in the midst of thine enemies’’,—The verb here used is 
one not applied to a peaceful rule, but to a coercive one over conquered 
enemies. 


Ver. 3. “‘Thy people offer themselves willingly’’,—The reading of 
the Authorized Version is entirely inadmissible, since the word translated, 
“willingly’’, is a plural feminine substantative, and cannot agree with the 
singular noun, “‘people’’. It is the word used to denote freewill offerings 
or spontaneous gifts under the law of Moses. By supplying the correla- 
tive verb, ‘‘offer’’, the fine sense of our text is obtained, or as it might be 
rendered, ‘““Thy people are freewill offerings.’’ 

“In the day of thy power’’,—The reference is to the day when His > 
power is displayed in the subjugation of His enemies. 


“tn holy array’’,—The Authorized rendering is a more literal one, 
and it may have its obvious spiritual sense as in Psa. 29.2, or it may have 
the sense of “holy decorations’, with an illusion to the sacerdotal dress 
which in Lev. 16.4 is expressly called “‘garments of holiness’. This last 
we prefer with most modern commentators. It then means that when the 
people make this solemn offering of themselves to Jehovah they appear 
clothed in sacerdotal vestments, as servants of a priestly King (verse 4), 
and themselves a “‘kingdom of priests’ (Ex. 19.6.). 

“womb of the morning’’,—This, says Alexander, is a very strong 
poetical description of the origin or source of the dew, and the sense of 
this word ‘‘dew”’ determines that of the whole clause. Dew is a constant 
emblem of whatever is refreshing and strengthening. 

Some think the expression refers to the multitude of people or war- 
riors who devote themselves to the Messiah and who are described as no 
less numerous than the drops of dew born from the womb of the morning. 


402 


THE PSALMS 


Others think the comparison refers to the beauty of Messiah's people. 
But neither of these figures are common or natural, and the latter is a com- 
bination not likely to occur to the mind of any writer. 


Still others think, and doubtless more acceptably, that the clause 
relates to the perpetual succession of Messiah’s people, the successive gener- 
ations of which constantly renew His body even as the dew is engendered 
afresh daily from the womb of the morning, i. e., thy youth, thy body 
shall be constantly refreshed by successive accessions of people as dew from 
the early morning. 


The Messiah, as leading His people, is represented as continually in 
the vigor of youth, refreshed and strengthened by the early dew of God’s 
grace and Spirit. 


Ver. 4. “Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent’’,—There is no 
fear or even possibility of His breaking or retracting this engagement. 


“a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek’’,—This likeness con- 
sists. primarily in the union of the kingly and priestly office, such as was 
the case with Melchizedek. 


Ver. 5. Some suppose this verse addressed to Jehovah and ‘‘the 
Lord”’ to mean the Messiah, on the ground that they could not both be on 
the right hand of the other. But the whole idea is a figurative one. On 
the right hand has the same meaning here as in Psa. 109.31, where it de- 
notes the place of protection or assistance. In one sense therefore Christ 
is at the right hand of God and in another God is at the right hand of 
Christ. The day of Jehovah’s wrath is coincident with the day of the 
Lord’s strength, in verse 3. The strength of the Messiah as a conquerer 
is to be exerted in giving effect to Jehovah’s wrath against His enemies. 


Ver. 6. The Messiah is again spoken of here in the third person. 


“He will judge among the nations’’,—This is another figure for the 
conquest just described. 


“He will strike through the head in many countrtes’’,—The Author- 
ized Version takes both nouns as collective,—‘‘the heads over many coun- 
tries’. Others make only the first noun collective, ‘“‘the heads over the 
earth’; while our text takes only the last noun collectively. The expres- 
sion is obscure, but the general idea is clear enough; it is that of universal 
conquest on the part of the Messiah, striking down the head, the ruler in 
all earthly principalities and powers. 


Ver. 7. “He will drink of the brook in the way’’—The probable 
meaning of this clause is that He shall not be exhausted like those wander- 
ing in the desert, but refreshed and strengthened. 


“Therefore will He lift up the head’’,—The raising of the head is a 
figure of exhilaration. Is this effect supposed to be produced in the con- 
queror himself or in others? ‘The first clause of the verse favors the ex- 
hilaration of himself. In favor of the latter interpretation, however, 1s 
Psa. 3.4 and 27.6. The interpretations are not, says Alexander, incom- 
patible or exclusive, and it is best to leave them side by side. “The words 
doubtless suggested both ideas to the Hebrews. 


43 


ISAIAH 





THE BOOK OF 


ISAIAH 


(BG 760s BOL oon) 


The book of Isaiah falls into two chief divisions: 
I. Chapters 1 to 39, looking toward the Assyrian Captivity. 


II. Chapters 40 to 66, looking toward deliverance and future 
blessing. 


THE FIRST CHIEF DIVISION OF THE BOOK 


This division may be conveniently arranged in seven sections. 
Section One.—T he Growth of the Obduracy of the Mass of the People. 


CHAPTERS 1 TO 6 
CHAPTER ONE 


9. Except Jehovah of hosts had left 
unto us a very small remnant, we should 
have been as Sodom, we should have | 
been like unto Gomorrah. 


JEHOVAH’S CASE AGAINST HIS REBELLIOUS AND UN- 
GRATEFUL PEOPLE. 


Vers. 1-24. 


Ver. 9. “‘a very small remnant’’,—Alexander says, ‘The idea of a 
desolation almost total is expressed in other words, and with an intimation 
that the narrow escape was owing to God’s favor for the remnant accord- 
ing to the election of grace, who still existed in the Jewish Church. “hat 
the verse has reference to quality as well as quantity is evident from Ro- 
mans 9.29 where Paul makes use of it, not as an illustration, but as an 
argument to show that mere connection with the Church could not save 
men from the wrath of God.” 


25 and I will ‘turn my hand upon 
thee, and “thoroughly purge away thy 
dross, and will take away all thy ‘tin; 
26 and I will restore thy judges as at the 
first, and thy counsellors as at the be- 
ginning: afterward thou shalt be called 
The city of righteousness, a faithful 
town. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with 
justice, and “her converts with righteous- 
ness. 28 But the “destruction of trans- 
gressors and sinners shall be together, 

10r, bring my hand again 

*Heb. as with lye 

8Or, alloy 

4Or, they that return of her 

5Heb. breaking 


and they that forsake Jehovah shall! be 
consumed. 29 For they shall be 
ashamed of the “oaks which ye have de- 
sired, and ye shall be confounded for the 
gardens that ye have chosen. 30 For 
ye shall be as ‘an oak whose leaf fad- 
eth, and as a garden that hath no water. 
31 And the strong shall be as tow, and 
his work as a spark; and they shall both 
burn together, and none shall quench 
them. 


%Or, terebinths 
Or, a terebinth 


Vers. 25-31. ZION TO BE PURGED AND REDEEMED. 


Ver. 25. “turn my hand upon thee’’,—This expression is some- 
times used with the idea of punishment and sometimes with that of mercy. 
Here both are included, with the emphasis, however, upon the idea of 
mercy, that is, blessing through purging. 


44 


ISAIAH 


“thy dross... thy tin’’,—The reference is here not to sins but to 
sinful persons who are intermingled with the elect remnant of grace. 


Ver. 26. Nagelsbach says, ‘‘Regarding the fulfillment of this proph- 
ecy many have found in it a promise of a return of the days of the Judges, 
that is, the days of a Jephtha, a Gideon, a Samuel, etc.; others understand 
the language as referring to the return out of the Babylonian captivity 
under Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra and Nehemiah; others understood it of 
the restitution of the kingdom, while still others find its fulfillment in the 
days of the Messiah. But all these explanations are evidently too narrow 
and one sided. ‘The fulfillment has its degrees. And if Zerubbabel, Ezra 
and Nehemiah are justly regarded as the representatives of the first feeble 
beginnings of the great restitution of Israel; if further the Apostles are 
justly regarded as the founders of a new Zion on a higher plane, still by 
all this the prophecy is not at all fulfilled. It will only then be fulfilled 
when the Lord comes ‘into His kingdom’. (Luke 23.42.)” 


Ver. 27. “‘her converts’’,—This is literally, ‘they that return of 
her’, and by many it is so rendered (C. Pe. Lut. Del. Sep.). Others, 
however, and perhaps the majority (F. Al.) take the word in the spiritual 
sense as meaning those who return to God in true repentance. This is 
doubtless to be preferred inasmuch as the exile has not ‘yet been men- 
tioned, although there is no objection to combining both views, as Nagels- 
bach does. 


“Zion ’’,—By this word the believing people of God are of course 
meant. 


“justice . . . tighteousness’’,—Whose justice and righteousness is 
meant? 


(1) That of the acts themselves, i. e., the very same events by which 
the divine justice was to manifest itself in the destruction of the wicked 
should be the means of deliverance to the true people of God. (AlI.) 

(2) That of the people, i. e., the practice of justice and righteous- 
ness on their part. (Ges., the Rabbins especially, and most modern Ger- 
man authorities. ) 


(3) That of the sate and pomeeiors mentioned in verse 26. (Na.) 


(4) That of God, , God’s righteousness bestowed as a gift of 
grace on those who escape His punitive wustices SCG. Leis) 


The first view seems to be the simplest and the most preferable. “his 
is of course God's justice and righteousness as well, although it is not here 
used in the New Testament sense as the last view would have us take it. 


Ver. 29. “the oaks... the gardens’’,—1. e., the groves and enclos- 
ures for idolatrous worship. 


“‘they’’,—This may be taken as a reference to men in general (Ges.), 
or to the Jews of future generations (V.), or it is perhaps better taken as a 
case of enallage so frequent in Hebrew, i. e., a change of person, and made 
to refer to the same people as “‘ye’’ in both this verse and the next one. 
(Al.) 
This section Scofield calls ‘‘a renewal of the promise of the Pales- 
tinian Coyenant of future restoration and exaltation”. 


45 


ISAIAH 


CHAPTER TWO 


Introducing the second prophecy, which continues to the end of 
chapter. 


This prophecy is set forth in three parts: 


Mers.o125: 


1. The word that Isaiah the son of 
Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jeru- 


1. “Part one. 


salem. 
2 And it shall come to pass in the 


latter days, that the mountain of Je- 
hovah’s house shall be established ‘on 
the top of the mountains, and shall be 
exalted above the hills; and all na- 
tions shall flow unto it. 3 And many 
peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and 
let us go up to the mountain of Je- 


Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, 
and we will walk in his paths; for out 
of Zion shall go forth “the law, and the 
word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 
4 And he will judge “between the na- 
tions, and will decide concerning many 
peoples; and they shall beat their swords 
into plowshares, and their spears into 
pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they 
learn war any more. 5 O house of 
Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the 


light of Jehovah. 


"Or, instruction 
3Or, among 


THE PROMISE FOR THE LAST DAYs. 


hovah, to the house of the God of 
1Or, at the head 


Vers. 1-5. 


For explanation of these verses see under Micah 4.1-3. Delitzsch 
says of verses 1-3 that all other fulfillments were but preludes to an end 
still to be executed, and forming their completion: for there is no fulfill- 
ment yet of what is predicted in verse 4. 


Nagelsbach says, “‘As regards the fulfilling of our prophecy, the 
Prophet himself says that it shall follow in the last time. If.it now began 
a long time ago; if especially the appearance of the Lord in the flesh, and 
the founding of His kingdom and the preaching of the Gospel among all 
nations be an element of that fulfillment, yet it is by no means a closed- 
up transaction. What it shall yet bring about we know not. If many, 
especially Jewish expositors, have taken the words too coarsely and out- 
wardly, so, on the other hand, we must guard against a one-sided spiritual- 
izing. Certainly the prophets do not think of heaven. Plows and prun- 
ing hooks have as little to do with heaven as swords and spears. And 
what has the high place of Mount Zion to do in heaven? ‘Therefore our 
passage speaks for the view that one time, and that too, here on this earth, 
the Lord shall appropriate the kingdom, (Chap. 60.21 and Matt. 5.5), 
suppress the world kingdoms and bring about a condition of peace and 
glory. That then what is outward shall conform to what is inward, is 
certain, even though we must confess our ignorance in regard to the ways 
and means of the realization in particulars.” 

Seiss says, ‘“The prophet is not describing a gradual evolution in the 
course of the present dispensation, but connects this happy condition with 
great convulsive changes—with awful judgment—with the manifest pres- 
ence of the Lord Himself. Does not verse 10 and what follows signify 
the personal presence of the Judge? What is this but the Dies trae, of 
which Thomas of Celano so famously sang? It is the exact parallel of 
Rev. 6.12-17. And it is only in connection with the revelation of the 
Lord Jesus from heaven, ‘with His mighty angels in flaming fire’ that this 


46 


ISAIAH 


blessed transformation and sanctification of society and the world is to be 
wrought.” 

2. . Part two.’ Chap. 2.6 to Chap. 4.1, setting forth the actual 
condition of Israel.and the judgment of the coming day of Jehovah. 


10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee 
in the dust, from before the terror of 
Jehovah, and from the glory of his 
majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man 
shall be brought low, and the haughti- 
ness of men shall be bowed down, and 
Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that 
day. 

12 For *there shall be a day of Jeho- 
vah of hosts upon all that is proud and 
haughty, and upon all that is lifted up; 
and it shall be brought low; 13 and up- 
on all the cedars of Lebanon, that are 
high and lifted up, and upon all the 
oaks of Bashan, 14 and upon all the 
high mountains, and upon all the hills 
that are lifted up, 15 and upon every 


be bowed down, and the haughtiness of 
men shall be brought low; and Jehovah 
alone shall be exalted in that day. 18 
And the idols shall utterly pass away. 
19 And men shall go into the caves of 
the rocks, and into the holes of the 
earth, from before the terror of Jeho- 
vah, and from the glory of his majesty, 
when he ariseth to shake mightily the 
earth. 20 In that day men shall cast 
away their idols of silver, and their 
idols of gold, which have been made for 
them to worship, to the moles and to 
the bats; 21 to go into the caverns of 
the rocks, and into the clefts of the 
ragged rocks, from before the terror of 
Jehovah, and from the glory of his 


majesty, when he ariseth to shake 
mightily the earth. 22 Cease ye from 
man, whose breath is in his nostrils: 
for wherein is he to be accounted of? 


lofty tower, and upon every fortified 
wall, 16 and upon all the ships of 
Tarshish, and upon all pleasant *imag- 
ery. 17 And the loftiness of man shall 


Or, Jehovah of hosts hath a day 
“Or, watch-towers 


Vers. 10-22. “THE JUDGMENT OF THE COMING DAY OF JEHOVAH. 


Vers. 10. Such being their sin and their guilt they have nothing to 
do in view of the terror of the judgment Jehovah has prepared for them 
but to seek a hiding place from His wrath, the day of Jehovah being pic- 
tured as already come or near at hand. 


Ver. 11. “tn that day’’,—i. e., the day of Jehovah mentioned in 
the next verse. In this verse 11 is summed up the result of Jehovah's 
vindication of Himself “‘in that day” of coming judgment. The prophet 
has used for the first time in this verse the expression ‘‘in that day,’’ which 
afterwards occurs so often. He points of course to the time which he had 
before designated as “‘the last days’. 


Ver. 12. “the day of Jehovah’ ,—‘‘This day’’, says Nagelsbach, ‘‘is 
day of judgment, as already even the older prophets portray it: (Joel 
femme >, 4: Amos 5.18;20)..7 

Fausset persists in thinking only or chiefly of the final period of judg- 
ment time. He says, ‘‘Man has many days; ‘the day of Jehovah’ shall 
come at last, beginning with judgment, a never-ending day in which God 


shall be ‘all in all’ (I Cor. 15.28; II Peter 3.10).”’ 

“upon every thing’’,—The version ‘‘every one’ (E-V. Jun. Sep.) 
limits the phrase too much to persons, which is but a part of the meaning 
as conveyed in the expression ‘‘everything’’. (F. V. Al. Na. Del. Ges.) The 
judgment was to come upon everything in which the nation prided itself. 


Ver. 13. The prophet now begins to enumerate in pairs all the high 
things upon which the judgment falls. 

The cedars and oaks are not to be taken as emblems of great men in 
general (V. Ges. Jer. Tar.), nor of the great men of Syria and Israel 


47 


a 
re 


ISAIAH 


(Gro.), nor are they to be applied to the buildings erected by Uzziah and 
Jotham out of the cedars and oaks grown in the places mentioned (Kn.). 
They are to be taken not as symbols at all, but as samples or specimens of 
their class. (AI. Na. Del.) 


Ver. 14. “‘the high mountains ... the hills’’,-Not the fastnesses 
to which they had recourse in times of danger (F. Bar.), nor the fortresses 
erected by Jotham (Kn.), nor the mountaineers of Palestine (Oec.), nor 
states and governments (Lo.), nor the high places on which sacrifices were 
unlawfully offered (F.), but merely an additional specification of the gen- 
eral statement in verse 12. (Al.) 

Nagelsbach says, ‘‘II Peter 3.10 seems to me to afford the best com- 
mentary of these last two verses, the high mountains and the hills being 
names only as representatives of the entire terrestial nature, as also after- 
wards the towers, the ships of Tarshish, etc., are only representative of 
human works, and thus also the productions of art.”’ 

Delitzsch says, ‘““‘What the prophet predicts was already actually be- 
ginning to be fulfilled in the military inroads of the Assyrians, the cedar 
forests of Lebanon being unsparingly shorn’, but he says, ‘“This participa- 
tion of the lower creation in the judgment of God will come into special 
prominence at the close of this world’s history.’’ He reminds us that 
Scripture assumes throughout that all nature is joined with man, and is 
under the influence of sin which proceeds from man and under the wrath 
and grace which proceed from God to man.” 


Ver. 15. “upon every lofty tower and fortified wall’’,—A third 
class of objects with which the idea of strength and loftiness are usually 
associated. “These are not symbols of military strength (Lo.), nor do they 
refer to the fortifications built by Jotham and Uzziah (Kn.), although 
these would doubtless come to mind. 


Ver. 16. “‘the ships of Tarshish’’,—Suggesting the idea of the 
largest class of vessels, justly included in this catalogue of lofty and im- 
posing objects, says Alexander. 

“upon all pleasant imagery’’,—This seems to be one comprehensive 
word for all that goes before; all attractive and majestic objects, and not 
to be limited to “‘pictures’’ (A-V), nor “‘statues’’ (Mic. Ros. Do.), nor. 
“lofty images or obelisks’’ (Ew.), nor ‘‘tapestry’’ (C.), nor the gay flags 
of the vessels (Ges.). | 

Ver. 18. ‘“‘Fulfilled to the letter’’,—-says Fausset, ‘‘after the return 
from the Babylonian captivity. For the future fulfillment, see Zech. 13.2 
and Rev, 13.15: 19:20)" 

Ver. 19. The fulfillment answering exactly to the threat. 

“to shake mightily the earth’’,—-A figure of severe and universal 
judgments. 

Ver. 20. ‘‘to the moles and to the bats’’,—The idols are cast here 
not alone that the wicked might facilitate their flight, but because they 
belong there, to the gnawing beasts of night in all their unclean holes. 

Ver. 22. An exhortation to renounce all trust in man, man who 1s 
to be “‘brought low’’ and who is accounted as of little value. : “This verse 
forms an appropriate transition to the following chapter. 


48 


ISAIAH 


CHAPTER. THREE 


1 For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of 
hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem 
and from -Judah stay and_ staff, the 
whole stay of bread, and the whole stay 
of water; 2 the mighty man, and the 
man of war; the judge, and the prophet, 
and the diviner, and the elder; 3 the 
captain of fifty, and the honorable man, 


and the counsellor, and the expert ‘arti- 
ficer, and the skillful enchanter. 4 And 
I will give children to be their princes, 
and “babes shall rule over them. 5 And 
the people shall be oppressed, every 
one by another, and every one by 
his neighbor: the child shall be- 
have himself proudly against the old 
man, and the base against the honor- 
able. 6 When a man shall take hold 
of his brother in the house of his father, 
saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our 
“ruler, and let this ruin be under thy 
hand; 7 in that day shall he lift up his 
voice, saying, I will not be “a healer; 
for in my house is neither bread nor 
clothing: ye shall not make me ruler of 
the people. 8 For Jerusalem is ruined, 
and Judah is fallen; because their tongue 
and their doings are against Jehovah. 
to provoke the eyes of his glory. 9 "The 
show of their countenance doth witness 
against them; and they declare their sin 
as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto 
their soul! for they have done evil unto 
themselves. 10 Say ye of the righteous, 
that it shall be well with him; for they 
shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 
Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill 
with him; for what his hands have done 
shall be done unto him. 12 As for my 
people, children are their oppressors, and 
women rule over them. O my people, 


20r, charmer 

*Or, with childishness shall they rule over them 
3Or, judge 

*Heb. a binder up 

'Or, Their respecting of persons doth &c. 





they that lead thee cause thee to err, and 
“destroy the way of thy paths. 

13 Jehovah standeth up to contend, 
and standeth to judge the ‘peoples. 14 
Jehovah will enter into judgment with 
the elders of his people, and the princes 
thereof: It is ye that have eaten up the 
vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in 
your houses: 15 what mean ye that ye 
crush my people, and grind the face of 
the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of 
hosts. 

16 Moreover Jehovah said, Because 
the daughters of Zion are haughty, and 
walk with out-stretched necks and wan- 
ton eyes, walking and mincing as they 
go, and making a tinkling with their 
feet; 17 therefore the Lord will smite 
with a scab the crown of the head of 
the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will 
lay bare their secret parts. 18 In that 
day the Lord will take away the beauty 
of their anklets, and the ‘cauls, and the 
crescents; 19 the pendants, and the 
*bracelets, and the mufflers; 20 the head- 
tires, and the ankle-chains, and the 
sashes, and the perfume-boxes, and the 
amulets; 21 the rings, and the nose- 
jewels; 22 the festival robes, and the 
mantles, and the shawls, and the satch- 
els; 23 the hand-mirrors, and the fine 
linen, and the turbans, and the veils. 
24 And it shall come to pass, that in- 
stead of sweet spices there shall be rot- 
tenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; 
and instead of well set hair, baldness; 
and instead of a robe, a girding of sack- 
cloth; branding instead of beauty. 25 
Thy men shall fall by the sword, and 
thy “mighty in the war. 26 And her 
gates shall lament and mourn; and she 
shall be “desolate and sit upon the 
ground, 


SHeb. swallow up 
Or, peoble 

SOr, networks 
°Or, chains 

WHeb. might 

UOr, emptied 


Vers. 1-26. “THE DAY OF JEHOVAH UPON JERUSALEM AND JUDAH. 


The judgment of Jehovah, which in the previous chapter was pro- 
claimed more especially in its universal character, is in this chapter referred 
more especially to Jerusalem and Judah on account of their prevailing 
iniquities. } 

Ver. 1. The chapter opens with a general prediction of the loss of 
that in which they so much trusted, beginning in this first verse with the 
two indispensible conditions of life, bread and water. This was literally 
fulfilled in the siege under Nebuchadnezzar and afterwards by the siege of 
‘Titus in the days of the Roman empire. 


49 


ISAIAH 





Vers. 2-3. Next the supports of the State are to be removed; public 
men, including civil, military and religious functionaries together with the 
practitioners of the black art upon whom they relied. 


Ver. 4. Asa result of the judgment just announced the government 
falls into weak and incompetent hands. The “‘babes’’ are mentioned. not 
with respect to age but rather to character, i. e., little children in ability 
so far as governing capacity goes. 


Ver. 5. Anarchy, insubordination and confusion naturally result 
from the regime of such imbecile rulers. 


Vers. 6-7. At last the people would gladly make a ruler of anyone 
who in the least rises above the universal wretchedness, who has even so 
much as the semblance of a respectable garment, but not even such an one 
is willing to accept office. 


Vers. 8-9. All this disaster is but the result of their own sin and 
they have but themselves to blame, for ‘‘they have done evil unto them- 
selves’. 


Vers. 10-11. But God’s judgments are not indiscriminate; it shall 
be well with the righteous but ill with the wicked. 


Ver. 12. Then comes a resume, the whole course of thought from 
verses 1 to 11 being comprehended again, while the prophet expresses won- 
der and concern at the result of the nation’s unworthy and incapable rulers. 


Ver. 13. Here, says Delitzsch, ‘the judgment of the world comes 
anew before the prophet’s mind.’’ With this agrees Nagelsbach, who says 
that ‘‘here we are introduced into quite another moment of time, the judg- 
ment of the nations, not, however, the judging of the nations generally, 
but only the judgment of the people of God as a part of the universal 
judgment, and then too not of the nation in its totality, but of the de- 
stroyers of this totality, the princes and the elders, as seen in the following 
verse.” 

“standeth up’’,—1. e., ready and prepared for instant execution of the 
judgment. 

“to plead’’,—The word means to conduct a cause for another or for 
one’s self, and is here to be taken in the sense of accuse. God stands—the 
Accuser and Judge and Executioner in one Person. 


Vers. 14-15. In these verses the Lord’s accusation turns especially 
upon the incompetent and faithless rulers who have become the spoilers 
of His vineyard instead of its guardians, and the oppressors of the people 
instead of their protectors. 


Vers. 16-24. The prophet breaks off in the midst of his descrip- 
tion of the judgment-scene and threatens the women with punishment, 
privation and disgrace as one of the principal causes of the prevailing evils 
because of the pride of their hearts, their luxury and extravagant ornamen- 
tation and outward conduct. 


Vers. 25-26, and Chap. 4.1. Among the agencies in this retribu- 
tion is a disastrous war by which the men of the land are so reduced in 
numbers that the unnatural state of things will be brought about wherein 
women will not be sought by men but the men by the women. 


50 


ISAIAH 


3. Part three. Chap. 4.2 to 6, reverting to the safe and glorious 
condition of the future kingdom. 


CHAR LERIFOUR 


2 In that day shall the *branch of 
Jehovah be beautiful and glorious, and 
the fruit of the “land shall be *excellent 
and comely for them that are escaped of 
Israel. 3 And it shall come to pass, 
that he that is left in Zion, and he that 
remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called 
holy, even every one that is written 
‘among the living in Jerusalem; 4 when 
the Lord shall have washed away the 
filth of the daughters of Zion, and 
shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem 


10Or, shoot Or, sprout 
2Or, earth 


from the midst thereof, by the “spirit 
of justice, and by the “spirit of burning. 
5 And Jehovah will create over “the 
whole habitation of mount Zion, and 
over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke 
by day, and the shining of a flaming 
fire by night; for over all the glory 
shall be spread a covering. 6 And there 
shall be a pavilion for a shade in the 
daytime from the heat, and for a refuge 
and for a covert from storm and from 
rain. 


5Or, blast 
"Or, every dwelling place 


8Or, missing. 
4Or, unto life 


Vers. 2-6. “THE GLORIOUS CONDITION OF THE FUTURE KINGDOM. 


Ver. 2. The division of this and the previous chapter is plainly 
wrong, for verse | is the closing one of the prophecy against the women 
as found in the previous chapter. 


“In that day’’,—This is the same day as that mentioned in verse 1 
and refers back to ‘‘the last days’’ of Chap 2.2, as well as to the calamitous 
times between, on the ground of course that this is all one prophecy, which 
Alexander says is now universally accepted, even by the modern Germans. 


Delitzsch says, ‘“The prophet now proceeds to describe the one great 
day of God at the end of time in its leading features, as beginning with 
judgment but bringing deliverance. 

There are those, however, who contend that these chapters contain 
a series of detached prophecies between the beginning and the closing sec- 
tions, the latter part of Chap. 2 referring to the great judgment of the 
closings days, while Chap. 3, they maintain, refers to pre-Messianic times. 


(Na. Ei. Kop. Ber.) 


“the branch of Jehovah” and “‘the fruit of the land’’,— 

1. These are doubtless two names for the Messiah, denoting perhaps 
His divine and human origin. (V.F. Al. La. Um. Ros. Dre. Cas. 
mie el. Lari:Hen: Cha, Strac. ) 

2. Others say the two expressions are synonomous for the produce 
of the earth. (Ma. Ew. Hof. Hit.) But; 

(a) This is incongruous with the predicates, honorable, glorious, 
sublime, beautiful. 

(b) It is precluded by the addition of the name Jehovah. 

(c) The parallel breaks down because the relation between the 
branch and Jehovah must be the same as that between te 
fruit and the land. 

(d) It is quite unsuited for forming a contrast that would .quite 
outshine the worldly glory hitherto prevailing. 


51 


ISAIAH 


3. Others say the first phrase means spiritual gifts of God in con- 

ie ‘i opposition to temporal and earthly gifts.”’ (C. Ju. Na. 

Schl. 

(a) But the last phrase means the offspring of the earth and so 
must the first one mean the offspring of Jehovah, and this 
expression can only be applied to persons. 

“them that are escaped of Israel’’,—Fausset quite aptly remarks that 
this finds its fulfillment after the fashion of concentric circles, the reference 
being to the elect remnant (Rom. 11.5), (1) in the return from Babylon, 
(2) in the escape from Jerusalem’s destruction under Titus, and (3) in 
the still future assault on Jerusalem and the deliverance of the ‘“‘third part’. 


Ver. 3. “‘he that ts left in Zion... . that remaineth in Jerusalem’ ,— 
e., the “escaped of Israel’ of verse 2, the remnant of grace, says Delitzsch. 

“shall be called holy’’,—He shall not only be hoiy but shall be recog- 
nized as such. 

“written among the living in Jerusalem’’,—The marginal reading, we 
think, carries the idea somewhat better. “The verb has in it the idea of 
“written as destined for’’, and there is always the presupposition of a divine 
“Book of Life.” (CC. ViDONa Al JuyiMn' UUme Ew elo bet acer 
Mic. Ges. Hen. Cle.) Fausset says it refers primarily to the register kept 
of the Jewish families and antitypically to the Book of Life, as in Phil. 
4.3 and Rev. 3.5. 


Ver. 4. “daughters of Zion’’,—The women before mentioned (F. 
Al. Del.), and not the other towns of Judah (Um. Ros. Hen.). 
“blood of Jerusalem’, i. e., the bloodguiltiness of Jerusalem, of the 
people in general, especially the rulers. 
“by the spirit’’,—The word should be capitalized, the reference being 
to the Holy Spirit (C. Al. Ew. Del. Lut.), and not to “‘influence’’ (Ges. 
Hen.) nor to ‘breath’? (Um.). 


Ver. 5. The presence of God, here denoted by the ancient symbol of 
a fiery cloud, is promised to the Israelites of the final redemption-days. 

“over all the glory’’,—1. e., that previously mentioned. 

“a covering’ ,—A promise of refuge and security. (Al. Um. Ew. 
Hen. Del.) Alexander looks for the complete fulfillment of this prophecy 
not, as he says, ‘“‘in the literal Mount Zion or Jerusalem, but in those 
various assemblies or ‘societies of true believers which now possess in 
common the privileges once exclusively enjoyed by the Holy City and the 
chosen race.’ But that there is as well a further and more remote reference 
in the prophecy, as the majority maintain, can scarcely be denied. 


CHAPTER FIVE 


ISRAEL TO REAP THE FRUIT OF HER DISOBEDIENCE. 


A new prophecy, entire in itself, being the concluding discourse of 
the first cycle of prophecy and containing a description of the prevalent 
iniquities of Israel and the judgments which had been or were to be 
inflicted on the people in consequence. 


52 


ISAIAH 


Vers. 1-7. The prophet represents Israel as a vineyard from which 
the Lord had expected the fruits of righteousness, but it had brought 
forth bad fruit. 


Vers. 8-24. What sort of bad fruit is seen in a sixfold woe which is 
pronounced upon the people. 
Vers. 25-30. The devastation foretold is seen first in a figurative 


description of a violent stroke of God’s hand, and then in the shape of 
an invading army before whom Israel disappears, as it were, in total 
darkness. 


Nagelsbach says, ““The prophecy finds its fulfillment in all the 
catastrophes that brought foreign powers against Israel, from the Assyrians 
to the Romans,’’ and with this Delitzsch and practically all others are in 
agreement. 

Nagelsbach furthermore refers the expression, “in that day’’ in verse 
SOmporigerOeG Napali | 7.208.716; 4. land, 4.2, and says,’ that 
hereby is intimated that this prophecy too, shall be fulfilled in the ‘last 


Fe SP 


days’. 

It should, however, by no means be thought necessary to always 
throw the reference in the expression, “in that day’’ to the end-time; 
in this particular instance it quite appropriately refers to the time in 
which the events of the immediately preceding verses are to take place, and 
the primary reference of these is without doubt to the besieging armies of 
the Assyrians. 


CHAPTER SIX 


The Inaugural Vision of the Prophet. 


11 Then said I, Lord, how long? 
And he answered, Until cities be waste 
without inhabitant, and houses without 
man, and the land become utterly waste, 
12 and Jehovah have removed men far 
away, and the forsaken places be many 
in the midst of the land. 13 ‘And if 


1Or, but yet in it shall be a tenth, and it 


there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in 
turn be “eaten up: as a terebinth, and as 
an oak, “whose ‘stock remaineth, when 
they “are felled; so the holy seed is the 
stock thereof. 


“Or, burnt 
3Or, whose substance is in them 
4Or, substance 


shall return, and shall be eaten up 5Or, cast their leaves 


Vers. 11-13. “THE ELECT REMNANT THE GUARANTEE OF A NEW LIFE 
AND A NEW GLORIOUS FUTURE. 


Ver. 11. “Lord, how long’’,—Not how long must he be the 
bearer of this thankless message (Hit.), but how long shall the blindness 
of his people continue. (F. Al.) 

“antil cities be waste’, etc.,—Grotius supposes the allusion is to Sen- 
nacherib’s invasion, while Clericus and Kimchi think it is to that of 
Nebuchadnezzar; but as the foregoing description is repeatedly applied in 
the New Testament to the Jews who were contemporaneous with our 
Saviour, the threatening must be equally extensive and is equivalent to 
saying that the land shall be completely wasted not at one time but 
repeatedly, as Alexander says. 


53 


ISAIAH 


Ver. 12. “the forsaken places be many’’,—The literal rendering 
is, ‘great shall be that which is left in the land’. The reference, however, 
is to the land itself (PF. Al. Del.), and it does not mean therefore that 
“many ruins’ shall be left (Ges.), nor a ‘“‘great vacancy” (Ew.), nor 
that those left in the land shall be multiplied (Sep. Vul.). 


Ver. 13. According to Isaiah not all Israel, but the elect remnant 
alone is destined to salvation. 


“in turn’’,—This is better than “‘return” of the Authorized Ver- 
sion; the tenth left in the land could hardly, says Alexander, be described 
as ee to it. 

“whose stock remaineth’’,—The word for “‘stock’’ is SA; trans- 
lated;**‘substatice:'}'1.e., vitality. CAI. )35 ‘stump. GNa)s sap =aelaree 
“root. (Ds), “trunk (Ges:) > gerni —~" CHita) eistocks “(Foca see re 
etymology of the word and the connection seem to favor “‘substance’’. 
The thought is the same. ‘The stock of the tree when felled of course 
contains this substance, this vitality, etc. 


“the holy seed ts the stock thereof’’,—The remnant of the tenth 
is the stock or the substance from which the nation is to be renewed. 
“However frequently’, says Alexander, “‘the people may seem to be 
destroyed, there shall still be a surviving remnant, a tenth, and however 
frequently this very remnant may appear to perish, there shall still be a 
remnant of the remnant left and this indestructible residuum shall be the 
holy seed, the elect remnant according to grace (Romans 11.5).” 


“There is nothing tougher than the life of this everlasting Jew.” 


Section Two. The Assyrian Oppression and the Coming Messiah. 
> CHAPTERS 7 TO 12. 


Chapters 7 to 12 deal only with the deliverance of Judah from 
Syria and Israel; the subsequent subjection of Judah to Assyria and other 
foreign powers; the final destruction of Judah's enemies, and the advent 
of the Messianic kingdom. 


CHAP TERVEIGH I 


9 ‘Make an uproar, O ye peoples, and 
be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye 
of far countries; gird yourselves, and be 
broken in pieces; gird yourself and be 
broken in pieces. 

1Or, Break, O ye 


Ver. 9. THE ENEMIES OF JUDAH TO BE BROKEN IN PIECES. 


The prophecy refers primarily to the attack of Rezin and Pekah. 
Fausset and Horsley think, ‘‘It probably looks on also to the final con- 
spiracy of Antichrist and his supporters against the Heir of David's throne 
in the latter days and to their overthrow.’’ There is, however, no sufficient 
reason for finding such a reference in connection with the passage under 
discussion. 


54 


ISATAH 


CHAPTER NINE. 





The calamity predicted is not to be perpetual. 


1 *But there shall be no gloom to her 
that was in anguish. In the former 
time he brought into contempt the land 
of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; 


but in the latter time hath he made it 
glorious by the way of the sea, beyond 
the Jordan, *Galilee of the nations, 2 
The people that walked in darkness have 
seen a great light: they that dwelt in the 
land of the “shadow of death, upon 
them hath the light shined. 3 Thou 
hast multiplied the nation, *thou hast in- 
creased their joy: they joy before thee 
according to the joy in harvest, as men 
rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 
For the yoke of his burden, and the 
staff of his shoulder, the rod of his 

1Or, For 

“Or, the district 

8Or, deep darkness 


oppressor, thou hast broken as in the 
day of Midian. 5 For “all the armor of 
the armed man in the tumult, and the 
garments rolled in blood, shall be for 
burning, for fuel of fire. 6 For unto 
us a child is born, unto us a son is 
given; and the government shall be 
upon his shoulder: and his name shall 
be called ‘Wonderful, Counsellor, 
Mighty God, ‘Everlasting Father, Prince 
of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his gov- 
ernment and of peace there shall be no 
end, upon the throne of David, and upon 
his kingdom, to establish it, and to up- 
hold it with justice and with righte- 
ousness from henceforth even for ever. 
The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will per- 
form this. 
5Or, every boot of the booted warrior 


6Or, Wonderful Counsellor 
"Heb. Father of Eternity 


*Another reading is, thou didst not increase 
the joy. 


Vers. 1-7. THE BIRTH AND REIGN OF THE KING OF PEACE. 


Ver. 1. “her that was tn anguish’’,—1i. e., Judah. 

“the land of’’, etc..—TVhe same region is described first by the tribes 
which occupied it, and then by its relative position with respect to the 
river Jordan and the sea, i. e., the sea of Galilee. The country formerly 
most debased was to receive peculiar honor, as explained in the next verse. 
“But’’,—Some take the last verse of the preceding chapter as the beginning 
of the promise and so translate this word ‘‘For’’. (Al. Mi. Ma. Hit. Hen. 
Del.) It is, however, less abrupt to take the preceding words as a threat 
and translate with our text as ““But’’. (Na. Ew. Ros. Ges.) 

“in the latter time’’,—i. e., in Messianic times. 


Ver. 2. “‘The people’’,—i. e., the Galileans just mentioned. (V. 
Al. Na. Ju. Mic. Hend.) The reference is not then to all Israel (Ma.), nor 
to Judah (C. Kim.), nor to the people of Jerusalem (Gro.), nor yet to 
the people of God, the spiritual Israel (Coc.). Of course the reference is 
extended to the whole of Israel. The light came by way of Galilee where 
Christ first and most publicly exercised His ministry. “The verse is descrip- 
tive of a great change from ignorance and misery to illumination and 
enjoyment. 


Ver. 3. “Thou hast multiplied the nation’’,—The reference here 
is to Israel, i. e., to Israel in general, that had melted down to a small 
remnant after their return from captivity. (F. Na. Del. Hit.) 


“they joy before thee’’,—This is to be taken as holy joy, in the sense 
of religious worship. (V.F. Al. Ew. Coc. Hit. Hen. Del.) 

Ver. 4. The reason for this holy joy. 

“thou hast broken’’,—The past is here used for the future in 
prophetic vision and expresses the certainty of the event. 


55 


ISAIAH 


“‘his’’,—Not the oppressor’s (Bar. For.), but Israel’s, the nation’s. 


‘“‘as in the day of Midian’’,—1i. e., when Gideon overthrew Midian, 
suddenly, totally and with the miraculous help of heaven, the reference 
being to that wonderful display of divine power which took place in the 
same part of the land to which this prophecy refers. 


That this prediction refers primarily to the times of the coming 
Messiah is evidenced beyond doubt by content of verse 6. 

Alexander says, ‘This promise was not fulfilled in the deliverance 
of the Jews from Babylon (C.), nor in the destruction of Sennacherib’s 
army (Gro.), nor in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus (Mi.), but 
it was fulfilled in the glorious deliverance of the Gentiles (the first converts 
to Christianity) and of all who with them made up the true Israel, from 
the heavy burden of the covenant of works, the galling yoke of the Mosaic 
law, the service of the Devil, and the bondage of corruption.” 


Many authorities, on the other hand, think we are warranted in 
seeing with Fausset and others a reference in these verses to the days of 
the final Antichrist. Fausset says, ‘“The deliverance referred to was not 
only that of Ahaz and Judah from the Assyrian tribute (II Kings 16.8) 
and of Israel (the ten tribes) from the oppressor (II Kings 15.19), but 
of the Jewish Christian Church from its last great enemy. As Gideon, 
with a handful of men conquered the Midian hosts, so Messiah and the 
small Israel under Him shall overthrow the mighty hosts of the Anti- 
christ, containing the same contrast, and alluding also to the ‘Assyrian’, 
the then enemy of the Church, as here in Isaiah the type of the last great 
enemy. 

Horsley says, “The prophet sees in a vision a shifting scene compre- 
hending at one glance the history of the Christian Church to the remotest 
times—a land dark and thinly peopled—lit up by a sudden light—filled 
with new inhabitants—then struggling with difficulties and again deliv- 
ered by the utter and final overthrow of their enemies.”’ 

Again we are confronted with the question of a spiritual or literal 
interpretation. 


Ver. 5. “rolled in blood’’,—Not merely dyed (Hit.), but stained 
with the blood of conflict. 


“for fuel of fire’’,——Fire is mentioned merely as a powerful consum- 
ing agent to express the abolition of the implements of war. ‘The com- 
plete fulfillment of the prediction, says Alexander, will only be when the 
lion and the lamb lie down together. 


Ver. 6. The child here predicted refers of course to Christ. By 
many it is explained to be Hezekiah (Ja. Kim. Gro. Pau, Ges. Hens. 
Hend.). But this is exegetical helplessness of a pathetic sort, and the view 
is even rejected by such modern Germans as Eichorn, Umbreit, Ewald and 
Hitzig. 


Ver. 7. “‘peace’’",-The Hebrew word denotes not only peace as 
opposed to war, but welfare and prosperity. The angel choir proclaiming 
His birth sang of this peace and good will. 


“there shall be no end’’,—1. e., it is to be both universal and eternal. 
56 


ISAIAH 


“upon the throne of David’’,—The Prince was to be a descendant 
of David. 


“judgment’’,—i. e., righteous government. 


‘justice’ ,—1i. e., righteousness which He practices and transmits to 
the members of His kingdom. 


CHAPTER TEN 


Vers. 1-4. The prophet first completes his picture of the prevailing 
iniquity of his people and then threatens as a punishment the death and 
deportation which is to come through the invasion of the Assyrian army. 


Vers. 5-19. The predicted judgment of Jehovah upon Assyria who 
has been but a rod in His hand for the chastisement of Israel. 


Vers. 20-23. 

20 And it shall come to pass in that God. 22 For though thy people, 
day, that the remnant of Israel, and they Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a 
that are escaped of the house of Jacob, remnant ‘of them shall return: a de- 
shall no more again lean upon him that struction is determined, overflowing 
smote them, but shall lean upon Jeho- with righteousness. 23 For a full end, 
vah. The Holy One of Israel, in truth. and that determined, will the Lord, 
21 A remnant shall return, even the Jehovah of hosts, make in the midst of 
remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty all the “earth. 

1Heb. zm 2 
"Or, land 


Vers. 20-23. “THE BELIEVING REMNANT RESTORED. 


Ver. 20. “tn that day’’,—1i. e., in the day when the destruction of 
Assyria just foretold has taken place. ‘‘The prediction, however,’’ says 
Alexander, ‘‘although it began then to be fulfilled did not receive its final 
fulfillment before Christ’s appearance.”’ 

Scofield refers the expression to “‘the day of the Lord,” and says, ‘“The 
prophecy here passes from the general to the particular, from historic and 
fulfilled judgments upon Assyria to the final destruction of all Gentile 
world-power at the return of the Lord in glory.’’ The vision here, he 
says, is that of the Jewish remnant in the great tribulation. 


“the remnant of Israel’’,—The reference is to those who shall be left 
after the invasion of the Assyrian army, although in keeping with the 
idea of continuous fulfillment it must refer, as Alexander says, as well to 
those left after the Babylonian captivity and as well to the remnant ac- 
cording to the election of grace. (Romans 11.5.) 

Fausset says, “‘Fulfilled in part in the days of pious Hezekiah; but 
from the future aspect under which Paul in Romans 9.27,28 regards the 
prophecy, the ‘remnant’ who ‘stay upon the Lord’ probably will receive 
their fullest realization in the portion of the Jews left after the Antichrist 
shall have been overthrown, who shall ‘return to the Lord’. (Zeph. 3.12; 
ection) 259-1 0,,) "7 


“lean upon him’’,—1i. e., upon the Assyrian, who here stands also as 
the representative of foreign help in general. 


Ver. 21. ‘“‘The remnant shall return’ ,—Fausset remarks, ‘‘As the 
Assyrians in the reign of Sennacherib did not carry Judah (the house of 


a, 


ISAIAH 


Jacob) away captive, the returning remnant cannot mainly refer to this 
time.”’ 


: Alexander says, “‘It really means those who should survive God's 
judgments threatened in this prophecy, not merely the Assyrian invasion 
or the Babylonian captivity, but the whole series of remarkable events 


including the destruction and the dispersion of the nation by the Romans 
under Titus.”’ 


Ver. 22. “For though thy people be’’,—(Lut. Ges. Bar.) Others 
prefer ‘‘shall be,’’ as referring to the ancient promise of Gen. 13.16 (C. Lo. 
Al. Coc.), while still others (D. Ew. Um. Hit. Del. Aug. Hend.) render, 
“For even if thy people were’. 


“thy people’’,—The whole race, and neither Judah nor Israel alone. 
“a destruction is determined’’,—i. e., of the majority of them. 


“righteousness’’,—The meaning is not that of “piety’’ or “‘virtue”’ 
(C. Gro.), but rather that of retributive and punitive justice. (F. V. Al. 
Ma. Del.) 


Ver. 23. “a full end’”’,—i. e., a thorough destruction or con- 
sumption. 


“all the earth’’,—The judgment is to be a universal one of which 
that on Israel is a central constituent. 


Vers. 24-27. Now comes a renewed prediction of severe judgment 
upon Assyria like that which came on Midian at Oreb and on Egypt at 
the Red Sea. 


Vers. 28-32. Scofield would have us believe that these verses de- 
scribe the approach of the Gentile hosts to the battle of Armageddon, but 
this appears as somewhat strained, and it is much simpler to take this 
section as describing the march of the Assyrians under ‘Sennacherib against _ 
Jerusalem. (F,. Na. Al. Del.) This latter may, however, serve as a type 
of the former. 


Vers. 33-34. These verses relate doubtless to the destruction of 
Sennacherib’s army, rather than to the destruction of the Gentile hosts. 
under the Beast as described in Revelation 19.20, as Scofield would have us 
take it. 


CHAP LERTELEVEN 


1 And there shall come forth a shoot ness shall he judge the poor, and decide 
out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch with equity for the meek of the “earth; 
out of his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And and he shall smite the ‘earth with the 
the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon rod of his mouth; and with the breath 
him, the spirit of wisdom and under- of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5° 
standing, the spirit of counsel and And righteousness shall be the girdle of 
might, the spirit of knowledge and of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of 
the fear of Jehovah. 3 And ‘his “de- his loins. 
light shall be in the fear of Jehovah; 6 And the wolf shall dwell with the 
and he shall not judge after the sight lamb, and the leopard shall lie down 
of his eyes, neither decide after the hear- with the kid; and the calf and the young 
ing of his ears; 4 but with righteous- lion and the fatling together; and a 

mite shall be of quick understanding 3Or, land 

"Heb. scent 


58 


ISAIAH 


little child shall lead them. 7 And the 
cow and the bear shall feed; their young 
ones shall lie down together; and the 
lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And 
the suckling child shall play on the hole 
of the asp, and the weaned child shall 
put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
my holy mountain; for the earth shall 
be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, 
as the waters cover the sea. 

10 And it shall come to pass in that 
day, that the root of Jesse, that stand- 
eth for an ensign of the peoples, unto 
him shall the nations seek; and his rest- 
ing-place shall be ‘glorious. 

11 And it shall come to pass in that 
day, that the Lord *will set his hand 
again the second time to “recover the 
remnant of his people, that shall re- 
main, from Assyria, and from Egypt, 
and from Pathros, and from Cush, and 
from Elam, and from Shinar, and from 
Hamath, and from the “islands of the 


"Heb. glory 
"Or, will again the second time recover with 


sea. 12 And he will set up an ensign 
for the nations, and will assemble the 
outcasts of Israel, and gather together 
the dispersed of Judah from the four 
corners of the earth. 13 The envy also 
of Ephraim shall depart, and they that 
vex “Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim 
shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall 
not vex Ephraim. 14 And they shall 
fly down upon the shoulder of the 
Philistines on the west; together shall 
they despoil the children of the east: 
they shall put forth their hand upon 
Edom and Moab; and the children of 
Ammon shall obey them. 15 And Je- 
hovah will ‘utterly destroy the tongue 
of the Egyptian sea; and with his 
scorching wind will he wave his hand 
over the River, and will smite it into 
seven streams, and cause men to march 
over dryshod. 16 And there shall be a 
highway for the remnant of his people, 
that shall remain, from Assyria; like as 
there was for Israel in the day that he 
came up out of the land of Egypt. 


5Or, ix Judah 
®Heb. devote 


his hand 
8Or, purchase See Ex. 15, 16. 
AG yr coast-lands 


Vers. 1-16. THE KINGDOM OF DAVID AND How IT WILL BE ESTAB- 
LISHED. 


‘This chapter,’ says Scofield, ‘is a prophetic picture of the glory of 
the future kingdom. ‘This is the kingdom announced by John the Bap- 
tist as ‘at hand’. It was then rejected, but will be set up when David's 
Son returns in glory. ‘That nothing of this occurred at the first coming 
of Christ is evident from a comparison of the history of the times of Christ 
with this and all other parallel prophecies. So far from regathering dis- 
persed Israel and establishing peace in the earth, His crucifixion was soon 
followed by the destruction of Jerusalem, and the utter scattering of the 
Palestinian Jews amongst the nations of the world.”’ 


Ver. 1. “the stock of Jesse’’,—The reference is to the “‘stump”’ 
(F. Al. Del.), showing the depressed state of the house of David. It 
should not therefore be translated “‘seed’’ (Ab.), nor ‘‘root’’ (Sep.), nor 
“trunk’’ (Ges. Hit. Hend.). Jesse is used here instead of David to inti- 
mate perhaps that David’s stock will be reduced to its rank previous to the 
sai of David when it was only the stock of the obscure citizen of Beth- 
lehem. 


The reference is not to Hezekiah (Ab. Hend.), because he was already 
born, and his house was not in the condition here described. Nor is the 
reference to Zerubbabel, nor to the Maccabees, who were not even descend- 
ants of Jesse, nor to an ideal Messiah (D. Ei. Ew. Hit. Ges. Bau. Ros.), 
but to Jesus Christ. 


Ver. 2. “the Spirit of Jehovah’’,—The general designation of the 
self-same Spirit afterwards described in detail, He being the author of what 


59 


ISAIAH 





thus rests upon Christ. It is an old opinion that the seven Spirits of 
Revelation have reference to the seven Spirits of this verse. 


Ver. 3. “his delight’’,—The Hebrew word means to delight in the 
odor of a thing, literally to “‘scent’’, and the meaning is that the fear of 
the Lord is fragrance to Him. 


“he shall not judge’, etc..—His decisions shall not rest upon mere 
external appearances or hearsay. 


Ver. 4. “the breath of his lips’’,—This has been taken to mean a 
sentence of death (Coc. Hit. Cle. Hend.), as a natural expression of anger 
(D. Ges.) , as a secret influence producing conviction (V. Aba. Kim.), but 
the proper thought seems to be that a word of his mouth, or a mere breath, 
as something even less than a word, is sufficient to effect His purpose. (C. 
Al. Ew.) | 

Fausset says, ‘“The everlasting deliverance under the Messiah’s reign 
spoken of in this chapter refers not merely to His first coming but chiefly 
to His second coming. It implies that the earth will be very wicked when 
He shall come to judge and reign. His reign shall therefore be ushered in 
with judgments upon the apostates. He, as the word of God, comes to 
strike that blow which shall decide His claim to the kingdom, previously 
usurped by Satan and the Beast to whom Satan delegates his power. It 
will be a day of judgment to the Gentile dispensation as the first coming 
was to the Jews.” 

Alexander says, “‘Paul in I Thess. 2.8 applies these words with little 
change to the destruction of Antichrist at the second coming of Christ. It 
does not follow, however, that this is a specific and exclusive prophecy of 
that event, but only that it comprehends it, as it evidently does.”’ 


Ver. 6. This and the next two verses have been taken in three dif- 
ferent-ways: 


1. As literal, but only a beautiful dream and wish never to be real- 
ized. Rationalistic interpreters. 


2. “‘A literal change in the relation of animals to man and to each 
other, restoring the state in Eden, is the most likely interpreta- 
One wae 

3. As wholly metaphorical, describing the peace to be enjoyed by 
God’s people under the new dispensation. (C. V. Al. Hen. Del. 
Lut. Schm., and the early Fathers. ) 

One of the advocates of this last view (Naylor) remarks, ‘‘Any one 
with physiological knowledge of the difference between the structure of 
herbivorous and carnivorous animals, or with any knowledge of dentistry, 
will at once see that the lion could no more eat straw like an ox than he 
could fly to the moon; even if. his teeth were changed so that he could 
masticate the straw, it would prove fatal to him, since he could by ‘no 
means digest or assimilate it. This is simply a figure of the peace that 
would come to humanity as a result of Christ’s coming as a Saviour into 
the world. It is true now.” 

Campbell Morgan, however, remarks concerning these verses, ‘“You 
cannot spiritualize that passage. It is a plain statement of the fact that, 
under the sway of the Redeemer, the ferocity of wild beasts shall depart, 
and nature itself shall feel the blessed influence of the reigning Prince of 


60 


ISAIAH 


Peace. I have been asked whether this Golden Age will be marked by 
dietetic abstinence from flesh. While I do not believe in vegetarianism for 
today, except under certain conditions, I may express the belief that nature 
itself will then be free from everything that savours of cruelty; for ‘they 
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain’. Certain it is that 
the lower animals will be vegetarians, for ‘The lion shall eat straw like 


rE ss 6 


an ox’, (See Nagelsbach in Lange’s Commentary on Isaiah, page 163.) 


Ver. 8. “the hole of the asp’’,—The word “hole’’ as well as the 
word “‘den”’ properly denotes a cavity admitting light and no doubt the 
reference in each case is to the beautiful eye of the serpent and the cockatrice. 


Ver. 9. “my holy mountain”’,—i. e., Mount Zion, and Jerusalem 
in particular, 


“for j—4. ¢., because, 


Ver. 10. “a root of Jesse’’,—The literal is ‘“‘root-sprout’’; it is the 
root of Jesse, now under ground, as it were. 


“the nations’’,—1. e., the Gentiles. 


“his resting place shall be glorious’’,—The reference is not to the rest 
(A-V) which He gives to His people, but to His residence, the place where 
He resides, in which He dwells, 1. e., His Kingdom. 


Ver. ll. “‘set his hand a second time to recover the remnant’’,— 
‘The remnant here refers to those living at the time the deliverance takes 
place, or more restrictedly to the remnant according to grace. (C. Al.) 


“a second time’’,—'‘‘Therefore’’, says Fausset, ‘‘the coming restora- 
tion of the Jews is to be distinct from that after the Babylonian captivity, 
and yet to resemble it. The first restoration was literal; therefore shall 
the second be; the latter, however, to be much more universal as is here 
implied.”’ 

Thus also Blackstone who says, ‘‘In the first restoration only those 
who were minded came back from Babylon (Ezra 7.13); but in the future. 
or second restoration, not one will be left. (Deut. 30.4; Isa. 43.5-7; Ezek. 
34.11-13; Ezek. 39.28-29.) In the first restoration it was members of 
the two tribes who returned; in the second, or future restoration it will be 
both the two and the ten tribes. (Jer. 3.18; Ezek. 36.10; 37.15-22.) At 
the first restoration they returned to be overthrown and driven out again; 
but in the second they shall return to remain, no more to go out. (Amos 
OMlorals zeke +. 20;418a, 00,15,16; 49.22,235.Mici.4.1,2 3 Zech. 8.20-23:; 
14.16.) In the first restoration, because of their blindness they rejected 
and crucified Jesus; but in the future restoration they shall repent of all 
this and have clean hearts and accept Christ who shall be their Saviour. 
Aree ehO0-1 4s, Jere3.1.9710:33% Ezek:.36:24-28; 37.23-27;.34.23,24; 
ere 2313760.) ; 

Scofield remarks here, ‘‘Comment upon a passage so explicit should 
be superfluous. I will ask you only to note that the prophet declares the 
restoration here predicted to be the ‘second’; that it cannot refer to the 
partial restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah, from the Babylonian cap- 
tivity, because, first, it is not a deliverance from Assyria only, but the 
regathering of a world-wide dispersion, and, second, because both Israel 
(the ten tribes) and Judah are gathered. Ezra and Nehemiah, as is well 
known, led back only a remnant of Judah with a few Levites.”’ 


61 


ISAIAH 


Alexander says, “‘It is not second in reference to the return from 
Babylon, but to the deliverance from Egypt. The complete fulfillment is 
to be expected only when all Israel shall be saved. The dispersion spoken 
of was not merely such as had taken place already at the date of the pre- 
diction (Ges.), but others still in the future (Hen.), including not only 
the Babylonian exile, but the present dispersion.”’ 


The countries mentioned are put for all in which the Jews should be 
scattered. The event prefigured is, according to Fausset, Keith and many 
others, the still future return of the Jews to Palestine, while by others (C. 
V. Hen.) it is their admission to Christ’s kingdom on repentance and the 
reception of the Christian faith. Alexander thinks the prediction must be 
figuratively understood because the nations mentioned in this verse have 
long since ceased to exist. 


Ver. 12. ‘‘nations’’,—The Gentile nations, not especially those 
holding captive the Jews, as if calling them to release the captives and assist 
them in returning, but the call shall be to Gentile nations in general to 
come themselves. 


“the outcasts of Israel’’,—The dispersed of the ten tribes are so called 
because they have been longer and more utterly cast away. 


Ver. 13. “they that vex Judah’’,—i. e., those in Ephraim. 


“That this prediction was not fulfilled in the return from exile is 
sufficiently notorious: That it had not been fulfilled when Christ came is 
plain from the continued enmity between the Jews, the Samaritans and 
the Galileans. “The only fulfillment it has ever had is in the abolition of 
all national and sectional distinctions in the Christian Church. Its full 
accomplishment is yet to come in the reunion of the tribes under Christ 


CEOs ss) Lysate) 
Ver. 14. “‘the children of the east’’,—1i. e., the Arabians. 


Ver. 15. “‘the tongue of the Egyptian sea’’,—This is the narrow 
gulf in which the Red Sea terminates to the northwest near Suez through 
which the Israelites passed when they left Egypt. 


“with his scorching wind’’,—Literally, “‘in the glowing puff of His 
breath.” 


“smite tt into seven streams’ ,—1. e., the River Euphrates to be divided 
into many smaller ones, as Cyrus divided the Gyndes, so as to be easily 
forded. Egypt and Assyria were the two greatest powers from which 
Israel had suffered and from which she was yet to be delivered, and the 
thought emphasized here is that all obstacles to return shall be removed, 
and this is set forth by strong figures drawn from the earliest history of 
the Israelites. 


Ver. 16. © The fulfillment of this and the other verses has been sought 
by some in the return from Babylon; by others in the general progress of 
the Gospel, and by others still in the future restoration of the Jews. 

The return from Babylon was of course only a partial fulfillment, 
but against the last named view Alexander urges the figurative expressions 
of the destroying the tongue of the Red Sea, etc. 


62 


ISAIAH 





CHAPTER TWELVE 


This is a Thanksgiving hymn of the restored and converted Jews. 
Scofield and many others think it belongs to the time of the Millennial 
kingdom, but this of course depends upon the view that one takes of the 
preceding chapter, as it is quite certain that the expression ‘‘in that day”’ 
makes it contemporaneous with the same expression in that chapter. 


Section Three. Prophecies Concerning the Heathen; Their Judgment and 


Their Salvation. 
CHAPTERS 13 TO 23 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


1 The ‘burden of Babylon, which 


Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. 
2 Set ye up an ensign upon the bare 


mountain, lift up the voice unto them, 
wave the hand, that they may go into 
the gates of the nobles. 3 I have com- 
manded my consecrated ones, yea, I 
have called my mighty men for mine 
anger, even “my proudly exulting ones. 
4 The noise of a multitude in the 
mountains, as of a great people! the 
noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of 
the nations gathered together! Jehovah 
of hosts is mustering the host for the 
battle. 5 They come from a far coun- 
try, from the uttermost part of heaven, 
even Jehovah, and the weapons of his 
indignation, to destroy the whole land. 


6 Wail ye; for the day of Jehovah is 
at hand; as destruction from ‘the Al- 
mighty shall it come. 7 Therefore shall 
all hands be feeble, and every heart of 
man shall melt: 8 and they shall be 
dismayed; *pangs and sorrows shall take 
hold of them; they shall be in pain as a 
woman in travail: they shall look in 
amazement one at another; their faces 
shall he faces of flame. 9 Behold, the 
day of Jehovah cometh,. cruel, with 
wrath and fierce anger; to make the 
land a desolation, and to destroy the 
sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the 
stars of heaven and the constellations 
thereof shall not give their light; the 
sun shall be darkened in its going forth, 
and the moon shall not cause its light 
to shine. 11 And I will punish the 
world for their evil, and the wicked 
for their iniquity: and I will cause the 
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and 
will lay low the haughtiness of the 


10r, oracle concerning 

2Or, them that exult in my majesty 

3Heb. Shaddai. See Gen. 17.1. 

‘Or, they shall take hold of pangs and sor- 
rows. 


63 


terrible. 12 I will make a man more 
rare than fine gold, even a man than the 
pure gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore | 
will make the heavens to tremble, and 
the earth shall be shaken out of its 
place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, 
and in the day of his fierce anger. 14 
And it shall come to pass, that as the 
chased °roe, and as sheep that no man 
gathereth, they shall turn every man to 
his own people, and shall flee every man 
to his own land. 15 Every one that is 
found shall be thrust through; and 
every one that is “taken shall fall by the 
sword. 16 Their infants also shall be 
dashed in pieces before their eyes; their 
houses shall be rifled, and their wives 
ravished. 

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes 
against them, who shall not regard sil- 
ver, and as for gold, they shall not de- 
light in it. 18 And their bows shall 
dash the young men in pieces; and they 
shall have no pity on the fruit of the 
womb; their eye shall not spare chil- 
dren. 19 And Babylon, the glory of 
kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ 
pride, shall be as when God overthrew 
Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall 
never be inhabited, neither shall it be 
dwelt in from generation to generation: 
neither shall the Arabian pitch tent 
there; neither shall shepherds make their 
flocks to lie down there. 21 But wild 
beasts of the desert shall lie there; and 
their houses shall be full of doleful 
creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, 
and wild goats shall dance there. 22 
And ‘wolves shall ‘cry\in their castles, 
and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and 
her time is near to come, and her days 
shall not be prolonged. 


5Or, gazelle 

SOr, joined thereunto 
THeb. howling creatures 
8Or, auswer 


ISAIAH 


Vers. 1-22. “THE JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED ON THE BABYLONIAN EM- 
PIRE AND THE FINAL OVERTHROW AND DESTRUCTION 
OF BABYLON HERSELF, THROUGH THE CONQUESTS OF 
THE MEDES AND PERSIANS. 


In speaking of the day of'the Lord that is to come upon Babylon, 
the prophet in verses 9 to 13 seems to use language, as Horsley says, which 
can only primarily and partially apply to Babylon, but which applies more 
buy ead exhaustively to the judgments to come hereafter upon the whole 
world. 


Scofield remarks, ‘‘The city, Babylon, is not in view here, as the im- 
mediate context shows. It is the political Babylon which is in view, liter- 
ally as to the then existing city, and symbolically as to the times of the 
Gentiles. By political Babylon is meant the Gentile world-system. In 
Revelation religious Babylon, apostate Christianity, is destroyed by political 
Babylon (Rev. 17.16), and political Babylon is destroyed by the coming 
of the Lord in glory (Rev. 19.19-21). Verses 12 to 16 of our chapter 
look forward to the Apocalyptic judgments (Rev. 6-13). Verses 17-22 
have both a near and a far view. They predict the destruction of literal 
Babylon then existing and this has been literally fulfilled. But the place 
of this prediction in a great prophetic strain which looks forward to the 
destruction of both politico-Babylon and ecclesio-Babylon in the time of 
the Beast shows that the destruction of the actual Babylon typifies the 
greater destruction yet to come upon the mystical Babylon.”’ 

That the chapter has such a typical reference we have no reason to 
doubt, but there is less reason to doubt that its primary reference is to 
the downfall of the literal Babylon existing in the days of the prophet. 
Alexander puts the matter thus: ‘“The truth, however, seems to be, first, 
that the downfall of Babylon, an opponent and persecutor of the ancient 
Church, affords a type of emblem of the destiny of all opposing powers 
under the new ‘Testament; and, secondly, that in consequence of this 
analogy the Apocalyptic prophecies apply the name Babylon to the Anti- 
christian power. But these Apocalyptic prophecies are new ones, not 
interpretations of the one before us.’’ But surely if it is a type of the one 
it is equally a type of the other. 

Nagelsbach says, ‘‘Isaiah regards the judgment against Babylon as 
the germ-like beginning of ‘the day of the Lord’ in general.” 


Ver. 1. ““burden’’,—i. e., a weighty or mournful prophecy, heavy 
because the wrath of God is in it. 


Ver. 2. “upon the bare mountain’ ,—From such a height the banner 
could be seen from afar to rally the people against Babylon. 


“shake the hand’’,—1. e., beckon the nations on toward their march 
against the city. 


‘The pronoun “‘them’’ refers to the Medes and the Persians, while ““the 
nobles”’ refers to the Babylonians. 


Ver. 3. “‘my consecrated ones’’,—The warriors are so called because 
the war is a holy one. 


Ver. 5. “‘from a far country’’,—i. e., from Media and Persia. 
“from the end of heaven’’,—This is not perhaps a geographical 


64 


ISAIAH 


description, but a statement as to from what point he sees them coming, 
‘i. e., from the remotest point in sight, the boundary line of the horizon. 


“the whole land’ ,—i. e., of Babylonia. 


Nagelsbach thinks it is quite improbable that by the expressions in 
this verse Isaiah would designate the Medes and Persians. With regard to 
the expression, “‘the whole land’’, he says, ‘“The end that the Lord will 
accomplish by means of ‘the weapons of His indignation’ is to overturn 
‘the whole earth’. ‘The whole earth! For this judgment on Babylon 
belongs to ‘the day of the Lord’. It is thus an integral part of the world’s 
judgment.” 


Ver. 6. “the day of Jehovah’’,—i. e., the day of His vengeance on 
Babylon, and a type of the future ‘“‘day of wrath.” 


Says Nagelsbach, “Here we see in verses 6 to 8 how plainly the 
prophet would represent the judgment on Babylon as a part of the world’s 
judgment. For the traits that now follow are entirely taken from the 
descriptions of the world’s judgments as we meet them already in the older 
Prophets, and as, on the other hand, the later New Testament descriptions 
of the great day of judgment connect with our present one.”’ 


Ver. 9. “cruel with wrath and fierce anger’’,—i. e., unsparingly 
just; opposed to mercy. 


“to lay the land desolate’’,—1. e., as in verse 5, the land of Babylonia, 
primarily of course. Some make it the earth without reservation. (Ew. 
Um. Sep.), while Knobel understands the term as an allusion to the uni- 
versal sway of the Babylonian Empire. 


Ver. 10. Here is the usual description or the usual Scriptural char- 
acteristics of the “‘day of the Lord’’—any day of His judgment. Here it 
must. be figurative for anarchy, distress and revolutions of kingdoms, 
“although,”’ says Fausset, “‘there may be a literal fulfillment finally, shad- 
owed forth under this imagery.”’ (Rev. 21.1.) 


Ver. 11. “the world’’,—This is doubtless a poetical equivalent for 
Babylon as embracing most of the then known world, although the wider 
reference usual to the prophecy may also be included. 


Ver. 12. Scofield would make this verse refer to the Jewish remnant 
in the great tribulation, and the next verse to that tribulation period itself. - 
But this seems somewhat strained and arbitrary. The reference is doubt- 
less to the scarcity of men in consequence of the slaughter of Babylon’s 
defenders, while verse 13 is to be taken in the same sense as verse 10. 


Ver. 17. Here we are made aware for the first time who are to be 
the executors of God’s judgment against Babylon. 


“shall not regard silver . . nor delight in gold’’,—‘‘In vain’’, says 
Fausset, ‘will one try to buy his life from them for a ransom.’ ‘“The 
Prophet intimates’, says Nagelsbach, ‘‘that they are impelled by higher 
motives than common love of booty—perhaps a thirst for revenge (Del.), 
but they might also have their source in an impulse to fulfill some mission 
of which they were unconscious.”’ 


65 


ISAIAH 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 


1 For Jehovah will have compassion 
on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, 
and set them in their own land: and the 


them, and bring them to their place; 
and the house of Israel shall possess 
them in the land of Jehovah for serv- 
ants and for handmaids: and they shall 


sojourner shall join himself with them, take them captive whose captives they 
and they shall cleave to the house of were; and they shall rule over their 


Jacob. 2 And the peoples shall take opptessors. 
Vers. 1,2. _BABYLON’S DESTRUCTION AND ISRAEL’S RESTORATION AND 
EXALTATION. 
Ver. 1. “will yet choose’’,—i. e., choose again; still treat them as 


His chosen, their restoration being grounded on their election. 


“the strangers shall be joined with them’’,—The reference is here to 
the proselytes from the heathen who had joined themselves to Israel. “An 
earnest’’, says Fausset, ‘‘of the future effect on the heathen world of the 
Jews’ spiritual restoration.”’ 


Ver. 2, The meaning is that the people of Babylon will bring the 
Jews back to their own land, i. e., to the land of the Jews, the ‘‘they’’ in 
the latter half of the verse referring to the Jews. 


“shall possess them’’,—1i. e., the Gentiles. 


Cocceius, at one extreme, finds the whole fulfillment in the final 
deliverance of the Christian Church from persecution in the Roman empire, 
while Clericus, at the other, applies it to the number of fore servants 
that the Jews brought back from exile. 


Calvin and Fausset make the change predicted an altogether moral 
and spiritual one, the conquest of the true religion over those who were 
once its physical oppressors. 


The fact is there is a twofold fulfillment, the lower physical one in 
the literal exchange of places, as between the Jews and their oppressors, 
which took place upon the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity, 
and the higher spiritual one which is yet to be accomplished, but ‘“‘not with 
respect to the Jews as a people’, says Alexander, “‘for their pre-eminence 
has ceased forever, but with respect to the Church, including Jews and 
Gentiles, which has succeeded to the rights and privileges, promises and 
actual possessions of God’s ancient people.”’ 


As to whether it is to have a still future literal fulfillment Apenas 
upon one’s method of treating the whole line of such prophecies. 


Vers. 4-23. 


Scofield, not without considerable strain in his exegesis, gives a future 
setting to the whole of the chapter; the first seven verses referring to the 
Millennial kingdom as set up; verses 7 and 8 to the joy of that kingdom; 
verses 9 to 11 to the mystical Babylon, the beast in hell; verses 12 to 17 
to an address by the Beast to Satan in hell (to what purpose?) ; verses 18 
to 23 to the judgment on mystical Babylon in the final world-battle. 

‘These verses, however, in their entirety are with far greater simplicity 
and consistency referred to the king and people of Babylon, Lucifer, in 


66 


ISRAEL’S SONG OF TRIUMPH OVER HER FALLEN ENEMY. 


ISATAH 


verse 12, meaning merely “‘the shining one’, “‘the bright star’, “‘the morn- 
ing star’, which in Latin is called “‘lucifer’’, and there is therefore no occa- 
sion for the popular perversion of this beautiful name to signify the Devil. 
Fausset says, “The language is so framed as to apply to the Babylonian 
king primarily, and at the same time to shadow forth through him, the 
great final enemy, the man of sin, Antichrist, of Daniel, Saint Paul and 
Saint John; he alone shall fulfill exhaustively all the lineaments here 
given. 


Blackstone says that in Lucifer the Antichrist is seen, of whom the 
king of Babylon was a type, and who weakens the nations, exalts his 
“throne above the stars of God, and sits upon the mount of the congre- 
gation.”’ 


Vers. 24-27. A PROPHECY AGAINST THE ASSYRIAN Host UNDER 
SENNACHERIB. 


This was doubtless given, as Alexander says, as a sort of a pledge 
to accredit the prediction against Babylon, or for the purpose of assuring 
the people that while God had decreed their deliverance from remoter dan- 
gers (Babylonian oppression), He would also protect them from those 
near at hand. 


Ver. 26. ‘“‘purposed upon the whole earth’ ,—‘‘This universality’, 
says Scofield, “‘is significant and marks the whole passage as referring, not 
merely to a near judgment upon Assyria, but in a yet larger sense to the 
final crash of the present world-system at the end of the age.”’ 


Fausset also here remarks, ‘“This is a hint that the prophecy embraces 
the present world of all ages in its scope, of which the purpose concerning 
Babylon and Assyria, the then representatives of the world-power, is but 
a Dartawand 


Alexander says, “‘On the supposition that this prophecy relates to 
Assyria alone, we are obliged to understand ‘the whole earth’ and ‘all 
nations as describing the universal sway of this great power at that time 
in question.” 


Vers. 28-32. A PROPHECY AGAINST PHILISTIA. 


This prophecy is a warning to the Philistines who had also suffered 
from the Assyrian power and were disposed to exult unduly because of 
its overthrow, since they were yet to suffer greater bondage. Fausset 
thinks it was given to comfort the Jews lest they should fear the Philistines. 


fine bERSBIE IE EEN 


This chapter, together with the following one form one prophecy 
concerning the downfall of Moab. 

“This burden,’’ says Scofield, ‘‘had a precursive fulfillment in Sen- 
nacherib’s invasion, B. C. 704, three years after the prediction (Isa. 16.14), 
but the words have a breadth of meaning which includes also the final 
world-battle.”’ 


67 


ISAIAH 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


1 Send ye the lambs for the ruler of mine outcasts dwell with thee; as for 
the land from ‘Selah to the wilderness, Moab, be thou a covert to him from the 
unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. face of the destroyer. For “the extor- 
2 For it shall be that, as wandering tioner is brought to nought, destruction 
birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the ceaseth, *the oppressors are consumed out 
daughters of Moab be at the fords of of the land. 5 And a throne shall be 
the Arnon. 3 Give counsel, execute established in lovingkindness; and one 
justice; make thy shade as the night in shall sit thereon in truth, in the tent of 
the midst of the noonday; hide the out- David, judging, and seeking justice, and 
casts; betray not the fugitive. 4 Let swift to do righteousness. 

10r, Petra 2Or, extortion 


3Heb. the treaders down 
Vers. 1-5. “THE DAVIDIC KINGDOM FORESEEN. 


They are, in verse 1, exhorted to send tribute to Jerusalem for the 
reason set forth in verse 2. 


Older writers maintain that these verses as well as the next ones are 
addressed by the prophet to Moab and they are exhorted to submit them- 
selves to Israel and to show mercy to her in her affliction (Moab being one 
of the lands to which Israel is said to have fled when oppressed by Nebu- 
chadnezzar—Jer. 40.11,12), thus preparing for the day of their own 
calamity when the Israelites will be in a position to assist them because 
(the reason being given in the last clause of verse 4 and in verse 5) the 
cessation of all violent oppression is near at hand and the dominion of the 
kingdom of God under one great line of David shall be set up. (V. Na. 
Bar.) The Prophet foresees that Moab will be too proud (verse 6) to 
pay the tribute or to conciliate Judah by sheltering its outcasts; therefore 
judgment shall be executed. 


Others, however, (F. Ho. Ew. Ma. Del. Ges.) take verses 3 and 4 
as the address of the suppliant Moab, asking Israel to show kindness to _ 
her; the outcasts in this case being those of Moab. Verse 5 is then taken 
as a promise to Israel if they shelter the outcasts of Moab. 


There are difficulties attending either explanation, though not serious 
in either case. The latter explanation, which is in agreement with our. 
text, is perhaps to be preferred, in which case it would seem better to take 
the first two verses with Alexander as a mutual exhortation of the Moabites 
to themselves in their confusion and distress. 


Most interpreters, ancient and modern, take the verbs in the last 
clause of verse 4 in the future sense, as is often done in Hebrew, though 
they be in the past tense grammatically. This gives an appropriate sense 
whether the words be addressed to Israel or to Moab. 


Fausset says, ‘““By the time that Moab begins to beg Judah for shelter, 
Judah shall be in a condition to afford it, for the Assyrian oppressor shall 
have been ‘consumed out of the land’.”’ 


Ver. 5. “tn truth’’,—One who is truthful and reliable. ‘“‘A king’’, 
as Delitzsch says, ““who makes truth the criterion of his actions.”’ 


“judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness’ ,—‘‘The 
language is so divinely framed as to.apply to ‘the latter days’ under King 
Messiah when the Lord ‘shall bring again the captivity of Moab’.”’ (F.) 


68 


ISAIAH 


Says Alexander, ‘““The words of verse 5 are intended to include a 
reference to all the good kings of the house of David, not excepting the 
last King of that race, to whom God was to give the throne of his father 
David, who was to reign over the house of Jacob forever and of whose 
kingdom there should be no end.”’ 


_ Scofield says that verses 1-5, which are a continuation of the prophecy 
against Moab, shows the ‘“‘tabernacle of David’’ set up, the next event in 
order after the destruction of the Beast and his armies. 


Says Nagelsbach, “‘Isaiah sees in spirit the end of the world-power, 
therefore the cessation of all violent oppression and the dominion of the 
kingdom of God under a great one of the line of David.” 


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 


A PROPHECY OF DESOLATION ‘TO THE KINGDOMS OF SYRIA AND 
EPHRAIM (verses 1-11), CLOSING WITH A,GENERAL THREATEN- 
ING AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF JUDAH (verses 12-14). 


Here again Scofield says, ‘‘As in the burden of Moab, there was doubt- 
less a near fulfillment in Sennacherib’s approaching invasion, but verses 
‘12 to 14 as evidently look forward to the final invasion and battle of 
Armageddon.”’ 


Chak UPRAEIGH TEEN 


treadeth down, whose land the rivers 
“divide! 
7 In that time shall a present be 


1 Ah, the land ‘of the rustling of 
wings, which is beyond the rivers of 


“Ethiopia; 2 that sendeth ambassadors 
by the sea, “even in vessels of papyrus 
upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift 
messengers, to a nation “tall and smooth, 
to a people terrible from their beginning 


onward, a nation *that meteth out and 
1Or, shadowing with wings 


brought unto Jehovah of hosts from a 
people ‘tall and smooth, even from a 
people terrible from their beginning on- 
ward, a nation that meteth out and 
treadeth down, whose land the rivers 
divide, to the place of the name of 
Jehovah of hosts, the mount Zion. 
°Or, have despoiled 


"Heb. Cush. 

8Or, and 

4Or, dragged away and peeled 

5Or, meted out and trodden-down UHeb. of 
line, line, and of treading down. 


Vers. 1,2)7. 


Ver. 1. The introductory particle in verse 1 is not one that carries 
in it the idea of a threat, but rather one of appeal, a particle of calling, and 
should not be rendered ‘‘Woe,’’ as in the Authorized Version. (F. Al.) 


Ver. 2. On the supposition that the people described in verses 2 
and 7 are Ethiopians; the command to ““Go”’ may be taken, as in our text, 
as a command of the Ethiopians to their own messengers to go and call 
the people to preparation for battle; or the word “‘saying’’ may be omitted, 
and the command be taken as that of the prophet (F. Al. Na. Del.) asking 
the messengers to carry to their own people announcement, either (1) that 


69 


THE DANGER AND DELIVERANCE OF ETHIOPIA. 


ISAIAH 


God Himself would without their help undertake the destruction of the 
common enemy of Israel and Ethiopia (Al.) or (2) that they should 
gather themselves together for the battle. (Na. Del.) 

Of the two explanations the latter in each case is to be preferred. 


Ver. 7. ‘The older view, and especially Jewish, was that the people 
described in this verse and verse 2 were the people of Israel, and that the 
prophecy relates to the restoration of the Jews. The language used is 
supposed to be descriptive of their degraded and oppressed condition. (F. 
Ho. Ew. Kn. Hof. Mei. Sco. Then.) The descriptive language as siglo 
to the Ethiopians refers to their warlike qualities. 


“present be brought unto Jehovah of hosts from a people’, etc.,—Of 
those who refer the two verses in question to the Jews, some refer the 
present to the exiled Jews sent back to Jerusalem by the Ethiopians, while 
Horsley, Fausset and others refer the whole matter to the restoration of the 
Jews in the latter times. 


Fausset says, ‘Horsley is probably right that the ultimate and fullest 
reference of the prophecy is to the restoration of the Jews in the Holy Land 
through the instrumentality of some distant people skilled in navigation, 
perhaps England, which may of course be included in the description of all 
remote lands ‘beyond’ the Nile’s mouths.”’ 


Of those who refer the verses in question to the Ethiopians the present 
is the presentation of the Ethiopians with their gifts by themselves. The 
decision is not an easy one, but the latter one seems by far the better. The 
Ethiopians were then an earnest and partial fulfillment of nae is still to 
take place in larger measure in the future. 


This latter view is that of the older Christian writers and relates itself 
to the calling of the Gentiles. The prophecy as such has never yet come 
true but is being fulfilled throughout this dispensation while it waits for . 
complete fulfillment in the latter days. (See Chap. 66.19.) 


CHAPTER NINETEEN 


This chapter falls easily into two parts, one of which (verses 1-17) 
contains a threatening against Egypt, and the other (verses 18-25) 
promises. 

On the whole it is better to take these last verses in a sense similar to 
the last verses of the preceding chapter, as a prediction of the calling of the 
Gentiles, and to think that just as the prophet had described the downfall 
of Egypt in the first part under figures borrowed from the then actual con- 
dition of Egypt, so in the second part he describes the introduction of the 
true religion by figures drawn from the religious institutions of the old 
economy. 


CHAPTER TWENTY 


This chapter contains a continuation of the subject of the preceding 
one, but at a later date, and relates to the captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia, 


70 


ISAIAH 
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 


This chapter relates to the conquest of Babylon by the Medes and 
Persians (verses 1-10); to the conquest of Edom, or the Arabian tribe 
Dumah (verses 11-12) and finally to that of Arabia herself (verses 
|e a ens 


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 


While the second part of this chapter is devoted to a prediction con- 
cerning an individual, Shebna, who is to be removed from office, the first 
part of the chapter is given to a prediction of the overthrow of Jerusalem 
by the armies of Sennacherib. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 


This chapter also consists of two parts. The first predicts the fall 
of Tyre, of which God is the author and the Chaldeans His instruments; 
the second part relates how Tyre shall be forsaken and forgotten for 
seventy years (verse 15), after which she shall be restored to her former 
flourishing condition (verses 16,17), and her wealth thereafter devoted 
to the Lord. ‘This latter statement seems to be the more reasonable ex- 
planation of verse 18, because otherwise it would be hard to conceive how 
the Lord would restore a nation on which He had inflicted His vengeance, 
in order that it may begin again its old life of harlotry, and how the wages 
of this prostitution could be consecrated to the Lord, since in Deut. 23.18 
it is expressly forbidden to bring the “‘hire of a whore’ into the house of 
the Lord. 

If verse 18 be taken in this sense it must be the mystical Tyre that is 
thought of in this verse, as it was the mystical Ethiopia in Chapter 18 and 
the mystical Egypt and Assyria in Chapter 19, but in either sense this part 
of the prophecy of course waits complete fulfillment in days yet to come. 


Says Fausset, ‘‘Her traffic and her gains shall at last be consecrated to 
Jehovah. Jesus Christ visited the neighborhood of Tyre, Paul founded 
disciples there; it early became a Christian bishopric, but the full evangeli- 
zation of that whole race, as of the Ethiopians themselves (Chap. 18) 
and of the en and Assyrians (Chap. 19) is yet to come (Chap. 
605) < 


Section Four. Prediction of Coming Desolation and Deliverance there- 
from together with Songs and Thanksgiving. 


CHAPTERS 24 TO 27. 


It is by no means easy to determine the principal reference throughout 
this portion of the prophet’s writing. [here are two general views. 

View 1. Delitzsch says, ““The cycle of prophecy that begins here 
finds a counterpart in the Old Testament only perhaps in Zech. 9-14. 
Both of these sections are eschatological and apocalyptic in content.” 


eA | 


ISAIAH 


Fausset says, “The prophet passes to the last times of the world at 
large and of Judah the.representative and future head of the churches. 
The four chapters form one continuous poetical prophecy, descriptive of 
the dispersion and successive calamities of the Jews (Chap. 24.1-12); the 
preaching of the Gospel by the first Jewish converts throughout the world 
(verses 13-16); the judgments on the adversaries of the Church and its 
final triumph (verses 16-23); thanksgiving for the overthrow of the 
apostate faction (Chap. 25); establishment of the righteous in lasting 
peace (Chap. 26); judgment on leviathan and entire purgation of the 
Church (Chap. 27).”’ 


Nagelsbach says, ‘‘The prophet transports himself in spirit to the 
end of all things. He describes the destruction of the world.”’ 


Blackstone says, ‘‘From these chapters an idea may be gained of the 
terrible character of the tribulation period, during which Antichrist will 
also be revealed. Some, especially from the remnant of Israel, will accept 
Christ and become His witnesses, and be slain by the Antichrist. These 
we call the tribulation saints, who are to be raised at the close of the great 
tribulation, as the gleanings of the great harvest of the first resurrection.” 


View 2. On the other hand Alexander, with others, maintains that 
‘the main reference of the prophecy is to the coming Babylonian conquest 
and its outcome, and that the land in question is Palestine. 

There are questions most perplexing, and for which no solution alto- 
gether satisfactory has been found, connected with either view. The view 
of Alexander, at first thought, seems the simpler and more natural, espec- 
ially if we may see in these prophecies a typical or secondary reference to 
final times. 


CHAPTER “TWENTY-FOUR 


THE JUDGMENT UPON THE EARTH FORETOLD. 


1 Behold, Jehovah maketh the ‘earth broken the everlasting covenant. 6 
empty, and maketh it waste, and turn- Therefore hath the curse devoured the 
eth it upside down, and _ scattereth earth, and they that dwell therein are 
abroad the inhabitants thereof. 2 And found guilty: therefore the inhabitants 
it shall be, as with the people, so with of the earth are burned, and few men 
the priest; as with the servant, so with left. 7 The new wine mourneth, the 
his master; as with the maid, so with vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted 
her mistress; as with the buyer, so with do sigh. 8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, 
the seller; as with the creditor, so with the noise of them that rejoice endeth, 
the debtor; as with the taker of inter- the joy of the harp ceaseth. 9 They 
est, so with the giver of interest to him. shall not drink wine with a song; 
3 The earth shall be utterly emptied, strong drink shall be bitter to them that 
and utterly laid waste; for Jehovah hath drink it. 10 The waste city is broken , 
spoken this word. 4 The earth mourn- down; every house is shut up, that no 
eth and fadeth away, the world lan- man may come in. i1 There is a cry- 
guisheth and fadeth away, “the lofty ing in the streets because of the wine; 
people of the earth do languish. 5 The all joy is darkened, the mirth of the 
earth also is polluted under the inhabit- land is *gone. 12 In the city is left 
ants thereof; because they have trans- desolation, and the gate is smitten with 
gressed the laws, violated the statutes, destruction, . 

1Or, Jama (and so in ver 3, 4, &c.) °Heb. gone into captivity 


“Or, the high ones of the people 
TZ 


ISAIAH 


_ Vers 1-12. “THE BEGINNING OF THE JUDGMENT. 


According to view one, the eschatological view, the judgment here is 
upon the earth. It is, as Delitzsch says, ‘‘universal, not merely within the 
borders of Palestine, but as regards the inhabitants of the earth, for the 
word here used means earth, and implies even the New Testament ethical 
idea of kosmos.”’ 

According to view two, that of Alexander and others, by earth is 
here meant Palestine, the word “‘earth’’ and ‘‘world’’ not to be taken in 
their widest sense, but as poetical descriptions of the land of Palestine. 


According to view one the “waste city’’ of verse 10 is the city as the 
center of the world and its alienation from God, the city in general. 

According to view two the reference is to Jerusalem. 

Concerning verses 1 to 12 Nagelsbach says, “If I am to state what 
future events will correspond to this prophecy of the first act of the judg- 
ment of the world, it appears to me that the description of the prophet 
corresponds to what our Lord in His discourse on the last things says of 
the signs of His coming, and of the beginning of sorrows (Matt. 24.6-8; 
Mk. 13.7-8; Lu. 21.9). And the beginning of sorrows corresponds again 
to what the Revelation of John represents under the image of seven seals, 
seven trumpets and seven vials (Rev. 6. sqq.).”’ 


13 For thus shall it be in the midst they shall shout; for the majesty of 
of the earth among the peoples, as the Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. 
‘shaking of an olive-tree, as the glean- 15 Wherefore glorify ye Jehovah in the 
ings when the vintage is done. “east, even the name of Jehovah, the God 

14 These shall lift up their voice, of Israel, in the “isles of the sea. 

1Heb. beating 2Or, lights Or, fires 


80r, coast-lands 
Vers. 13-15. "THE REMNANT AND THEIR SONG. 


Ver. 13. “asthe shaking. . . as the gleanings’’,—These are figura- 
tive expressions for the remnant, the few left after the judgments foretold. 

“in the midst of the earth’’,—Some authorities place a comma after 
“earth’’, thus making “‘among the peoples’ the place where the remnant 
is scattered, but our text emphasizes rather the extent of the desolation 
before described, and is perhaps the smoother reading. 


Ver. 14. ““These’’,—Not the ‘‘nations’’ (Schel.), nor the Jews left 
in Palestine (Bar.), but the remnant, the dispersed survivors of these judg- 
ments. . 


“There will be’’, says Delitzsch, ‘‘as few men left in the great wide 
world as olives and grapes after the principal harvest in each case. “Those 
who are saved belong especially, but not exclusively (Joel 3.5) to Israel. 
The place where they assemble is the land of Promise.”’ 


Alexander, according to view two, confines this remnant of course 
to the dispersed Jews after the Babylonian invasion and conquest. 


“from the sea’’,—1i. e., from the lands beyond the sea whither they 
have escaped. 
Ver. 15. This verse is an exhortation by the prophet to the remnant 
(Al.), and not the song of the remnant continued, as Ewald thinks. 
- “tn the east’’,—The literal is ‘‘fires’’, The weight of exegetical 


73 


ISAIAH 


authority favors the reading of our text, as against ‘‘fires’’ of the Author- 
ized Version, the east being the region of sunrise or of dawning light. 
This corresponds well to the “‘isles of the sea’’, the west. 


16 From the uttermost part of the 
earth have we heard songs: Glory to the 
righteous. 

But I said, *I pine away, I pine away, 
woe is me! the treacherous have dealt 
treacherously; yea, the treacherous have 
dealt very treacherously. 17 Fear, and 
the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, 
O inhabitant of the earth. 18 And it 
shall come to pass, that he who fleeth 
from the noise of the fear shall fall 
into the pit; and he that cometh up out 
of the midst of the pit shall be taken in 
the snare: for the windows on high are 
opened, and the foundations of the earth 
tremble. 19 The earth is utterly brok- 
en, the earth is rent asunder, the earth 

1Heb. Leanness to me. 


is shaken violently. 20 The earth shall 
stagger like a drunken man, and shall 
sway to and fro like a hammock; and 
the transgression thereof shall be heavy 
upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise 
again. 

21 And it shall come to pass in that 
day that Jehovah will *punish the host 
of the “high ones on high, and the kings 
of the earth upon the earth. 22 And 
they shall be gathered together, as pris- 
oners are gathered in the “pit, and shall 
be shut up in the prison; and after many 
days shall they be °*visited. 23 Then 
the moon shall be confounded, and the 
sun ashamed; for Jehovah of hosts will 
reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; 
and before his elders shall be glory. 


"Heb. visit upon 


®Heb. height 
4Or, dungeon 
5Or, punished 


Vers. 16-23. “THE CONSUMMATION OF THE JUDGMENT. 


Ver. 16. “we heard songs’’,—The songs of the remnant in disper- 
sion wafted toward Jerusalem as a distant chorus. 


“glory to the righteous’’,—By “‘righteous’’ is here meant righteous 
men in general (F. Al. Na. Del.), and not God (Hend.). 

Nagelsbach says, ‘‘From the first clause of this verse we perceive that 
the remnant, the elect of God, are hidden in a safe place, gathered. on the 
holy mountain and there find protection (Chap. 4.5), but this is just the | 
occasion for the signal to be given for the occurrence of the last and most 
frightful catastrophe, the judgment on the ungodly.” 


“But I sad’’,—The prophet of course connects himself with the 
blessed experiences of the future, but at once becomes conscious of the suf- 
ferings that must first of all be experienced, and realizing that he cannot 
see these without also experiencing them, he connects himself with them. 
We hear promises and praise but our actual experience is misery. 


“the treacherous’’ ,—1i. e., the foreign nations that oppress Jerusalem. 


Ver. 17. This verse explains the wretchedness spoken of in verse 16. 


“Fear’’,—The Hebrew word denotes a feathered device which when 
fluttered in the air scares the beasts into the pit or the birds into the snares. 


Ver. 18. The prophet is here threatening the guilty earth with 
instant vengeance. 


“the windows on high are opened’’,—Either to produce a deluge, 
with manifest reference to Gen. 7.11 (Al. Del.), or that other weapons of 
his vengeance may descend, wind, fire, thunder, lightning, drought, pesti- 
lence, which also in a sense may be said to descend from heaven (F. Kn. 
Na.). Perhaps, in view of the promise that the earth should not again 
be destroyed by water (Gen. 9.11), the latter explanation is preferable, 
although even so the figure may be drawn from the passage in Genesis, 


74 


ISAIAH 


“the foundations of the earth tremble’’,—The reference here is mani- 
festly to earthquakes. Thus, ‘‘the globe of the earth’’, says Nagelsbach, 
“is assailed from above and from beneath. ‘The reference of the whole 
passage is not a local, but a universal one.”’ 


Ver. 19. Says Delitzsch, ‘The earth first gets fractured, then yawn- 
ing chasms open, once more it sways to and fro, and falls.”’ 


Ver. 20. “it shall fall and not rise agatn’’,—Nagelsbach says, 
“These words are clear proof that the total destruction of the globe of the 
earth in its present form is the subject treated of. In its present form! 
For the earth shall rise again in a higher, holier form beyond the range of 
sin and its consequence, death. For there is a new heaven and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”’ 


Ver. 21. “‘the host of the high ones on high’’,— 


(1) The high earthly potentates. (C. Al. Lut. Hav. Tar.) 
But this plainly destroys the antithesis which is evident in the 
verse. 


(2) The starry host, the heavenly bodies, as in Chap. 34.4. (Sm. 
Um. Hof. Baud.) 
But the idea of personality runs through the entire verse and 
the contrast between inanimate objects and earthly powers for 
the purpose noted, i. e., imprisonment, does not go well to- 
gether. 


(3) The wicked angels, invisible heads of the worldly powers, are 
no doubt intended. (F. Na. Kn. Ab, Del. Hit. Ros.) 


Ver. 22. “‘gathered together as prisoners’’,—The persons meant are 
of course the principalities and powers mentioned in the preceding verse. 


“after many days they shall be visited’’,—This visitation may be in 
mercy CoP He, Pe“ Ew.*Kn.Hit. Luz) Kim:)) or it’may be in wrath 
(Al> Ho. Na. Ei. Um. Del. Ros. Ges: Sco. Mor, Bla. Tor: Hend.). 


Fausset, who takes the visitation as one of mercy, says, ‘The ‘shutting 
up of the Jews in Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and again under 
‘Titus, was to be followed by a visitation of mercy ‘after many days’— 
seventy years in the case of the former—the time is not yet elapsed in the 
case of the latter.”’ 


Those who hold the reference of the prophecy to be to the times of 
the end think here of a visitation of wrath upon the ungodly Gentile world- 
powers. The “‘pit’’, they say (Na. Del.), is used for Sheol, as oftentimes 
Mea 9938.18). 


Nagelsbach says, ‘‘But not merely the binding of those angelic and 
worldly powers, their being set loose for a time is also announced by the 
prophet. Only by a brief, obscure word, probably not seen through by 
himself, does the prophet intimate this. Even we should not understand 
this word if the revelation of the New Testament, which is nearer the time 
of the fulfillment, did not throw light on this dark point. It declares 
expressly that after a thousand years Satan should be loosed out of his 
prison. Isaiah here uses the indefinite ‘after many days’. ‘This visitation 
can be a gracious one, but it can also be a new stage in the visitation of 


75 


ISAIAH 





The setting loose of Satan is only the prelude to his total 
With this Delitzsch and many others are in accord. 


judgment. 
destruction.” 


Ver. 23. Because Jehovah reigns all inferior luminaries were to be 
eclipsed. ‘‘The simple meaning of the verse,’’ says Alexander, “‘appears 
to be that Jehovah’s reign over His people shall be more august than that 
of any created sovereign.’’ The elders, he maintains, are the rulers of 
Israel as the Church. Among the supporters of view one we find Scofield 
referring the content of this verse to the kingdom age, while Nagelsbach 
says, ‘“The earth now becomes the common dwelling place of God and 
man; the heavenly Jerusalem now descends upon the renovated earth, and 
in this city where Jehovah reigns there is no need of sun or moon, for the 
Lord Himself is its light.’’ Delitzsch says, ‘“Then the Lord reigns with 
His own in the New Jerusalem in such glory that the silvery moon shame- 
facedly veils itself, and the glowing sun is confounded with shame, because 
in the presence of such glory the two great lights of heaven will be, accord- 
ing to a Jewish expression, like a lamp in the noontide sunshine. “Then 
shall ‘elders’ after God’s own heart be given to the Israel of the Jerusalem 
of the future.” 

It is evident after careful study that the difficulties attending the 
second view are greater than those of the first, and to this view we are 
inclined—that which takes the passage as foretelling last-time events— 
even though we may not be able to fully comprehend the prophetic words 
in all their detail. What the prophet has left indefinite we must not 
attempt to make specific. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 


1 O Jehovah, thou are my God; I 
will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; 
for thou hast done wonderful things, 
even counsels of old, in faithfulness and 
truth. 2 For thou hast made of a city 
a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a 


thou hast been a stronghold ‘to the poor, 
a stronghold to the needy in his distress, 
a refuge from the storm, a shade from 
the heat, when the blast of the terrible 
ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 
As the heat in a dry place wilt thou 


palace of strangers to be no city; it 


bring down the noise of strangers; as 
shall never be built. 3 Therefore shall 


the heat by the shade of a cloud, the 
a strong people glorify thee; a city of song of the terrible ones shall be 
terrible nations shall fear thee. 4 For brought low. 


Vers. 1-5. “THANKSGIVING FOR THE OVERTHROW OF THE OPPRESSORS. 


In keeping with the two views under consideration, Delitzsch, repre- 
senting the first one, says, ‘‘The prophet transported to the end of time 
celebrates in psalm and song what he saw, praising God for having de- 
stroyed the mighty city of the world and for having proved Himself the 
shield and defense of the hitherto oppressed community against the tyranny 
of the city of the world’, while Alexander, representing the second view, 
says, ‘‘We have in these verses a thanksgiving to God for the destruction 
of Babylon and the deliverance of the Jews.’’ 


Ver. 2. “made of a city a heap’’,—The “‘city” according to view 
one is to be taken as in Chap. 24.10, city in general; according to view 
two it is Babylon. 


Ver. 3. “‘a strong people’ ,—Not the Jews, but other nations which 
were compelled to own Jehovah conqueror. 


76 


ISAIAH 


“The fall of the world-power’’, says Delitzsch, ‘‘is followed by the 
- conversion of the heathen who submit to Jehovah with proper reverence.”’ 

Says Alexander, ‘The destruction of Babylon and the fulfillment of 
the prophecy thereby, shall lead even the boldest and wildest of the heathen 
to acknowledge Jehovah as true God. It may just as well denote a com- 
pulsory extorted homage, fear being taken in its proper sense, and the verse 
may then be taken as a description of the effect produced by Jehovah's 
overthrow of Babylon on the Babylonians themselves.”’ 

It is evident that if “‘city’’ in verse 2 be referred to Babylon, which 
is there spoken of as destroyed and never to be built, the “‘city’’ of this 
verse cannot refer to Babylon, which fact is an argument for the first view 
of the meaning of this word. 


Ver. 4. “the poor... the needy’’,—1. e., the Jews in dispersion. The 
nations shall reverence Jehovah, not merely as the destroyer of the oppress- 
ing power, but as the deliverer of His own people. 


death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah 
will wipe away tears from off all faces; 


6 And in this mountain will Jehovah 
of hosts make unto all peoples a feast 


of fat things, a feast of wines on the 
lees, of fat things full of marrow, of 
wines on the lees well refined. 7 And 
he will ‘destroy in this mountain the 
face of the covering that covereth all 
peoples, and the veil that is spread over 
all nations. 8 He hath swallowed up 


and the reproach of his people will he 
take away from off all the earth: for 
Jehovah hath spoken it. 

9 And it shall be said in that day, 
Lo, this is our God; we have waited 
for him, and he will save us; this is 
Jehovah; we have waited for him, we 
will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 


1Heb. swallow up 
Vers. 6-9. 


Ver. 6. Here begins again the eschatological prophecy, resuming the 
thread of the discourse interrupted at the end of the last chapter. (Na. Al. 
Del.) The feast is a spiritual feast, says Nagelsbach and Delitzsch, of 
which not only Israel but “‘all peoples’ are to partake, the feast being on 
earth, says Delitzsch, because the Old Testament knows nothing of a 
heaven where blessed men are gathered. 

Nagelsbach says that in the New Testament it appears in Luke 14.16 
as the Great Supper, in Matt. 22.1 as the Marriage of the King’s Son, and 
in Rev. 19.7,9,17 as the Marriage of the Lamb, in which latter place the 
counterpart of this feast is set forth. 

Alexander says, ‘‘There is nothing to indicate the time when the 
promise should be fulfilled, nor indeed to restrict it to any time in par- 


‘THE FEAST IN ZION FOR ALL NATIONS. 


ticular. Jerusalem has always more or less fulfilled the office here ascribed 
to it. 
Ver. 7. The expressions here used are symbolical, not of grief and 


mourning, as many, if indeed not most interpreters take it, the veiling of 
the face being the sign of mourning; but it is a symbolical expression of 
spiritual blindness, as in II Cor. 3.15,16. But while the chief reference is 
to the understanding, the thought of sorrow may be included, as indeed 
this is but the result of spiritual ignorance. 


Ver. 8. ‘‘Naturally,’’ says Delitzsch, “‘this applies to the ecclesia 
trtumphans, the prophet’s vision of things having brought him to the same 


77 


ISAIAH 


point as that reached by Paul in I Cor. 15.28, and by John on the last 
page of his Apocalypse.”’ 

Nagelsbach says, ‘‘John in Rev. 7.17 and 21.4 quotes our passage to 
prove that he regards the things which he saw as a fulfillment not only 
of his own prophecy but also of that spoken by Isaiah. ‘The fulfillment 
is on the new earth, the dwelling place of God with man.” 

Alexander says that the true sense of the passage is that all misery 
and suffering comprehended under the generic name of death shall be com- 
pletely done away with, the words being a promise to God’s people of 
the final, perpetual, triumphant abolition of death, which in its highest 
sense may never be realized by any individual till after death. 


Ver. 9. 
to only belteved.”’ 


“The redeemed now see the Lord in whom they have hither- 
(Na. ) 


“we have waited’’,—''We have waited but He has come at last to 
vindicate His truth and our reliance upon him.’’ (AlI.) 


10 For in this mountain will the 
hand of Jehovah rest; and Moab shall 
be trodden down in his place, even as 
straw is trodden down ‘in the water of 
the dunghill. 11 And he shall spread 
forth his hands in the midst “thereof 
as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his 


hands to swim; but Jehovah will lay 
low “his pride *together with the craft of 
*his hands. 

12 And the high fortress of thy walls 
"hath he brought down, laid low, and 
brought to the ground, even to the 
dust. 


3Or, their 
4Or, for all the craft 
5Or, will he bring down, lay low, and bring, 


1Another reading is, zz the dunghill 
°Or, of them 


C Gad Pr 
Vers. 10-12. THE DISGRACEFUL RUIN OF MOAB THREATENED. 
Ver. 10. While Israel is being protected the foe'is being destroyed. 


“For tn this mountain will the hand of Jehovah rest’’,—1i. e., as its 
permanent protector. The joy is to be everlasting. 


Moab and Edom were two hereditary inveterate enemies of Israel, 
but quite often, as apparently here, both or either is taken as inclusive of, 
Israel’s enemies in general. Indeed Moab must be included in the “all 
nations’, and “‘all faces’ of verses 6, 7 and 8, and must here be taken as 
the representative of all the ungodly of all nations. Alexander persists of 
course in identifying this mountain, Mount Zion, with the Church of New 
‘Testament times. 

“even as straw’’, etc.,—Straw is cast into the filthy water of the 
dunghole that it may be saturated by it and rendered fitter for manure. 
Thus the Lord humbles the proud by making disgrace an element of their 
punishment. 

Ver. 11. The subject of the first verb is without doubt Moab (Lo. 
Na. Al. Del. Hit. Gro.) , and not Jehovah, as many have taken it. (F. C.) 
It is the person cast into the hole seeking to save himself. Tto make Jeho- 
vah the swimmer does violence to the context and is highly offensive. 
Those so construing it think of Jehovah as striking Moab here and there, 
in every part, as a swimmer strikes the waves in every direction. But this 
idea might have been expressed more clearly in a score of different ways. 


Ver. 12. The figurative statement of verse 11 literally exemplified. 


78 


ISAIAH __ 


The reference is not to the city mentioned in the second verse, but to the 
‘cities of Moab in general. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 


ISRAEL AS RESTORED OR RAISED TO LIFE AGAIN. 


1 In that day shall this song be sung 
in the land of Judah; We have a strong 
city; salvation will he appoint for 
walls and bulwarks. 

2 Open ye the gates, that the right- 
eous nation which keepeth faith may go 
in. 

3 *Thou wilt keep him “in perfect 
peace whose “mind is stayed; because he 
trusteth in thee. 

4 Trust ye in Jehovah for ever; for 
in. Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an “ever- 
lasting rock. 

5 For he hath brought down them 
that dwell on high, the lofty city: he 
layeth it low even to the ground; he 
bringeth it even to the dust. 

6 The foot shall tread it down; even 
the foot of the poor, and the steps of the 
needy. 

7 The way of the just is °upright- 
ness; thou that art upright doth “direct 
the path of the just. 

8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, 
O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; 
to thy name, even to thy memorial 
name, is the desire of our soul. 

9 With my soul have I desired thee 
in the night; yea, with my spirit within 
me will I see thee earnestly: for when 
thy judgments are in the earth, the in- 
habitants of the world learn righteous- 
ness. 

10 Let favor be showed to the 
wicked, yet will he not learn righteous- 
ness; in the land of uprightness will he 
deal wrongfully, and will not behol 
the majesty of Jehovah. ; 

11 Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, 
yet they see not: but they shall see ‘thy 


1Or, @ steadfast mind thou keepest in perfect 
peace, because it &c. ; 

*Heb. peace, peace 

3Or, imagination 

4Or, a rock of ages : 

5Or, @ right way; the path of the just thou 
directest aright. 

®Or, level 

"Or, and be put to shame, in their envy at 
the people 


zeal for the people, and be put to 


shame; yea “fire shall devour thine ad- 
versaries. 

12 Jehovah, thou wilt ordain peace 
for us; for thou hast also wrought all 
our works for us. 


13 O Jehovah our God, other lords 
besides thee have bad dominion over us; 
but by thee only will we make mention 
of thy name. 


14 *They are dead, they shall not 
live; they are ‘deceased, they shall not 
rise; therefore hast thou visited and de- 
stroyed them, and made all remembrance 
of them to perish. 


15 Thou hast increased the nation, O 
Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation; 
thou art glorified; “thou hast enlarged 
all the borders of the land. 


_ 16 Jehovah, in trouble have they 
“visited thee: they poured out a “prayer 
when thy chastening was upon them. 


17 Like as a woman with child, that 
draweth near the time of her delivery, 
is in pain and crieth out in her pangs; 
so we have been “before thee, O Jeho- 
vah. 


18 We have been with child, we have 
been in pain, we have as it were brought 
forth wind; we have not wrought any 
deliverance in the earth; “neither have 
the inhabitants of the world fallen. 


19 Thy dead shall live; my dead 
bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye 
that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is 
as the dew of “herbs, and the earth shall 
cast forth “the dead. 


8Or, the fire of thine adversaries shall de- 
vour them 

%Or, the dead live not. the deceased rise not 

WOr, shades 

NQOr, thou hast removed it far unto all the 
ends of the earth 

120r, looked for 

Heb. whisper 

4Or, at thy presence 

Or, neither have inhabitants of the world 
been born 

Or, light 

MWOr, the shades 


Vers. 1-19. THE WORSHIP AND TESTIMONY OF RESTORED ISRAEL. 

Ver. 1. “In that day’’,—Contemporaneous and homogeneous with 
“in that day’”’ of Chap. 25.9-12. It is the day of deliverance just men- 
tioned. . 


79 


ISAIAH 


The “land of Judah’’ is plainly employed to form an antithesis to 
Moab of the preceding chapter. 

The “‘city’’ mentioned is Jerusalem, and by “‘he’’ Jehovah is meant. 

According to view one the prophet relates a hymn which he hears 
coming from the holy mountain and out of the holy city, the leading 
thought of which corresponds to II Pet. 3.13, it being the redeemed who 
sing the song. According to view two the singers are the Jews after their 
return from exile. Knobel contends that they are the Jews left by the 
Babylonians in the land of Judah; but this is entirely out of keeping with 
the context. 


Ver. 2. The speakers are the same as in the preceding verse. 

“The cry is a heavenly one’’, says Delitzsch, ‘‘and those who open 
the gates are angels.’’ Alexander thinks of the returning exiles calling to 
the keepers of the gates of Jerusalem. 


Ver. 3. This, says Alexander, is a general truth deduced from the 
experience of those who are supposed to be the speakers. To be resigned 
to God, to lean on Him, brings composure and peace. 


Ver. 4. The same speakers addressing an exhortation to all who 
hear them to continue in the frame of mind just mentioned. 


Ver.5. “the lofty city’’,— (See explanation under Chaps. 24.10-12 
and 25.2.) 


Ver. 6. The ruins of the conquered city to be trodden under foot 
by those who had before been trodden in the dust by the feet of the worldly 
power, the oppressor. 


Ver. 8. “‘watted for thee’’,—i. e., to see Thee come forth as a judge 
for the vindication of thy people and the destruction of their enemies. 
(Al. Ma. Na. Del.) Delitzsch, followed by Nagelsbach, says, ‘The Church’ 
of the last days tells how she, looking back into the past, waited longingly 
i the manifestation of Jehovah’s righteousness which has now taken 
place.’ 


Ver. 9. The faithful Jews here speak individually, says Fausset. 
Others (Na. Del.) think the prophet is here speaking for himself, especially 
attributing to himself in the night of his sorrow and trouble the desire that 
God would thus manifest Himself. The latter thought is without doubt — 
the correct one. 


Ver. 11. “thy hand ts lifted up’’,—1. e., to punish the foes of God's 
people. 
“but they shall see’ ’,—Those who will not see shall be made to see; 


“‘a general truth,’’ says Delitzsch, “‘which had then received its most splen- 
did confirmation through the fall of the world city.’ 


Ver. 12. ‘‘An expression of strong hope and confidence’, says Alex- 
ander, ‘‘founded on what has already been experienced.”’ 

It is quite generally agreed that by “our works’ are meant the works 
done for us by God Himself. 


Ver. 13. Nagelsbach’s unique and strange imagination ‘gives us the 
view that beginning with this verse and continuing through verse 18 the 


80 


ISAIAH 


speakers are the dwellers in Sheol and that the prophet brings into view 
the resurrection of the dead. In verse 14 the dead are speaking according 
to the prevailing opinion; in verse 16 we find, says he, that the longing 
for life and the hope of regaining it are not extinguished even in the realm 
of the dead, while verse 17 supposes the possibility of deliverance from 
Sheol, the hope of which is still alive in its occupants, and verse 18 shows 
that all efforts of their own to bring themselves to a new life are ineffectual 
like the bringing forth of wind on the part of a travailing woman. Then 
in verse 19 the prophet speaks, as the interpreter of Jehovah, words of con- 
solation to the shades in Sheol, and in the spirit of prophecy utters the 
triumphant call to awake, which will one day be pronounced by a mightier 
voice that it may be fulfilled. There is nothing to commend Nagelsbach’s 
view; this earth and not Sheol is the theater of what is described in verses 
15 to 18, and it is either the Church Triumphant speaking on this re- 
deemed earth, or the remnant of Israel after their return, according to which 
ever view is taken of the entire prophecy. 


“other lords besides thee’’,—-The somewhat current explanation of 
these lords is that they refer to the Chaldeans and the Babylonians, and to 
this we are inclined although Alexander gives strong reasons for referring 
them to the idols which the Jews served before the exile. Fausset includes 
both in his explanation. 


Ver. 14. Most expositors, following Clericus, refer this verse to 
the Babylonians. Hitzig and Umbreit refer it to the forefathers of Israel 
who on account of their idolatry had perished. But this brings in a new 
subject not previously introduced. Alexander of course refers it to the 
idols, the lords of verse 13, with some allusion, however, to the idolatrous 
oppressors of Israel. Delitzsch refers it naturally to the oppressors of 
Israel who, like the king of Babylon, have fallen into the realm of the 
shades, from which they cannot now be brought back. ‘The idea is that 
we are not to think of a self resusitation, and not that they are dead forever 
as if there were no resurrection of the dead, because Isaiah certainly knew 
that there was to be such a thing, as verse 19 shows. Hosea, an earlier 
prophet than Isaiah, also announced that death and Sheol should be de- 
prived of their prey. (Hos. 13.14.) (See also Isa. 25.8.) 


Ver. 15. When Israel has cause to praise God in this way it will 
again have become a numerous people and’ so larger territory will be needed. 
The verse is a grateful acknowledgment of what God had done for his 
suffering people. 


Ver. 16. “‘vistted thee’’,—1. e., in the sense of supplication. The 
prayer, as in verses 8 and 9, seems to return to the night of sorrow which 
preceded their deliverance. 


Ver. 18. By referring this verse to the resurrection we have the 
strange spectacle of the shades in Hades fruitlessly striving to resusitate 
themselves and to get back into the world with a view to blessing it with 
deliverance from evil and oppression. ‘‘Generous shades!’’ exclaims Dun- 
lop Moore. 


Ver. 19. To the ineffectual efforts of the people to save themselves 
is now opposed their actual deliverance by Jehovah Himself. They will 
rise because they are God's dead. 


81 


ISAIAH 


There is here of course a resurrection of some king predicted. To 
what does it refer? 


(1) Not to an actual or possible event, but a passionate wish that 
the depopulated land might be replenished with inhabitants, the 
resurrection in this case referring to the Jews already dead and a 
wish that they might be made alive. But this gives a construc- 
tion to the verb which is neither natural nor obvious, and be- 
sides it would be a most unnatural conclusion of this address 
to Jehovah. 


(2) A spiritual resurrection or resusitation of the people of Israel, 
the reference being to the restoration of exiled Israel under the 
figure of a resurrection, i. e., raised from the dust of degradation. 
(Al. Reu. and doubtless most expositors. ) 


(3) The literal resurrection at the time of the end. Delitzsch says 

it is the language of the Church in the last days after it has 
turned to God. Through long-continued sufferings and chas- 
tisement it has melted away to a small remnant, and many of 
those who could really be numbered among its members were 
now lying in their graves. It is, however, only the righteous 
“my dead bodtes’’ who shall arise, and it is the first resurrection 
of Rev. 20.4 which is here predicted. 
Alexander thinks this is plainly out of place here, and that be- 
sides they needed to be comforted with the promise of an earlier 
resurrection just as Martha did who was not satisfied with the 
promise of the resurrection at the last day. 


Scofield says, ““The restoration and re-establishment of Israel as a 
nation is also spoken of as a resurrection (Ezek. 37.1-11), and many hold 
that no more than this is meant here. But since the first resurrection is 
unto participation in the kingdom (Rev. 20.4-6) it seems the better view 
that both meanings be found here.’’ With this agree others (F. Ho.). 

The decision must depend upon the general view one takes of the 
entire prophecy under discussion, but the view of the last quoted authori- 
ties harmonizes with either. 


20 Come, my people, enter thou into 21 For, behold Jehovah cometh forth 

thy chambers, and shut thy doors about out of his place to punish the inhabi- 

E ; tants of the earth for their iniquity: 

thee: hide thyself for a little moment, the earth also shall disclose her blood, 
until the indignation be overpast. and shall no more cover her slain. 


Vers. 20-21. “THE PUNISHMENT OF THE GOD-OPPOSED POWERS OF 
THE WORLD. 


Ver. 20. The ingenious Nagelsbach says we are here transported 
into the time after the resurrection. He says the time during which they 
are to hide is during the ‘“‘little season’’ while Satan is loosed just before 
the second resurrection. But surely the blessed dead could not be described, 
as they are here, as shades in misery who must hide after they have come 
forth in the first resurrection, even though this theory of the resurrection 
be a Scriptural one. ‘The words of this verse cannot be addressed to those 
mentioned in the preceding verse, but are addressed to individuals in exis- 
tence prior to that time. 


82 


ISAIAH 

Delitzsch says that no mention is made of the judgment which is to 
come upon the persecutors and oppressors of the Church until after the 
Church has been made up by the addition through the first resurrection of 
its members who had died, although this judgment in order actually pre- 
cedes this resurrection and uniting of God’s people. The ‘‘little moment’, 
he says, is the period of judgment on the ungodly which is shortened for 
the elects’ sake. 

Alexander, on the other hand, says, ‘“The people of God are here 
addressed as such, and warned to hide themselves until God's indignation 
against them is past. The relief from God’s displeasure, which had just 
been promised, must be preceded by the experience of the displeasure itself, 
for the time of His indignation is not yet past.” 

Fausset says, ‘‘When God is about to take vengeance on the ungodly, 
the saints shall be shut in by Him in a place of safety, as Noah and his 
family were in the days of the flood; the saints are calmly and confidently 
to await the issue.”’ 

It must not be overlooked that the words of this verse may be ad- 
dressed to those concerned in the preceding verse, in the sense that they 
are to remain in the grave until the time of this judgment be past. Such an 
interpretation is admissible both on the ground of a literal and of a figura- 
tive resurrection. 

The “hiding”’ referred to is, according to Delitzsch and Nagelsbach as 
well, the shutting of the Church off from the world in the solitude of 
prayer. 


Ver. 21. Some (Ros. Hit.) take the last clause as a prediction that 
the dead should actually come forth from their graves, but it is much more 
natural to understand the whole verse as a simple variation of the one 
before it. 


CHaworek eg WEN TY -SEVEN 


An amplification of the last verse of the preceding chapter. 
1 In that day Jehovah with his hard shall blossom and bud; and they shall 


and great and strong sword will punish fill the face of the world with fruit. 
leviathan the ‘swift serpent, and levia- 7 Hath he smitten them as he smote 
than the “crooked serpent; and he will those that smote him? or are they slain 
slay the monster that is in the sea. according to the slaughter °of them that 
2 In that day: A vineyard of wine, sing _were slain by them? 8 “In measure, 
ye ‘unto it. 3 I Jehovah am its keeper; “when thou sendest them away, thou 
I will water it every moment; lest any dost contend with them; he hath re- 
hurt it, I will keep it night and day. moved them with his rough blast in 
4 Wrath is not in me: would that the the day of the east wind. 9 Therefore 
briers and thorns were against me in by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be 
battle! I would march upon them, I “forgiven, and this is all the fruit °of 
would burn them together. 5 Or else taking away his sin: that he maketh all 
let him take hold of my strength, that the stones of the altar as chalkstones that 
he may make peace with me; yea, let are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherim 
him make peace with me. 6 ‘In days and the sun-images shall rise no more. 
to come shall Jacob take root; Israel 10 For the fortified city is solitary, a 

1Or, gliding Or, fleeing 5Or, of their slain 

2Or, winding ®The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncer- 

8Or, of tain. 

4Or, Jn the generations that come 7Or, by sending them away 


8Or, expiated 
"Or, to take away 


83 


ISAIAH 


habitation deserted and forsaken, like shall be broken off; the women shall 


the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, come, and set them on fire; for it is a 
and there shall he lie down, and con- people of no understanding; therefore 

f he that made them will not have com- 
sume the branches thereof. 11 When passion upon them, and he that formed 


the boughs thereof are withered, they them will show them no favor. 
Vers. 1-11. “THE JUDGMENT UPON JEHOVAH’S ENEMIES CONTINUED. 


Ver. 1. Jehovah’s destruction of the enemies of His people is here 
foretold as the slaughter of three great sea monsters. 


“In that day’’,—Indicating that what is introduced belongs to the 
same stage of the world’s history as that which has gone before. ~ 


It has been much disputed as to whether the destruction here pre- 
dicted is that of a single nation or of several, but the description seems to 
call for three. [hese monsters are most likely Egypt, Assyria and. Baby- 
lonia, but it is impossible to wholly identify them. (Na. Del.) 


Gill thinks the three are the Devil, the Beast and the False Prophet; 
while Fausset thinks the reference is to the great enemy of the Church, the 
Devil, the three expressions referring to the same individual. 


Ver. 2. This verse does not belong to the song itself, containing as 
it does only the theme and the summons to celebrate it in song. 


“a vineyard of wine’’,—The reference is to Israel, the Church, the 
people of God, elevated to high joy and honor while the worldly powers 
are annihilated. (F. Ma. Ho. Al. Na. Del.) 


Ver. 4. There are two explanations of this verse: 


(a) Iam no longer angry with my people. Oh, that their enemies, 
as thorns and briers, would array themselves against me that I might rush 
upon them and consume them. (F. Al. Del.) 


(b) It is not because I am angry that I thus afflict my people, but 
because she is a vineyard overrun by thorns and briers on account of which 
I must pass through her and consume her, i. e., burn the thorns and briers 
out of her. 


The first explanation is rightly preferred by most writers. 


Ver. 5. They must either be overcome by the storm of war just 
mentioned, or lay hold on the protection of God. 


Ver. 6. The prophet says here in figurative language what Paul 
declares in Rom. 11.12, that when Israel is restored to favor as a nation 
she will become ‘‘the riches of the Gentiles’’. 


Ver. 7. The thought runs thus: Did the Lord smite His people 
Israel as severely as He did the enemies whom He employed to chasttse 
Israel, or is Israel slain according to the slaughter wherewith the enemy is 
slain? No, indeed! 


Ver. 8. ‘This verse expresses more distinctly the negation implied in 
the preceding verse. Israel was moderately punished, and for a time only, 
by being removed out of her place as if by a transient storm or blast of 
wind. 


84 


ISAIAH 


Ver. 9. ““Therefore’’,—A conclusion drawn from the preceding “‘tn 
measure’. God's punishment is remedial. 


Ver. 10. “‘the fortified city ts solitary’’,—Delitzsch and Fausset 
think the reference is to Jerusalem, while Nagelsbach says it cannot possibly 
be Jerusalem but is the great city of the world, the center of the worldly 
power to which the prophet has:so repeatedly referred. ‘There are good 
arguments on either side. Either, however, would be appropriate in this 
connection as the interpretation of the chapter would not be affected one 
way or the other. 

In this verse and the following this city is depicted as a desolate, 
forsaken place, overgrown with bushes whose tender branches the calves 
eat off and whose withered twigs the women gather for fuel. 


12 And it shall come to pass in that 
day, that Jehovah will *beat off his 
fruit from the flood of the River unto 
the brook of Egypt; and ye shall be 


“gathered “one by one, O ye children of 
Israel. 
10r, deat out his grain 


13 And it shall come to pass in that 
day, that a great trumpet shall be 
blown; and they shall come that were 
‘ready to perish in the land of Assyria, 
and they that were outcasts in the land 
of Egypt; and they shall worship Jeho- 
vah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem. 

4Or, lost 


*Or, gleaned 
3Or, one to another 
Vers. 12-13. ISRAEL RESTORED. 
Ver. 12. To the downfall of the “fortified city’’ he now adds its 


most important consequences—the restoration of the Jews. The “‘river’’ 
is doubtless the Euphrates and the “‘brook of Egypt’ is the Nile or perhaps 
the Wady Elarish, and the simple meaning of the whole expression is from 
Assyria to Egypt. 


Gesenius says, ‘The kingdom will be repeopled to the fullest extent 
that had been promised, and that too, as rapidly and as numerous as if 
human beings were dropping like olives from the beaten trees.’’ But the 
word rendered “‘beat off’’ is the one employed usually to indicate the beat- 
ing out of those husked fruits which are too tender and valuable to be 
threshed, and the meaning therefore can hardly be that of a sudden stream- 
ing in of a great multitude, but refers the rather to the careful and com- 
plete ingathering of that which otherwise might be lost or left behind. 
Delitzsch contends that this verse does not relate to the gathering in 
of the Jews, but, with a somewhat far-fetched and strained exegesis, he says 
’ that what is meant is the resurrection from the grave of the dead Jews as 
set forth in the previous chapter, to which thought the prophet here returns. 
But this conclusion, we feel, is unwarranted. The boundaries mentioned 
are not meant as defining the limits of the promised land to which Israel 
was to be gathered, but the rather the regions whence they should return. 


Ver. 13. This verse points to the same event as the one just before it, 
the gathering of Israel, only under a different figure. 

Delitzsch, in keeping with his explanation of the previous verse, says, 
“To the risen Church there comes the still [turing scattered ones, gathered 
by divine signal, not alone from Assyria and Egypt, though especially 
named, but from all the lands of exile.”’ 

Alexander says, ‘The application of this verse to a future restoration 


85 


ISAIAH 


of the Jews can neither be established nor disproved. If such a restora- 
tion can be otherwise shown to be a subject of prophecy, this passage may 
be naturally understood as at least comprehending it. But in itself con- 
sidered it appears to contain nothing which may not naturally be applied 
to events now long past or which has not found in those events an adequate 
fulfillment. 


Section Five. The Ungodly Alliance with Assyria and Egypt. 
CHAPTERS 28 TO 33. 


These chapters relate altogether to events of the prophet’s own day. 
Many writers see in the vivid descriptions of judgment pronounced and 
blessing promised a secondary reference to Jehovah's final judgment on the 
antichristian worldly powers and the kingdom blessings of Israel, as for 
instance Scofield, who says, ‘‘In these chapters the same blended meanings 
of near and far fulfillments are found—the near and far horizons blend— 
the near view being that of the Egyptian alliance and the Assyrian inva- 
sion while the far view is that of the end-time day of the Lord and the 
kingdom blessing to follow.”’ 

Of course all such prophecies may in a sense be said to be typical, and 
this secondary reference ought not perhaps to be denied to those who con- 
tend for its place in the prophet’s words, yet we feel the need of caution 
lest this mode of exegesis be pressed too far. ‘The expressions of the 
prophet, which may to some seem extravagant for merely local adaptation, 
may after all be thus understood in view of the highly picturesque and 
figurative language so peculiar to him throughout all his writings. The 
following are the passages under discussion: 


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 


14 Wherefore hear the word of Jeho- agreement with Sheol shall not stand; 
vah, ye scoffers, that rule this» people when the overflowing scourge shall pass 
that is in Jerusalem: 15 Because ye have a then ye shall be trodden down 

, ‘ y sat, 19 As often as it passeth 
said, We have made a covenant with through, it shall take you; for morning 
death, and with Sheol are we at agree- by morning shall it pass through, by 
ment; when the overflowing scourge day and by night: and it shall be nought 
shall pass through, it shall not come but terror to understand the *message. 
unto us; for we have made lies our 20 For the bed is shorter than that a 
refuge, and under falsehood have we hid man can stretch himself on it; and the 
ourselves: 16 therefore thus saith the covering narrower than that he can 
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I ‘lay in Zion wrap himself in it. 21 For Jehovah 
for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, will rise up as in mount Perazim, he 
a precious corner-stone of sure founda- will be wroth as in the valley of Gib- 
tion: he that believeth shall not be in eon; that he may do his work, his 
haste. 17 And I will make justice the strange work, and bring to pass his act, 
line, and righteousness the plummet; his strange act. 22 Now therefore be 
and the hail shall sweep away the refuge ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made 
of lies, and the waters shall overflow the strong; for *a decree of destruction have 
hiding-place. 18 And your covenant I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of 
with death shall be annulled and your hosts, upon the whole ‘earth. 

10Or, have laid 2Or, report 

Heb. destruction, and that raceene 
4Or, land 


86 


ISAIAH 


Vers. 14-22. "THE FATE OF EPHRAIM A WARNING TO JUDAH. 


Says Alexander, ‘“To their confident assurance of safety God opposes, 
first, the only sure foundation which He Himself had laid, and then the 
utter destruction which was coming on their own chosen objects of reli- 
ance.’’ By the art of falsehood, cunning policy and fine diplomacy they 
hope to be saved from death and hades, with which they imagine they have 
already formed an alliance. Assyria they compare to an overflowing 
scourge. By the “‘lies’’ and ‘“‘falsehood’’ they doubtless mean a secret 
league with Egypt while they were professing loyalty to Assyria in the 
days of their dependence on Assyria into which Ahaz had brought them. 


The “tried stone’ of verse 16 is of course the Messiah. Says Faus- 
set, ‘‘whether Isaiah understood the fullness or not, the Holy Spirit plainly 
contemplated its fulfillment in Christ alone.”’ 

Says Scofield, ‘There is in these verses a near reference to the Egyptian 
alliance (‘we have made a covenant’, etc.), while the reference to the stone 
in verse 16 carries the meaning forward to the end time, and the covenant 
of unbelieving Israel with the Beast (Dan. 9.27).” 

Blackstone says, ‘“The Antichrist will be received even by the Jews, 
who having returned to their own land and rebuilt their temple, will make 
a treaty with him, called by the Prophet Isaiah, ‘a covenant with death 


PD & 


and an agreement with hell’. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 


Vers. 3-8. 


3 And I will encamp against thee 
round about, and will lay siege against 
thee with posted troops, and [ will 


raise siege works against thee. 4 And 
thou shalt be brought down, and shalt 
speak out of the ground, and thy speech 
shall be low out of the dust; and thy 
voice shall be as of one that hath a 
‘familiar spirit, out of the ground, and 
thy speech shall ‘whisper out of the 
dust, 


5 But the multitude of thy “foes 
shall be like small dust, and the multi- 
tude of the terrible ones as chaff that 
passeth away; yea, it shall be in an in- 
stant suddenly. 6 *She shall be visited 

1Or, chirp 

“Heb. strangers 


8Or, There shall be a visitation from Jeho- 
vah &c, 


of Jehovah of hosts with thunder, and 
with earthquake, and great noise, with 
whirlwind and tempest, and the flame 
of a devouring fire. 7 And the multi- 
tude of all the nations that fight against 
Ariel, even all that fight against her and 
her stronghold, and that distress her, 
shall be as a dream, a vision of the 
night. 8 And it shall be as when a 
hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he 
eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is 
empty: or as when a thirsty man dream- 
eth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he 
awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and 
his soul hath appetite: so shall the mul- 
titude of all the nations be, that fight 
against mount Zion. 


‘THE INVASION AND OVERTHROW OF THE ASSYRIAN Host. 


The city here mentioned is Jerusalem. 


Scofield says, ‘The near view is that of Sennacherib’s invasion and 
the destruction of the Assyrian host by the angel of the Lord; the far view 
is that of the final gathering of the Gentile hosts against Jerusalem at the 
end of the great tribulation, when a still greater deliverance will be 
wrought.” 

Fausset says, ‘“This prediction was not fully realized under Sennach- 
erib, but was under the Roman siege. It probably contemplates ultimately, 


87 


ISAIAH 


besides the affliction and deliverance in Sennacherib’s time, the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restora- 
tion, the destruction of the enemies that besiege the Holy City (Zech. 14.2) 
and the final glory of Israel, as seen in verses 17 to 24. The ulterior ful- 
fillment of verse 6 in the case of the enemies of the Jews in the last days 
may be more literal.’’ 


17 Is it not yet a very little while, 
and Lebanon shall be turned into a 
fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall 
be esteemed as a forest? 18 And in that 


day shall the deaf hear the words of ‘the 
book, and the eyes of the blind shall 
see out of obscurity and out of dark- 
ness. 19 The meek also shall increase 
their joy in Jehovah, and the poor 
among men shall rejoice in the Holy One 
of Israel. 20 For the terrible one is 
brought to nought, and the scoffer ceas- 


for him that reproveth in the gate, and 
turn aside the just with a thing of 
nought. 

22 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, 
who redeemed Abraham, concerning the 
house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be 
ashamed, neither shall his face now wax 
pale. 23 *But when he seeth his chil- 
dren, the work of my hands, in the 
midst of him, they shall sanctify my 
name; yea, they shall sanctify the Holy 
One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe 
of the God of Israel. 24 They also that 


eth, and all they that watch for iniquity 
are cut off ; 21 that “make a man an 
offender “in Ais cause, and lay a snare 


err in spirit “shall come to understand- 
ing, and they that murmur shall receive 
instruction, 


4Or, But when his children see &c. 
5Heb. shall know understanding 


10Or, a book (or, writing) 
2Or, make men to offend by their eioras 
30r, for a word 


Vers. 17-24. “THE BLESSING OF ISRAEL AFTER DELIVERANCE. 


The moral change in the Jewish nation is to be as great as if the 
wooded Lebanon were to become a fruitful field and vice versa. 


Nagelsbach thinks the meaning is that the lofty Lebanon (Assyria) 
shall be brought low and the lowly field (Israel) shall be exalted. But 
the comparison seems to be between the cultivated and the wild rather than 
between the high and the low. 


Delitzsch says there is a promise in both clauses and that the last 
clause means that what they now call a fruitful field shall then be so much 
more so that what they now esteem a fruitful field will seem as if it were a 
forest in comparison with itself in the days to come. 


Fausset however takes the last clause as a threat, and says the meaning 
of the whole passage is that in the Messianic days men’s hearts which were 
once a moral desert (the wooded Lebanon) are to be reclaimed so as to . 
bear fruits of righteousness, whereas, vice versa, the ungodly who seem 
prosperous both in the moral and literal sense (the fruitful field) shall be 
exhibited in their real barrenness. 


Scofield takes the words of this section as a type of the kingdom 
blessings which are to follow the days of tribulation. 


Nagelsbach says, ‘“Uhe prospect of blessedness which the prophet here 
presents belongs also to the days of the Messiah, as we clearly perceive from 
verses 18 and 19; for in fact he here beholds along with the near view the 
time of the end, and in holding out the prospect of this reformation within 
a brief period he does so in the exercise of that prophetic manner of con- 
templation which reckons the times not according to a human but a divine 
measure.” 


88 


ISAIAH 


Fausset says the reference contemplates the outpouring of the Spirit 
‘in the latter days, first on the Jews, which shall be followed by their 
national restoration, and then on the Gentiles. 


ree tea TR TY, 


Vers. 23-33, 


23 And he will give the rain for thy 
seed, wherewith thou shalt sow the 
ground; and bread of the increase of the 
ground, and it shall be fat and plente- 
ous. In that day shall thy cattle feed 
in large pastures; 24 the oxen likewise 
and the young asses that till the ground 
shall eat savory provender, which hath 
been winnowed with the shovel and 
with the fork. 25 And there shall be 
upon every lofty mountain, and upon 
every high hill, brooks and streams of 
waters, in the day of the great slaughter, 
when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the 
light of the moon shall be as the light 
of the sun, and the light of the sun 
shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven 
days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth 
up the hurt of his people, and healeth 
the stroke of their wound. 

27 Behold, the name of Jehovah 
cometh from far, burning with his an- 
ger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips 
are full of indignation, and his tongue 
is as a devouring fire; 28 and his breath 
is as an overflowing stream, that reach- 
eth even unto the neck, to sift the na- 


DEVASTATION. 


tions with the sieve of destruction: and 
a bridle that causeth to err shall be in 
the jaws of the peoples. 29 Ye shall 
have a song as in the night ‘when a holy 
feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as 
when one goeth with a pipe to come 
unto the mountain of Jehovah, to the 
Rock of Israel. 30 And Jehovah will 
cause his glorious voice to be heard, 
and will show the lightning down of 
his arm, with the indignation of his 
anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, 
with “a blast, and tempest, and _ hail- 
stones. 31 For through the voice of 
Jehovah shall the Assyrian be dismayed; 
with his rod will he smite him. 32 And 
every “stroke of the “appointed staff, 
which Jehovah shall lay upon him, 
shall be with the sound of tabrets and 
harps; and in battles with the brandish- 
ing of his arm will he fight with them. 
33 For a Topheth is prepared of old; 
yea, for the king it is made ready; he 
hath made it deep and large; the pile 
thereof is fire and much wood; the 
breath of Jehovah, like a stream of 
brimstone, doth kindle it. 


1Or, when a feast is hallowed 

“Or, crashing 

®Heb. passing 

4Or, staff of doom (Heb. foundation) 


THE BLESSINGS WHICH ARE To FOLLOW ISRAEL’S 


Here is a promise of increased prosperity after a dreadful period of 
war and devastation through which the Jews are to pass. 


What Scofield calls ‘‘a foreshadowing of kingdom blessing’ Rosen- 
muller designates as ‘‘a description of the Golden Age.”’ 


Says Nagelsbach, ‘‘The glorious time of the end lies beyond a dread- 
ful period which first must be passed through. ‘This latter he has de- 
scribed so often as to be able to suppose that these brief allusions would be 
quite well understood by his readers.”’ 


Ver. 25. Even the otherwise barren hills shall then flow with water, 
a common figure for a great change for the better. 

Hitzig interprets the “towers’’ as living towers, i. e., the Assyrian 
chiefs. But as the slaughter pertains here chiefly to the Jews it would 
seem that the towers ought also to find their reference in Jewish associa- 
tion. Knobel refers them to the fortifications of the Jews which would no 
longer be needed in the happy times described, while Delitzsch thinks they 
refer to Jewish self-confidence and pride. Perhaps Nagelsbach is right when 


89 


ISAIAH 


he says, “‘I find here simply an allusion to the great judgments which 
must fall on people and city before the day of redemption. ‘The old theo- 
cratic Jerusalem with its towers and its temples is reduced to ruins while ~ 
streams of blood have at the same time flown.” 

Gill refers the “‘slaughter’’ to that of the antichristian kings described 
in Rev. 19.17-21, and among other references Vitringa finds one to the 
seventh apocalyptic period. 


Ver. 26. The shining of the moon and the sun must of course here 
be taken in a figurative sense, an image from the heavenly bodies to express 
either, as Fausset says, ‘‘the increase of spiritual light and felicity’’, or as 
Alexander says, ‘‘some great revolution in the state of society’’. 

‘This verse’, says Nagelsbach, ‘‘transports us into a time which lies 
beyond the present state of things, though not into the time of the new 
heavens and the new earth, for the present sun and the present moon still 
exist."’ He quotes Delitzsch as being certainly right in saying, “‘It is not 
the new heaven of which the prophet here speaks, but that glorification of 
nature promised both in the Old and the New Testament prophecy for 
the final period of the world’s history’’. (Compare, says Nagelsbach, Rev. 
20.1-4.) 


Ver. 27. ‘The imagery of verses 27 and 28 is cumulative. Judah 
is making an alliance with Egypt when she might be in league with Him 
whose judgment upon the world-powers will be like a terrible thunder- 
tempest (verse 27), turning streams into torrents neck-deep (verse 28, 
Me: ); who will sift the nations in their own sieve of vanity (or ‘destruc- 
tion ) and put His bridle into the jaws of the peoples.’’ (Sco.) 

“the name of Jehovah’’,—Many authorities take this expression as 
meaning Jehovah Himself (F. Del.) and this is no doubt its immediate 
reference. Others would have us believe it refers to Him who is the Agent 
in every revelation of the Godhead, and accordingly He to whom the Father 
hath committed all judgment, the Messiah, and this may rightly be said 
to be its secondary reference, and Nagelsbach says, ‘‘He cometh to judgment 
from afar because He comes from heaven’. 


Ver. 28. “‘to sift the nations with the steve of destruction’ ,—Some 
say this is a sieve which lets only the light, useless grain fall through it to 
destruction; but it is a sieve of ruin, of emptiness, of falsehood, pointing 
out the issue of the process, and we believe those right who see here, as Gill - 
does, that, ‘‘they were to be sifted not with a good and profitable sieve, 
which retains the corn and shakes out the chaff, but with a sieve that lets 
all through and so reduces to nothingness all who find themselves in it.’”’ 
Ch o Aly 1:0. Bara) 

“a bridle that causeth to err’’,—Most interpreters see “here the specific 
sense of leading astray, causing to go in the wrong direction, the bridle put 
in their jaws compelling them to go from the way they had intended. 


Ver. 29. As in the Passover-night they celebrated with songs their 
deliverance from Egypt so shall they celebrate their deliverance from the 
bondage here under view, and the festal processions in which, accompanied 
with song and music, they used to go up to the temple is but a-type of the 
joy that shall in that day be granted to Israel. 


90 


ISAIAH 





Ver. 31. Those who contend for the blending of the near and far 
fulfillments of this prophecy see of course in Assyria not only the then 
existing Gentile power but a type of the world-power at the end of this 
age, and even Alexander says, “The express mention of Assyria in this 
verse, although it does not prove it to have been from the beginning the 
specific subject of the prophecy, does show that it was a conspicuous object 
in Isaiah’s view, as an example both of danger and of deliverance, and 
that at this point he concentrates his prophetic vision on this object as a 
signal illustration of the general truths which he has been announcing.”’ 


Ver. 32. “shall be with the sound of tabrets and harps’, i. e., on 
the part of the people of Jerusalem who have only to look on and rejoice 
in the coming deliverance. 


“with the brandishing of his arm’’,—The literal is “battles of swing- 
ing’, or ‘‘battles of shaking’’, and the idea seems to be that it is not to be 
with darts or other weapons, but that with the incessant swinging of His 
arm He will smite Assyria. 


Ver. 33. “Tophet means a place of burning. “The Tophet in the 
valley of Hinnon was a place of sacrifice dedicated to Moloch, and here the 
idea is only that of a Tophet-like place. “The words contain a figurative 
representation of Assyria’s temporal doom and a premonition of his doom 
hereafter. 


CHAPTER THIRTY+ONE 
Vers. | to 3 contain another warning against trusting in the chariots 
of Egypt through an alliance with that ungodly power. 


Vers. 4 to 5 express Jehovah’s determination and power to save those 
who put their trust in Him. 


Vers. 6 to 9 invite the children of Israel to return to Jehovah, as they 
will be constrained to do with shame when they behold the judgment 
which He is about to bring upon their oppressors. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO 


1 Behold, a king shall reign in right- noble, nor the *churl said to be bounti- 
eousness, and princes shall rule in jus- ful. 6 For the fool will speak folly, 
tice. 2 And a man shall be as a hiding- and his heart will work iniquity, to 
place from the wind, and a covert from practice profaneness, and to utter error 
the tempest, as streams of water in a against Jehovah, to make empty the 
dry place, as the shade of a great rock soul of the hungry, and to cause the 
in a weary land. 3 And the eyes of drink of the thirsty to fail. 7 And the 
them that see shall not be ‘dim, and the instruments of the churl are evil; he de- 
ears of them that hear shall hearken. viseth wicked devices to destroy the 
4 And the heart of the *rash shall under- ‘meek with lying words, even when the 
stand knowledge, and the tongue of the needy speaketh right. 8 But the noble 
stammerers shall be ready to speak plain- deviseth noble things; and ‘in noble 
ly. 5 The fool shall be no more called things shall he continue. 

10r, closed 8Or; weit 

"Heb. hasty 4Or, poo 


5Or, by : Bbarad things shall he stand 
91 


ISAIAH 


Vers. 1-8. "THE PROMISE OF THE KING AND HIS RIGHTEOUS GOVERN- 
MENT. 


Scofield remarks here again that in this chapter and the three follow- 
ing the same blended meanings of near and far fulfillments are found, the 
near view being still of Sennacherib’s invasion and the far view the day 
of the Lord and the kingdom blessing to follow. 

These eight verses continue the promises of the foregoing text. 


Ver. 1. “‘a king’’,—The reference may be to Hezekiah’s reign as at 
least a beginning and foretaste of what is here promised, but, as Fausset 
says, ‘‘If Hezekiah be meant at all it can only be as a type of Messiah, the 
King, to whom alone the language is fully applicable’, for, as Nagelsbach 
says, ‘Only in Messianic times can the kind of a rule prophesied be true.”’ 

“princes shall rule tn justice’’,—To whom these refer in the far view 
of the prophecy is not easy to determine unless, as Fausset says, “‘to all in 
authority under Christ in the coming kingdom on earth, e. g., the Apostles, 
etc., but this Alexander calls very forced and neither justified nor required 
by the context. 


Ver. 2. “a man shall be’’, etc..—Most late interpreters give to 
“man” the sense of a distributive pronoun meaning death, i. e., each of the 
princes just mentioned. The word is, however, seldom so used except 
with a plural verb, and the meaning here is rather that there shall be a man 
on the throne who instead of oppressing will protect the helpless. 


Ver. 3. ‘The reference is to spiritual transformations and the verse 
applies to the people generally. 


Ver. 4. It would seem best to understand flees bodily defects as 
denoting others of an intellectual and spiritual nature. 


Vers. 9-13. In these verses the prophet reverts to the rane of 
coming disaster and addresses especially the proud women who by their 
luxurious habits contribute so largely to existing evils and for whom the 
coming invasion would be especially disastrous. 


14 For the palace shall be forsaken; in the fruitful field. 17 And the work 
the populous city shall be deserted; the of righteousness shall be peace; and the 


: effect of righteousness, quietness and 
hill and the watch-tower shall be for confidence for ever, 118 And my people 


dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pas- shall abide in a peaceful habitation, and 
ture of flocks; 15 until the Spirit be in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting- 
poured upon us from on high, and the places. 19 But it shall hail in the 
wilderness become a fruitful field, and downfall of the forest; and the city 
the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest. shall be utterly laid low. 20 Blessed are 
16 Then justice shall dwell in the ye that sow beside all waters, that send 
wilderness; and righteousness shall abide forth the feet of the ox and the ass. 


Vers. 14-20. “THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE NATION. 


Ver. 15. This verse tells how long the desolation is to last, i. e., 
until, etc. Nagelsbach calls the passage between this verse and the pre- 
ceding one, ‘‘a bold bridge from the then present into the remote future’’. 
He says, ‘““Uhe prophet sets the glorious Messianic last time over against 
the pernicious then present time, yet in a way that overlaps the long inter- 
vening centuries, and sees the future directly behind the present. How 
far-reaching and comprehensive is the gaze of the prophet here!”’ 


92 


; 


ISAIAH 





This can only partially apply to the spiritual revival in Hezekiah’s 
time; its full accomplishment belongs to the Christian dispensation, first 
at Pentecost (Joel 2.28; Acts 2.17), perfectly in coming times (Zech. 
12.10; Ezek. 36.26; 39.29), when the Spirit shall be poured on Israel, 
and through her on the Gentiles (Micah 5.7). 

The desolation is to last, as Alexander says, ‘‘until by a special divine 
influence a total revolution shall take place in the character, and as a neces- 
sary consequence in the condition of the people. “To attempt to restrict it 
to the return from exile, or to the day of Pentecost, or to some. great 
effusion of the Spirit upon the Jews still future, perverts the passage by 
making that its whole meaning, which at most is but a part.’ 

For explanation of the latter part of the verse see Chap. 29.17. 


Ver. 16. This verse does not apparently mean that both in the culti- 
vation of the wilderness and the desolation of the field the righteousness 
of God shall be displayed; it means rather that what is now a wilderness 
and what is now a fruitful field shall both alike be the abode of justice 
and righteousness. 


Ver. 19. “the downfall of the forest’’,—-The “‘forest’’ we know to 
be an emblem of Assyria (Chap. 10.34), the Assyrian host dense as the 
trees of a forest. 


“and the city shall be utterly laid low’’,—Some think this an instance 
of ‘“‘prophetic recurrence from remoter promises to nearer threats’’, as if he 
had said, ‘Before these things come to pass the city must first be laid low’, 
the subject therefore being the same as that in verse 13, i. e., Jerusalem. 


Aamo els tite Gas:) 


Others take it, and as we think more properly, as a direct continua- 
tion according to which it must be taken as the downfall of some hostile 
city. Fausset thinks of Ninevah, as do probably the most. In a sense it 
is of course the world-city, as others take it. (Na. Dre. Ros.) Nagels- 
bach asks, ““Why of a sudden this dark trait in the picture of light? Is 
not the abasement of Jerusalem sufficiently declared in verses 13 and 14? 
Why a repetition here? If the forest that falls under the hail-storm means 
the world-power generally, then the city must mean the world-city.”’ 


Ver. 20. Delitzsch says here, ‘“They sow wherever they please, by 
all waters that fertilize the soil, on fruitful land requiring little toil to 
cultivate it, and because everything is rich in abundance they can let oxen 
and asses roam at large.’ ,(.Na. He.) 

Some think the last clause refers to the custom of sending forth the 
oxen and asses to tread the ground before sowing (F. Lo.), while Ewald, 
with Alexander, explains the passage exclusively of moral cultivation, im- 
plying that none can expect to reap good without diligently sowing it. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE 


1 Woe to thee that destroyest, and stroyed: and when thou hast made an 
thou wast not destroyed; and dealest end of dealing treacherously, they shall 
treacherously, and they dealt not treach- deal treacherously with thee. 2 O Je- 
erously with thee! When thou hast hovah, be gracious unto us; we have 
ceased to destroy, thou shalt be de- waited for thee; be thou ‘our arm every 

1Heb. their 


3) 


ISAIAH 





morning, our salvation also in the time 
of trouble. 3 At the noise of the tumult 
the peoples are fled; at the lifting up of 


thyself the nations are scattered. 4 And 
your spoil shall be gathered as the cater- 
pillar gathereth; as locusts leap shall 
men leap upon it. 5 Jehovah is exalt- 
ed, for he dwelleth on high: he hath 
filled Zion with justice and righteous- 
ness. 6 “And there shall be stability in 
thy times, abundance of salvation, wis- 
dom, and knowledge: the fear of Jeho- 
vah is *thy treasure. 

7 Behold, their valiant ones cry 
without; the ambassadors of peace weep 
bitterly. 8 The highways lie waste, 
the wayfaring man ceaseth: “the enemy 
hath broken the covenant, he hath de- 
spised the cities, he regardeth not man. 
9 The land mourneth and languisheth; 
Lebanon is confounded and withereth 
away; Sharon is like °a desert; and 
Bashan and Carmel shake off their 
leaves. 10 Now will I arise saith Jeho- 
vah; now will I lift up myself; now 
will I be exalted. 11 Ye shall conceive 
chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; your 
breath is a fire that shall devour you. 
12 And the peoples shall be as the burn- 
ings of lime, as thorns cut down, that 
are burned in the fire. \ 

13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I 
have done; and, ye that are near, 
acknowledge my might. 14 The sin- 
ners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath 
seized the godless ones: Who among us 
can dwell with the devouring fire? who 
among us can dwell with everlasting 
burnings? 15 He that walketh right- 


"Or, And abundance of salvation, wisdom, 
and knowledge shall be the stability of thy 
times. 

5Heb. his 

*Heb. he 

"Or, the Arabah 


eously, and speaketh uprightly; he that 
despiseth ithe gain of “oppressions, that 
shaketh his hands from taking a bribe, 
that stoppeth his ears from hearing of 
blood, and shutteth his eyes from look- 
ing upon evil: 16 he shall dwell on 
high; his place of defence shall be the 
munitions of rocks; his bread shall be 
given him; his waters shall be sure. 

17 Thine eyes shall see the king in 
his beauty; they shall behold ‘a land 
that reacheth afar. 18 Thy heart shall 
muse on the terror: Where is “he that 
counted, where is he that weighed the 
tribute? where is he that counted the 
towers? 19 Thou shalt not see the 
fierce people, a people of a deep speech | 
that thou canst not comprehend, of a 
“strange tongue that thou canst not 
understand. 20 Look upon Zion, the 
city of our *solemnities; thine eyes shall 
see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent 
that shall not be removed, the stakes 
whereof shall never be plucked up, 
neither shall any of the cords thereof be 
broken. 21 But there Jehovah will be 
with us in majesty, “a place of broad 
rivers and streams, wherein shall go no 
galley with oars, neither shall gallant 
ship pass thereby. 22 For Jehovah is 
our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Je- 
hovah is our king; he will save us. 23 
Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not 
strengthen the foot of their mast, they 
could not spread the sail: then was the 
prey of a great spoil divided; the lame 
took the prey. 24 And the inhabitant 
shall not say, I am sick: the people that 
dwell therein shall be forgiven their 
iniquity. 

SOr, fraud 

7Or, a land that is very far of Heb. a land 
of far distances. 

SOr, the scribe 

"Or, stammering 

Or, set feasts 


Or, dut in the place ....s streams there 
shall go, &c. 


Vers. 1-24. THE WOE UPON ASSYRIA AND THE SALVATION OF JERU- 
SALEM. 
Ver. 1. The enemy addressed is rightly taken by the majority 


to be Assyria. “The words are of course applicable to any oppressive and 
deceitful enemy. Some think that Nebuchadnezzar is meant either as an 
individual or as a representative of the Assyrian power. Vitringa thinks 
of Antiochus Epiphanes, Jerome of Satan, while Gill thinks by this enemy 
the Antichrist is meant. 

The enemy is described as acting without provocation and as having 
never yet suffered reverses. 


Ver. 3. “At the noise of the tumult’’,—'The approach of Jeho- 
vah’’, says Fausset, “‘is likened to an advancing thunder storm, which is 


94 


ISAIAH 


His voice causing ‘the peoples’, the Assyrians, to flee.’’ He lets them hear a 
voice which, as it were, has no actual existence. The verse is addressed 
to Jehovah. 

“the lifting up of thyself’’,—1i. e., when, in order to strike, one rouses 
himself from a state of seeming inaction. 


Ver. 4. The address is to the Assyrians. The prophet sees the 
Israelites plundering their camp and gathering the spoil as the caterpillars 
(the wingless locust) gather, that is, greedily and thoroughly, not leaving 
a field or a tree until they have stripped it. 

“as locusts leap’’,—1i. e. eagerly, voraciously, with a view to satisfy- 
ing the appetite. 


Ver. 6. The object of the address is most probably the people of 
Judah (K. Al. Na. Del.), and not Hezekiah, for which latter there is no 
reason, the same being true of the explanation which refers the object to 
the Messiah. The Hebrew for “‘thy”’ is “‘his’’, but it either refers to the 
same object, i. e., Judah, by a change of person common in Hebrew poetry, 
and is therefore properly rendered “‘thy’’ in our text; or if “‘his’’ be retained 
it must be made to mean Jehovah's treasure which He bestows. 


Ver. 7. From the vision of future glory the prophet returns to the 
disastrous present. 

These “‘valiant ones’ and the “‘ambassadors’’ of the next clause, ap- 
parently one and the same, are not those sent by Hezekiah to Isaiah, but 
they are the messengers sent to Sennacherib to treat for peace, the messengers 
sent by Hezekiah to the Assyrian king (II Kings 18.14-18). “Their terms 
were accepted and the peace money handed over, after which the Assyrian 
commander would not retire but demanded the surrender of Jerusalem: 
hence the bitter weeping. 

“cry without’’,—1. e., probably without the enemy’s camp. 


Ver. 8. The scene presented is that of the condition of Judah dur- 
ing the Assyrian invasion. Gill thinks it is that of the Protestant cities 
seized by Antichrist and a stop put to their religious course and conver- 
sation. 


Ver. 9. The most fertile and flourishing parts of the country are 
here described as desolate, the language being figurative of course, which 
may be inferred from the fact that none of the places mentioned are in 


Judah. 


Ver. 11. “chaff... stubble’’,—TVhe common Scriptural figure for 
failure. 

“breath’’,—Various renderings are ‘‘puffings’’ (Na.) ‘‘anger’’ 
(Gro.), ‘pride’ (Cle.), ‘panting’ (Del.); their rage against Jerusalem is 
the fire that shall consume them. 


Ver. 12. ‘“‘the peoples’’,—i. e., primarily the races mingled in the 
Assyrian army, but in general all nations that defy God. 
Gill refers this verse to the future destruction of antichristian Rome. 


ieve U/a 65 °1:8:8; ) 


Ver. 13. “ye that are afar off’’ and “‘ye that are near’’ refer doubt- 
less to all people without exception. (PVA Bare) Hendewerk says 


95 


ISAIAH 


they are the ten tribes and the two tribes; Junius and Nagelsbach say they 
are the Gentiles and the Jews, while Delitzsch says it refers to a farness 
and nearness to God of those who are in Jerusalem. 


Ver. 14. “The sinners in Zion’ ,—i. e., the impious Jews. 


What follows is the language of the wicked Jews in Jerusalem and is 
expressive of their terror, alarm and desperation. “The “‘devouring fire’ 
is therefore not the wrath of God as executed by the Assyrians (Gro. Pis.), 
but the wrath of God as executed on or against the Assyrians, and the 
thought is, If this be a specimen of God’s vindicatory justice, what can 
we expect? Who of us can dwell with this devouring fire? 


Henderson, not without some reason, thinks the reference is to eternal 
punishment, and that the argument is from the less to the greater, namely, 
if these are God’s temporal judgments what must His eternal wrath be; 
who of us can dwell with such devouring fire? 


Ver. 15. This is taken by many (F. Na. Del.) as an answer to the 
question of the preceding verse. If this be proper, then that verse cannot 
refer to future punishment because the righteous are not supposed to 
endure that. It may be so taken if the ‘“‘devouring fire’ refers only to God’s 
judgments against the Assyrians, because the righteous man shall be secure 
in the midst of such devouring fire of Jehovah. 


We believe it is best, however, to separate this verse from the preced- 
ing context, making it the beginning, as it were, of a new paragraph, be- 
cause the sentence is plainly incomplete 1 in this verse and finds its conclusion 


in the next. (Al. He.) 


Ver. 16. “dwell on high’’,—Not exalted position, but safety from 
enemies. ‘‘Enclosed as within the impregnable walls of a rocky fortress 
on inaccessible heights.’ (Del.) 


Ver. 17. “the king in his beauty’’,—Some refer this to Hezekiah 
exclusively. (AI. Del. Ges.) Delitzsch says, ‘““The king of Judah hither- 
to deeply abased by tyrannous oppression and unfortunate wars, is then 
glorified by the victory of his God, and the nation, answering to the 
description of verses 15 and 16, shall behold him in his God-given beauty.” 


Calvin, Nagelsbach and others think of King Hezekiah as a type of 
the Christ, while Fausset and Abarbenel think only of the Messiah. Faus- 
set says, ‘“‘Not as now, Hezekiah i in sackcloth oppressed by the enemy, but 
King Eee in His beauty.”’ 


“a land that reacheth afar’’,—1i. e., a land of far stretching extent 
(Del.), a wide-extended land (Na.), the land in its remotest extent (F.). 
Luther thinks of the land as actually extended by conquered territory, while 
Hitzig says that they can see from Jerusalem far and wide because their 
view is no longer obstructed by fortresses, entrenchments and the presence 
of the enemy. The Hebrew is “a land of far distances’. 


Ver. 18. They reflect on the terror that is now past. The scribe, 
the collector of tribute, the weigher who tested the weight of the gold and 
silver paid in as tribute money, and the counter of the towers who drew 
up the plan of the city that was to be attacked—these are all vanished. 


Ver. 19. The Assyrians, a people of fierce, insolent bearing, of 
; 96 


ISAIAH 


obscure, unintelligible (“‘deep’’) speech and obscure (‘“‘stammering’’ or 
_“strange’’) tongue so perplexing to the Israelites, will have disappeared 
from the land. 


Ver. 20. The beauty of the imagery lies in ascribing permanency 
to a tent which, from its very nature, is movable and undependable. 


Ver. 21. Babylon, Ninevah and other great cities were usually 
defended by great rivers and river canals. Jerusalem had none such, but 
Jehovah, figuratively speaking, will be to her such river defenses, and 
neither oar-ship nor sail-ship (ships of war) shall be able to pass these 
mighty waters. Others contend that the collocation of words forbids this 
interpretation, and they read ‘‘But a glorious One dwells there for us, 
Jehovah”’ (Del.), or ‘‘But there shall Jehovah be mighty for us’’ (Al.) ,— 
then in consequence of His dwelling there Jerusalem shall be like a place 
of rivers, etc. 


Ver. 23. A sudden apostrophe to the enemy considered as a ship. 


“they could not strengthen the foot of their mast’’,—1. e., they could 
not hold firm the support, the socket of the mast. 

By many these words are held as addressed to Jerusalem (Na. Or. Del. 
Dre. Che.). But the reasons adduced by Nagelsbach, who says we 
stand again in this verse in the period before the overthrow of the Assyrians, 
are not at all convincing, and it is better to take the address as being made 
to Assyria, as do the majority of writers. (F. Al. Ew. Bi. Reu. Luz. Bar.) 

When Assyria is spoiled the lame will join in the pillage, by which 
statement the eagerness of the gathering in of the spoil is pictured. 


Ver. 24. “The inhabitants shall not say, I am sick’’,—Either there 
shall be no sickness or those who are sick shall recover. 

“shall be forgiven their tniquity’’,—Some interpret the sickness as a 
spiritual malady and so take this clause as meaning the same as the one 
that went before it. Others take it as explaining that bodily sickness is 
caused by sin (F. Na. Al.). The words really mean that all sickness shall 
cease with sin. ‘“The words’’, says Alexander, “‘are strictly applicable 
only to a state of things still future, either upon earth or in heaven.”’ 


Section Six. The Eschatological Judgment of the Nations and the 
Redemption of Israel. 


CHAPTERS 34 AND 35 
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR 


1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and cast out, and the stench of their dead 
hearken, ye peoples: let the earth hear, bodies shall come up; and the mountains 
and the fullness thereof; the world, and shall be melted with their blood. 4 And 
all things that come forth from it. 2 all the host of heaven shall *be dissolved, 
For Jehovah hath indignation against and the heavens shall be rolled together 
all the nations, and wrath against as a scroll; and all their host shall fade 
all their host: he hath ‘utterly destroyed away, as the leaf fadeth from off the 
them, he hath delivered them to the vine, and as a fading leaf from the fig- 
slaughter. 3 Their slain also shall be tree, 

Heb. devoted *Or, moulder away 


OF 


ISAIAH 


Vers. 1-4. “THE JUDGMENT ON THE WHOLE WORLD. 


Some have applied this section as well as what follows to the desola- 
tion of Edom (Gro. Schi.), but there is little doubt but that it belongs 
to the judgment of the end-time because it takes place with the contempo- 
raneous destruction of the present heaven and earth. (F. Na. Eu. Cy. Del.) 
Scofield says it is the battle of Armageddon. 


Ver. 1. The summons goes forth to the whole of nature, imper- 
sonal as well as personal, because the former will have to share in this judg- 
ment. ‘They are not invited to witness but to hear about this judgment. 


Ver. 3. “the mountains shall be melted with their blood’’,—i. e., 
as they are sometimes washed away by the rain. 


Ver. 4. “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved’’,—The verb 
rendered “‘dissolve’’ is commonly applied to pining away through disease. 
In Psa. 38.6 it means to “‘run as a sore’ and from this Gesenius, adopting 
the poetical notion of likening the stars to wax candles, gets the idea of 
melting. Maurer therefore quite aptly takes the expression as a statement 
that the heavenly bodies will pine away into sickly, dying lights. (V. Al.) 

“rolled together as a scroll’’,—Pfeiffer has well said that as Jehovah 
is elsewhere said to have stretched out the heavens as a curtain, so their 
destruction or any total change in their appearance would be described as 
a rolling up of the expanse. 


5 For my sword hath drunk its fillin ~ ever; from generation to generation it 


heaven: behold, it shall come down up- shall lie waste; none shall pass through 
it for ever and ever. 11 But the pelican 


oF) Edom, and upon the people of my and the porcupine shall possess it; and 
curse, to judgment. 6 The sword of the owl and the raven shall dwell there- 
Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made in: and he will stretch over it the line 
fat with fatness, with the blood of of confusion, and the ‘plummet of emp- 
lambs and goats, with the fat of the kid- tiness. 12 °They shall call the nobles 
neys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacri- thereof to the kingdom, but none shall 
fice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in be there; and all its princes shall be 
the land of Edom. 7 And the wild- nothing. 13 And thorns shall come up 
oxen shall come down with them, and in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the 
the bullocks with the bulls: and their fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habi- 
land shall be drunken with blood; and tation of jackals, a court of ostriches. 
their dust made fat with fatness. 14 And the wild beasts of the desert 

8 For Jehovah hath a day of ven- shall meet with the *wolves, and the 
geance, a year of recompense for the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; yea, 
cause of Zion. 9 And the streams “of "the night-monster shall settle there, and 
Edom shall be turned into pitch, and shall find her a place of rest. 15 There 
the dust thereof into brimstone, and the shall the dart-snake make her nest, and 
land thereof shall become burning pitch. lay, and hatch, and gather under her 
10 It shall not be quenched night nor shade; yea, there shall the kites be gath- 
day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ered, every one with her mate. 

1Heb. devoting, or, ban 3Or, dittern 

"Heb. thereof 4*Heb. stones 


5Or, As for her nobles, none shall be there.to 
proclaim the kingdom 

®Heb. howling creatures 

THeb. Lilith 


Vers. 5-15. “THE JUDGMENT ON EDOM AS REPRESENTING ALL HOSTILE 
WORLD-POWER. 


Ver. 5. “my sword hath drunk its fill in heaven’’,—God’s sword 
is here described as drunk with wrath in heaven before it is drunk with 


98 


ISAIAH 


wrath on earth. (Del. Ges.) The saying is one doubtless expressing 
‘divine fore-ordination: In the sight of God the sword, although not yet 
actually used, was already dripping with blood. 


“people of my curse’,—This expression is not to be extended to 
other nations (Ju.), but is a repetition pointing again to Edom as the 
people doomed to the curse of God. 


Ver. 6. The Edomites are regarded as a sacrifice and here compared 
to sheep, goats and rams. Bozra is the chief city of Edom. 


“made fat with fatness’’,—1i. e., smeared with the fat and the blood 
as the animal substance offered in sacrifice. 


mV eres. Some think the “wild oxen’ or “wild buffalo’”’ refers to 
malignant enemies, but it means rather that the wild as well as the tame 
animals will be included in the slaughter. 


‘ “shall come down with them’’,—i. e., either to the slaughter, or 
come down’’, meaning to fall or sink under the fatal stroke. 


Ver. 9. Here is signified the completest destruction, as if her streams 
were turned to pitch, and her dust to sulphur. 


Nagelsbach says, ‘‘When the streams are flowing with pitch and the 
dust is sulphur the whole land will become a place of fearful conflagration.”’ 


Gill applies the last clause to the future burning of Rome as in Rev. 
L7.16-and: 18.8. 


Ver. 10. ‘“‘The inextinguishable fire and the eternally ascending 
smoke’, says Delitzsch, ‘“‘prove that the final end is referred to (Rev. 
Lay 


“It is’, says Nagelsbach, ‘‘the flame of the last judgment and the 
burning continues forever and ever.” (F.) 


Alexander, on the other hand, remarks that while these images are 
copied in Rev. 14.10,11, it does not follow that the copy was intended 
to determine the sense of the original. 


Ver. 11. As right building demands the measuring line and the’ 
plummet, so God will move deliberately and by rule in His work of 
destruction. 


Ver. 12. In as much as “‘nobles’’ is a nominative absolute, it is far 
better here to read with the margin, ‘‘As for her nobles, none shall be there 
to proclaim the kingdom. The nobles and princes have come to nothing.” 


Vers. 14-15. The general sense of these two verses is that the 
human population shall be succeeded by wild and lonely animals, implying 
total and continued desolation, and there is no need to concern ourselves 
with the detailed discussion in the various commentaries as to the particu- 
lar species of animal referred to in each case. 


16 Seek ye out of the book of Jeho- he hath cast the lot for them, and his 
vah, and read: no one of these shall be hand hath divided it unto them by line: 
missing, none shall want her mate; for they shall possess it for ever; from gen- 
my mouth, it hath commanded, and his eration to generation shall they dwell 


Spirit, it hath gathered them. 17 And therein. 
99 


ISAIAH 


Vers. 16,17. A SUMMONS TO COMPARE THE PROPHECY WITH ITs 
FULFILLMENT. 


Ver. 16. [he persons addressed are the future witnesses of the 
events here predicted. The prophet seems to take his stand at a point of 
time after the event. 

“the book of Jehovah’’,—We prefer, with Kimchi and Alting, to 
refer this to the prophecy just delivered, although, as Alexander says, it 
may be referred to prophecy in general or to the entire Scriptures without 
material change of sense. Other explanations are His decrees (Ab.), His 
record of events (For.), that part of Genesis relating to unclean animals 
(Jar.), the law in general (C.) the book of Revelation (Gill). 

The pronouns in this verse and the next refer to the animals afore- 
mentioned. 

“my mouth... his Spirit’’,—The sudden change of persons has led 
to various explanations, but on the whole the explanation of Delitzsch 
is to be preferred. He renders, ‘“‘my mouth and its breath’, thus making 
God the speaker in both instances. Indeed it is not even necessary to 
change the form of the pronoun, for such changes of person are frequent 
in Hebrew poetry. 


Ver. 17. As Canaan was divided by lot and measuring line to 
Israel, so Edom is allotted to these doleful creatures. 


\ 


CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE 


1 The wilderness and the dry land shall waters break out, and streams in 
shall be glad; and the desert shall re- the desert. 7 And the *glowing sand 
joice, and blossom as the ‘rose. 2 It shall become a pool, and the thirsty 
shall biossom abundantly, and rejoice ground springs of water; in the habita- 
even with joy and singing; the glory of tion of jackals, where they lay, shall be - 
Lebanon shall be given unto it, the ex- °grass with reeds and rushes. 8 And a 
cellency of Carmel and Sharon: they highway shall be there, and a way, and 
shall see the glory of Jehovah, the ex- it shall be called The way of holiness; 
cellency of our God. the unclean shall not pass over it; but 

3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and it shall be for ‘the redeemed: the way- 
confirm the “feeble knees. 4 Say to them faring men, yea fools, shall not err 
that are of a “fearful heart, Be strong, therein. 9 No lion shall be there, nor 
fear not: *behold, your God will come shall any ravenous beast go up thereon; 
with vengeance, with the recompense of they shall not be found there; but the 
God; he will come and save you. redeemed shall walk there; 10 and the 

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and 
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be come with singing unto Zion; and ever- 
unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man lasting joy shall be upon their heads: 
leap as a hart, and the tongue of the they shall obtain gladness and joy, and 
dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

1Or, Autumn crocus 5Or, mirage 

*Or, tottering SOr, a court for reeds, &c. 

Heb. hasty THeb. them 


4Or, behold, your God! Vengeance will come, 
even the recompense of Go 


Vers. 1-10. JSRAEL’S REDEMPTION AND REGATHERING. 


Ver. 1. This and the following verse, as someone has well said, 
prepare the theater in general, as it were, for the return of- Israel, which 
return is to be through the desert, a desert, however, which shall conform 


100 


ISAIAH 


to the blessed people who wander through it,—it will change its nature; 
hitherto a place of cursing, the abode of demons, it will become a place of 
blessing, a paradise. 


“blossom as the rose’’,—Perhaps crocus, or narcissus, or lily are 
nearer the original meaning, but the “‘rose’’ is true to poetry if not to 
botany, and is perhaps best retained as more familiar and as containing a 
more striking image of beauty. 


Ver. 2. Lebanon, Sharon and Carmel are here united as types of the 
most luxuriant and glorious vegetation. 


“they shall see’’,Some take this as referring to the house of Israel. 
(Al. Cle. Sep. Tar. Bred.) Others refer it, and rightly, to the immediate 
antecedents (V. Na. Del.), declaring that the discourse only comes to the 
Judeans in the next verse. Alexander says that if the immediate ante- 
cedents had been meant there would have been no need for the use of the 
pronoun, and it must have been introduced for the purpose of directing 
the attention to some other than the nominatives nearest. “This argument 
is, however, by no means conclusive. 


Ver. 3. Are they exhorted to do this for others or for themselves? 
Both thoughts are best included and there is no reason for the exclusion of 
either. The reference is of course to self-encouragement and the encour- 
agement of others. 


Ver. 4. “‘fearful heart’’,—1. e., hasty of heart, the impatient, those 
who cannot wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises (Al. Cle.) , although 
it has been variously explained, ‘“‘inconsiderate’ (Ju.), ‘‘precipitate’’ 
(Coe. )ee) inconstant —‘(Vat.). \ ‘faint-hearted’’~ (Lo.),»“‘palpitating”’ 
(Ros.), “‘ready to flee’ (Ges.). 


The rendering of the margin, “Behold, your God! vengeance will 
come,—even the recompense of God’’, is preferable to that of our text, 
as most later writers agree. (V. Al. Ju. Na. Coc.) 


Alexander says, ““‘While Barnes denies that the phrase ‘your God’ 
refers at all to the Messiah, Calovius alleges that the name of Jesus is 
expressly mentioned, being included in the verb. “The words are really 
a promise to God’s people of deliverance, and include, as the most im- 
portant part of their contents, the unspeakable gift of Christ and His 
salvation.’ 


Vers. 5,6. [he words are to be understood more in a spiritual 
sense than in a corporeal, although it is not impossible that the latter, in a 
conditional sense, may be included. Perhaps, however, as Alexander says, 
the simple meaning of the passage is that there shall be such a wonderful 
change wrought in the condition of mankind, as if the blind were to 
receive their sight, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, 
and deserts to be fertilized and blossom like the rose. 


Ver. 7. “tn the habitation’’,—This is to be connected neither with 
what precedes, “springs of water in the habitation’, etc. (Al.), nor with 
what follows, “‘in the habitation, etc., there shall be a highway” (Ew.), 
both of which constructions allow no promise to be found in the last 
clause of this verse. Our text is certainly right in seeing here a promise 
that what was once the haunt of jackals is to become fit for a resting place, 


101 


ISAIAH 


a place where grass and reed and cane can grow because of the moisture. 
or a “‘court for reeds and rushes’, as in the margin. 


By the “glowing sand” is meant the ‘‘mirage’’ which shall become an 
actual pool or lake of water. 


Ver. 8. “‘a highway shall there be’’,—Not a faint track in the desert, 
but a solid artificial highway. 

“and a way’’,—This is merely a heniadys, a highway and a way for 
a highway. 

“the unclean shall not pass over tt’’,—This means that the people of 
Jehovah shall be holy. It is not an “‘effusion of national hatred’* (Kn.), 
nor “‘a trace of later Judaism’’ (Hit.) excluding the heathen generally. 


“but it shall be for the redeemed (them)’’,—It means merely for 
_ them for whose sake it was made, the redeemed of course. Hence it is 
needless to specify, “‘the blind whose eyes are opened’’ (Ju.), “‘Israel’’ 
(Kim.), “‘the exiles’’ (Hit.), ‘‘those redeemed from idolatry’ (He.), 
‘those redeemed by suffering’ (Kn.). 


“the wayfating man’’,—The traveler. 


“yea, fools’,—This is explanatory and emphatic. Only moral 
impurity, but not ignorance nor weakness shall exclude men from this 
highway. Whoever goes upon it must be sanctified and such an one will 
be under Jehovah’s protecting care. 


Ver. 9. Nothing can go on this highway that may in any wise 
be occasion for alarm or fear. The way is so high that no beast can 
leap up. 


Ver. 10. “‘upon their heads’’,—Joy is manifest in the face and 
countenance. 

Says Alexander, ‘“‘With respect to the subject of this chapter there 
has been such diversity of opinion. It has been explained with equal 
confidence as a description of Judah under Hezekiah (Gro.), of the return 
from exile (Cle.), of the state of Judah after that event (Ros.), of that 
state and the times of the New Testament together (Mi.), of the calling 
of the Gentiles (Coc.), of the Christian dispensation (C. Lut.), of the 
state of the Church after the fall of Antichrist (V.), of the state of Pales- 
tine at some future period (Mic.), and of a future state of blessedness 
(Gill). These arbitrary hypotheses refute each other. ‘The best descrip- 
tion of the chapter is that given by Augusti in the title to his version of it, 
where he represents it as the description of a happy condition of the Church 
after a period of suffering. This is no doubt its true import, and when 
thus explained it may be considered as including various particulars, none 
of which may be regarded as its specific or exclusive subject. Gesenius 
says this prophecy was of course never fulfilled; but so far is this from 
being true, that it has rather been fulfilled again and again. Without any 
change of its essential meaning it may be applied to the restoration of the 
Jews from Babylon, to the vocation of the Gentiles, to the whole Christian 
dispensation, to the course of every individual believer, and to the blessed- 
ness of heaven.” 

Scofield, on the other hand and representing the opposite school of 
interpretation, says the chapter points to the kingdom blessing and the 
regathering of Israel. 


102 


ISAIAH 





Section Seven. The Conclusion of the Assyrian and the Preparation for 
the Babylonian Period. 


CHAPTERS 36 TO 39. 


CHAPTERS THIRTY-SIX AND THIRTY-SEVEN 


‘THE ATTEMPT OF ASSYRIA TO COMPEL THE SURRENDER OF JERUSALEM. 


Chap. 37.31,32. The king of Assyria had taken all the fenced cities 
of Judah, but into the city of Jerusalem Jehovah had said to the king of 
Assyria that he should not come (verse 33), and the remnant here refers 
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and those who had fled there for safety. 


CHAPTERS THIRTY-EIGHT AND THIRTY-NINE 


HEZEKIAH’S SICKNESS AND RECOVERY AND THE EMBASSY FROM BABY- 
LON OCCASIONED By IT. 


THE SECOND PRINCIPAL DIVISION OF THE BOOK 


The twenty-seven chapters which compose this second division of 
the writings of Isaiah subdivide into three parts containing each nine chap- 
ters; Chaps. 40 to 48—49 to 57-58 to 66. Each of these parts in turn 
contain three addresses. 

The general theme of this division is the Redemption of Israel be- 
ginning with the return from Babylonian exile and ending with the cre- 
ation of a new heaven and a new earth. 


CHAPTER FORTY 


This chapter, after a general introduction (verses 1-11) to the entire 
twenty-seven chapters as well as to the subsequent parts of this chapter 
itself, contains a presentation of the absolute power and wisdom of God 
as the objective basis of the redemption in view. 


CHAPTER FORTY-ONE 


This chapter both introduces the redeemer from the east (Cyrus) 
and sets forth the redeemed ‘‘servant of Jehovah’, the people Israel, whom 
God promises to make strong unto victory, upon which is based an argu- 
ment for the sole divinity of Jehovah and the nothingness of idols. 


CHAPTER FORTY-TWO 


This chapter introduces the Messiah who as the personal representa- 
tive of a new covenant will mediate for all nations, and then occupies itself 
with a call to all nations, and especially Israel, to rejoice in promised 
deliverance. 


103 


ISAIAH 


Scofield, Fausset and others see in this chapter, as well as in others, a 
twofold account of the coming of Christ, His first in mercy to the penitent 
and His second in judgment on His enemies. Such verses as 13 and 14 
they think set forth the judicial aspect of the Gospel which shall be con- 
summated victoriously only at His second coming. But even though the 
general truth advanced by these writers be admitted, great caution should 
be used in drawing it out of passages of doubtful reference. Insofar as 
the name Jehovah in verse 13, and in Chap. 40.10, as referred to by 
Scofield, may be referred to Christ there is reasonable ground for the posi- 
tion taken by these authorities. It is doubtless true, as Delitzsch says of 
verses 13 and 14, that ‘“The defeat which Jehovah here inflicts on heathen- 
dom is the final and decisive one. The deliverance of Israel, now nearing 
its accomplishment, is deliverance both from the punishment of exile and 
all the misery of sin. The post-exilian and the New Testament period 
flow into one.” : 


CHAPTER FORTY-THREE 


In this chapter the redemption itself is described as one that shall 
come to pass in spite of all difficulties, even though the heathen must be 
sacrificed for the sake of it. It is to be all-comprehending, bringing Israel 
back from out of all lands of the earth. This restoration, which finds its 
beginning in the return from Babylon, is described in such language as 
contains without doubt a reference to the more distant Messianic salva- 
tion, set forth under the usual figures of transformed nature. 

Under verse 18 Fausset remarks that “‘plainly the still future restora- 
tion of Israel is the event ultimately meant.” 


CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR 


In this chapter a new pledge of deliverance is given and a new exhor- 
tation to trust in Jehovah is set forth, the wisdom and glory of the latter 
being set forth in comparison with the wretchedness of impotent idols and 
their worshippers. 


CHAP DERS POR MY ELV 


In this chapter is set forth the deeds of Cyrus as the instrument in 
the initial ushering in of the salvation promised to Israel, assurance of this - 
being set forth in the fact that, beside the northern world-power directly 
ruled by Cyrus, even the southern world-power, Egypt, with the lands of 
its dominion, shall join itself to the people of Jehovah, as a result of which 
Israel shall at last and definitely abjure its idols. 

The ‘‘coming over unto Israel’’ (verse 14) of Egypt, Ethiopia and 
Sabea Fausset says ‘‘mainly and fully describes the gathering in of ‘the 
Gentiles unto Israel, especially at Israel’s future restoration.”’ 


CHAPTER FORTY-SIX 


In this chapter Israel is exhorted to remember the power of Jehovah 
and the impotence of idols that are carried by beasts of burden into 
captivity. 


104 


ISAIAH 





CiotebeR FOR Ivy -SEVEN 


This chapter is occupied wholly with the downfall of Babylon. It 
exposes the reasons for this judgment which came upon them and sets forth 
the uselessness of all the means employed to rescue the nation thus sentenced 
by the decree of Jehovah. 


CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT 


In this chapter the prophet points Israel to the fulfillment of the old 
prophecies in order to move them to faith in the new, after which the 
chief content of the new prophecy is repeated, promising again the restora- 
tion of Jehovah’s people and reminding them of the promise. 


The evident reference to redemption from the bondage of Egypt 
found in verse 21 leads Fausset to say that the blending of this deliverance 
with that from Babylon shows that the language cannot be wholly and 
exclusively referred to either one of them, but that it points mainly to the 
mystical deliverance of man under the Messiah and ultimately and literally 
to the final restoration of the now dispersed Israelites. 


CHAPTER FORT Y-NINE 


In this chapter is found the self-attestation of the Holy One, Israel's 
Redeemer, the Messiah, as to His person and work, the latter half of the 
chapter showing how desolated Israel is to be built anew from the Gentiles. 


6 Yea, he saith, It‘is too light a thing for a light to the Gentiles, ‘that thou 
that thou shouldst be my servant to raise mayest be my salvation unto the end of 
up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the the earth. 
preserved of Israel: I will also give thee 10Or, that my salvation may be 


Ver. 6. “THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL AND THE CALLING OF THE 
GENTILES.' 


Nagelsbach says, ‘The expression, ‘raise up the tribes of Jacob’ says 
more than one at first sight supposes. For it implies that the nation shall 
be restored according to its original distribution into twelve tribes.”’ 


“the preserved of Israel’’,—This, says Fausset, refers to ‘‘the elect 
remnant according to grace preserved for mercy.” 


8 Thus saith Jehovah, In an accept- heights shall be their pasture. 10 They 
able time have I answered thee, and in shall not hunger nor thirst; neither 


A shall the *heat nor sun smite them: for 
a day of-salvation have I helped thee; he that hath mercy on them will lead 


and [ will preserve thee, and give thee them, even by springs of water will he 
for a covenant of the people, to ‘raise guide them. 11 And I will make all 
up the land, to make them inherit the my mountains a way, and my highways 
desolate heritages; 9 saying to them that shall be exalted. 12 Lo, these shall 
are bound, Go forth; to them that are come from far; and, lo, these from the 
in darkness, Show yourselves. ‘They north and from the west; and these 
shall feed in the ways, and on all bare from the land of Sinim. 
1Or, establish the earth "Or, mirage 


105 


ISAIAH 





Vers. 8-12. THE PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 


Ver. 8. In this verse and the first half of the next the address is 
made by Jehovah to His Chosen One, the Messiah. 


“tn an acceptable time... ina day of salvation’’,—Christ Himself by 
taking Isa. 61.1 as a text explains the time of His appearing as “‘the accept- 
able year’’, which must be identical with the “acceptable time’’ of our text. 
But, says Nagelsbach, ‘“The prophetic gaze, however, ‘in the-year of sal- 
vation’ sees comprehensively all those points of time that belong, by way 
of preparation and development, to this central point of the redemption of 
Israel. It begins with the deliverance from Babylonian captivity.and only 
ends in the completion of salvation in the world beyond.” 


“to ratse up the land’’,—The country which has fallen into decay 
rises again and thus the promised land is restored to Israel. 


“inherit the desolate heritages’’,—'‘The waste heritages’, says 
Delitzsch, ‘“‘become anew the property of their former owners.” 


Says Fausset, ‘‘Spiritually, the Gentile world, a moral waste, shall 
become a garden of the Lord; and literally, Judea, lying waste during 
Babylonian captivity, shall be possessed again by the Israelites, and Jesus, 
the anti-type of and bearing the same name as Joshua, will divide the land 
among its true heirs. 


Ver. 9. In the second half of this verse the prophecy depicts the 
return of the redeemed. Says Rosenmuller, ‘Israel on its way back to the 
Holy Land shall not have to turn aside to devious paths in search of neces- 
saries, but shall find them in all places wherever their route lies.”’ 


Vers. 10,11. Jehovah will abundantly supply all the wants of 
Israel on their way to the Holy Land, as He will those of spiritual Israel 
on their way to heaven, making all the mountains a way for the returning 
ones, and raising the paths of the desert, as it were, into artificially formed 
highways. : 

By Sinim in verse 12 is no doubt meant China. 


17 Thy children make haste; thy de- and fro? and who hath brought up 
stroyers and they that made thee waste these? Behold, I was left alone; these, 
shall go forth from thee. 18 Lift up where were they? 
thine eyes round about, and behold: all 22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Be- 
these gather themselves together, and hold, I will lift up my hand to the na- 
come to thee. As I live, saith Jehovah, tions, and: set up my ensign to the peo- | 
thou shalt surely clothe thee with them ples; and they shall bring thy sons in 
all as with an ornament, and gird thy- their bosom, and thy daughters shall be 
self with them, like a bride. 19 For, carried upon their shoulders. 23 And 
as for thy waste and thy desolate places, kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and 
and thy land that hath been destroyed, their queens thy nursing mothers: they 
surely now shalt thou be too strait for shall bow down to thee with their faces 
the inhabitants, and they that swallowed to the earth, and lick the dust of thy 
thee up shall be far away. 20 The chil- feet; and thou shalt know that I’ am 
dren of thy bereavement shall yet say in Jehovah; and they that wait for me 
thine ears, The place is too strait for shall not be put to shame. 
me; give place to me that I may dwell. 24 Shall the prey be taken from the 
21 Then shalt thou say in thy heart, mighty, or “the lawful captives be de- 
Who hath *begotten me these, seeing I livered? 25 But thus saith Jehovah, 
have been bereaved of my children, and Even the captives of the mighty shall be 
am “solitary, an exile, and wandering to taken away, and the prey.of the terrible 

od yarne 3Heb. the captives of the just 

“Or, darren 


106 


ISAIAH 


shall be delivered; for I will contend 
with him that contendeth with thee, 
and [ will save thy children. 26 And 
I will feed them that oppress thee with 


their own flesh; and they shall be 
drunken with their own blood, as with 
sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that 
I, Jehovah, am thy God. 


Vers. 17-26. DESOLATE ISRAEL BUILT AFRESH FROM THE GENTILES. 


Ver. 17. Zion’s children come again to build her fallen walls and 
those who made a desolate ruin of the holy city and land must depart from 
her midst. 


“Thy children make haste’’,—The reference here, says Fausset, is to 
“Zion's literal children, who come on in haste to build up again the ruins 
and the waste places; to this the context refers especially, and only second- 
arily to her spiritual children by conversion to Christ.”’ 


Ver. 20. “The children of thy bereavement’’,—Here again Fausset 
says that the context shows that her literal children are literally meant. 
Morgan thinks that by this expression the lost ten tribes are meant, as do 
also many other writers. ‘‘Only secondarily’’, says Fausset, ‘‘is the acces- 
sion of spiritual Israel from the Gentiles meant.”’ 


Nagelsbach thinks these countless children are those converted to 
Jehovah from the Gentiles and that the reference is not to the returning 
Israelites. He contends that if they had been her own children or her 
children’s children she would have recognized them as the children of her 
own body, and that they are therefore spiritual children of Israel. 
Delitzsch and most interpreters agree with Fausset in seeing in this the 
secondary reference of the passage only. 


Ver. 22. “Thy sons’’, says Fausset, ‘‘must be distinct from the Gen- 
tiles who carry them. The Gentiles shall aid in restoring Israel to her own 
land (Chap. 60.4.and 66.20), and this verse cannot therefore refer pri- 
marily to securing converts from among the Gentiles, but must the rather 
refer to the literal restoration of Israel.’’ 


Campbell Morgan, who contends for the literal restoration of Israel, 
believes this fact set forth in the verses before us, and he says, “‘While I am 
not able positively to deny that we, as a nation, are identical with the lost 
ten tribes, I am by no means satisfied of it; but I have no quarrel with 
those who hold that view. At all events God knows where they are; and 
back to the old land for which He has declared His love, shall come the 
scattered earthly people—not the two tribes, not Judah alone, but all the 
Israel of God.” 


Ver. 23. Instead of the nations, as in the previous verse, we now 
have their kings and queens who became her protectors and further her 
growth, which thing became true down through the ages, attended some- 
times with good consequences and sometimes with evil. 


Ver. 24. “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty’’,—Israel has 
long been a prey to mighty Gentile nations, ‘‘whose oppression of her’, 
says Fausset, ‘‘shall reach its highest point under Antichrist.” 

“the lawful captives be delivered’’,The rendering of our text seems 
to refer to the Jews as justly consigned because of their sins as captives 
to the foe. (F.) The word is literally “‘just’’ or “righteous.” 

Hendewerk thinks the reference is to the Jews carried off as captives 


107 


ISAIAH 


by the righteous Chaldeans, but this cannot be said of the Chaldeans even 
as accomplishing the judgment of Jehovah upon the wayward nation. 
This thought might be gathered from the marginal reading, “‘the captives 
of the just”, but it certainly cannot be the thought of the passage. The 
idea of “‘just’’ and “‘righteous’’ must be applied to the Israelites. Israel, 
ready to return home, is said to be righteous however sinful may have been 
those who were led away into captivity. 


_ The best translation we believe is, “the captive righteous ones be 
delivered’. ‘\he rendering of our text gives a very proper idea, as Fausset 
says, but it is hardly in keeping with the original. 


In a secondary sense Satan may be said to be the mighty one, the 
conqueror of man, upon whom his own sin gives to Satan a lawful claim, 
which claim is answered by Christ, by reason of which the guilty man goes 
free. 


In verses 25 and 26 is found the answer of Jehovah to the question 
just propounded. 


CGHAPTERSEFIBAGY 


This chapter shows that the judgment upon Israel was provoked by 
her own iniquity, but that she was not to\be altogether and finally cast off 
by God. In the first part is shown that their not receiving the Lord when 
He came to His possession was the cause of their temporary rejection; then 
in the second is set forth the suffering of the Messiah which He declares 
Himself willing to undertake; while in the last part of the chapter 1 is shown 
the possibility of Israel’s acceptance once again. 


CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE 


This chapter is taken up with the promised redemption of Israel, 
the argument being that the God who has so blessed one individual (verse 
2) as to make him a mighty nation, can also 1 increase and bless the small 
remnant of Israel, both that, as Fausset says, ‘‘left in the Babylonian cap- 
tivity and that left in the present and latter days, the residue. (Chap. 
13.8,9.)”’ In such verses as 11 and 14 many interpreters see the usual two- 
fold reference of a literal release from the then existing Babylon and anti- 
typically from the mystical Babylon, the last enemy of Israel and the 
Church, while of course still others, in keeping with their school of inter- 
pretation, spiritualize the meaning into the gathering of the Gentiles, the 
heathen of the present dispensation, into the Church, the spiritual Israel. 


As to verses 17 and 18, Fausset says these cannot apply to the Baby- 
lonish captivity, because in that they had some one ‘“‘to guide her’’; ‘they 
had Ezekiel and Daniel and Ezra and Nehemiah, and they soon awoke out 
of that sleep. The words apply, he says, to the Jews now, and will be 
still more applicable to them in their coming oppression by the Antichrist. 
But the premise of this writer’s statement hardly warrants his conclusion, 
though his conclusion in itself may be a sound one. The thought of the 
passage is that Jerusalem was utterly devoid of any help on the part of her 
children; the suffering weighed so heavily on all the members of the exiled 


108 


ISAIAH 


people, that, as Delitzsch says, ‘‘no one felt the joy and strength needful 
to rise up for her and to lay hold of her hand to guide her or to stay her 
up.’ Even the prophet is constrained, humanly speaking, to confess, 
‘How shall I comfort thee?”’ 


CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO 


This chapter treats of the restoration of Jerusalem to glory. The 
first states that Jehovah must do this for the sake of the honor of His 
name, while the second part describes the accomplishment of the restoration. 


SGHAP TER’ FIF-TY-THREE 


This chapter portrays the humiliation and suffering of the Man of 
Sorrows, the prophecy regarding whose future no man believed. The 
first part, with which the last three verses of the preceding chapter should 
be connected, as presenting the theme of the prophecy, sets forth the lowli- 
ness of this Man as the Lamb that bears the sin of the people, while the 
last part of the chapter treats of His exaltation to glory. 


CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR 


In this chapter are set forth the fruit of the Messiah’s sufferings in 
the joyful salvation of Jehovah’s people. In the first ten verses is por- 
trayed the wondrous enlargement of Zion by the incorporation of the 
Gentile world, while in the remaining part the prophet describes the secur- 
ity and blessing of the restored nation. 


CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE 


In this chapter the universal invitation to the Gentiles is given. “The 
first part of the chapter designates believing acceptance of the word as the 
way of appropriating this new salvation, while the latter part speaks of 
the obstacles and scruples that must be set aside that the rich blessing 
offered may not be frustrated. 


CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX 


This chapter devotes itself to describing the preparation needed on 
the part of those who wish to partake of this new salvation. It consists 
both of a series of ethical instructions and of consolatory words for the 
eunuchs and the converts from the heathen to Israel and to Israel’s God. 
Verses 6 and 7 says Campbell Morgan await complete and very literal ful- 
fillment in the age to come, the Millennium. age. 


CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN 


The prophet here returns to the time previous to the beginning of 
redemption, that is, to the time previous to the end of the exile. In the 
last verses of the preceding chapter he describes the mournful situation 

109 


ISAIAH 


obtaining among the leaders of Israel, the watchmen and the shepherds, as 
well as among the people who lived during the exile, but in this chapter 
beginning with verse 15 he concludes that the believing remnant will be - 
graciously cared for in spite of the conditions of the unpromising present 
which his eyes were forced to behold. 

In verse 13 Fausset sees another promise of the literal restoration of 
Israel in coming days to the holy land. 


CHAP FERSBIE LY -EIGH | 


The prophet now shows them how by a sincere repentance they must 
raise themselves out of the sphere of the flesh into that of the spirit, and 
contrasts the false worship with the true, setting forth the promises con- 
nected with the latter. 


CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE 


In this chapter the sins which hinder the’ accomplishment of redemp- 
tion are still more directly laid bare. The people make their penitential 
confession by reason of which comes the consequent promise of the Messiah. 


19 So shall they fear the name of Jeho- 
vah from the west, and his glory from 


15 And Jehovah saw it, and it dis- 
pleased him that there was no justice. 


Vers, 15-21. 


16 And he saw that there was no man, 
and wondered that there was *no inter- 


cessor; therefore his own arm brought 
salvation unto him; and his righteous- 
ness, it upheld him. 17 And he put on 
righteousness as a “breastplate, and “a 
helmet of salvation upon his head; and 
he put on garments of vengeance for 
clothing, and was clad with zeal as a 
mantle. 18 According to their ‘deeds, 
accordingly he will repay, wrath to his 
adversaries, recompense to his enemies; 
to the “islands he will repay recompense. 

1Or, none to interpose. 

“Or, coat of mail 

3Or, salvation for a helmet 


Heb, recompenses 
Or, coast-lands 


the rising of the sun; “for he will come 
as ‘a rushing stream, which the breath 
of Jehovah driveth. 20 And a Redeem- 
er will come to Zion, and unto them 
that turn from transgression in Jacob, 
saith Jebovah. 21 And as for me, this 
is my covenant with them, saith Jeho- 
vah: my Spirit that is upon thee, and 
my words which I have put in thy 
mouth, shall not depart out of thy 
mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy 
seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s 
seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and 
for ever. 

®Or, when the adversary shall come in like 


a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah will lift up a 
standard against him 
THeb. @ stream pent in 


‘THE PROMISE OF JEHOVAH’S INTERVENTION AND THE 


REDEEMER OUT OF ZION. 


Netra Lb. 
describe the judgment at hand. 


The prophet has now reached the point where he has to” 
Jehovah investigates the situation and 


owns with displeasure that justice and equity has disappeared from the life 
of His people. 


Ver. 16. “And he saw that there was no man’’,—i. e., no one able 
to restrain, to remedy this corrupt condition; no man, says Fausset, ‘‘to 
atone by his righteousness for the unrighteousness of the people; no repre- 
sentative man able to retrieve the cause of fallen men.’ 


110 


ISAIAH 


“no intercessor’’,—1i. e., no one to intervene, as intercessor, between 
God and the people, this expression corresponding largely in parallel to 
the one just before it, the former having a meaning analogous to and pre- 
paratory for the latter. 

Understanding clearly then what was needed Jehovah proceeds to 
actual intervention, “his arm’’, a symbol of His omnipotence, affording 
Him help, and “His righteousness’ and the righteousness of His cause 
sustaining Him in His purpose. 


Ver. 17. ‘The armour put on by the avenging Jehovah is now de- 
scribed under figures borrowed from the usages of war. It is useless to 
conjecture as to the exact application of each particular part of the uniform. 
Righteousness, says Clericus, might just as well have been a sword, salva- ~ 
tion a shield, vengeance a javelin or spear and zeal a torch with which to 
fire the hostile camp. The first piece of armour is better understood as the 
habergeon or coat-of-mail from which all darts of the enemy rebound, 
while the helmet of salvation stands as a guarantee of the ultimate object 
for which He enters into the conflict, i. e., the deliverance and redemption 
of His people. His vengeance is compared to the bright-colored military 
coat mera over the coat-of-mail, and His zeal to the fiery red military 
mantle. 


Ver. 18. “‘to the islands’’,—1i. e., representatives of the heathen 
world. In this sentence, says Delitzsch, the prophet seems to conceal the 
special judgment upon Israel under the universal judgment upon all 
nations. 

“This verse’, says Fausset, ‘‘predicts the judgments at the Lord’s 
second coming which shall precede the final redemption of His people 
iMehape00wo) LO). 


Ver. 19. Asa result of this judgment,.from all quarters of the earth, 
fear of Jehovah’s name and of His glory becomes natural to the world of 
nations. The last clause of this verse has been the subject of great con- 
troversy, commentators differing more or less as to the meaning of every 
word, as well as to the meaning of the clause as a whole. ‘There are two, 
among the many interpretations, that deserve especial attention: 


(1) “for he (Jehovah) shall come as a rushing river, which a strong 
wind (Jehovah's own breath or Spirit) driveth along.”’ (Lo. Na. Ew. 
Lut. Ges. Del.) This is now the almost prevailing view, but in addition 
to a number of grammatical questions which it raises, it seems incongruous 
to liken Jehovah to a river which His own breath drives along, and the 
image of a stream rendered rapid by the wind is most unnatural. 


(2) “‘when he (the enemy) will come as a rushing stream the Spirit 
of Jehovah shall lift up a standard against him.’’ ‘This is the version of 
the English and the Dutch Bibles. (V.F.He.) This rendering is entirely 
defensible and it is difficult to see where that of our text has made any 
improvement over it. It does have this objection to it, namely, that the 
context does not lead us to expect an allusion to the enemy coming against 
God but just the reverse; however, this is not a serious objection. Cocceius 
has given us a somewhat ingenious interpretation, which Alexander has 
adopted, in the rendering, “when He (Jehovah) approaches as their enemy,’ 
it will be like an overflowing stream, in which his spirit (Jehovah's) lifts 
up the banner of victory’. 


111 


ISAIAH 


Ver, 20. There is of course no logical distinction between “Zion” 
and “‘them that turn from transgression in Jacob’, the apparent distinction 
being merely a rhetorical one. 


Says Delitzsch, who reads “‘for Zion’’, “Tn Rom. 11.26 this utterance 
of God is cited by the apostle as a Scripture proof for the future restoration 
of all Israel.”’ 


Fausset says, ‘‘Paul applies this verse to the coming restoration of 
Israel spiritually.” 


“will come to Zion’’,—This is the reading of both the English and 
the Revised versions, but the particle can hardly be said to denote motion 
or direction, although it is sometimes used in this sense. It properly 
denotes, as Alexander says, relation in the widest sense and is commonly 
equivalent to “‘as to’ or “with respect to’’ and the expression therefore 
seems to indicate that the Redeemer’s coming has respect to Zion. The 
Septuagint version renders it “for the sake of Zion’. 


Paul in quoting this verse makes it say “‘out of Zion’’, supplementing 
the sense by inspiration from Psa. 14.7. He was and is come to Zion first 
with redemption, being sprung as a man out of Zion. 


Alexander says, ‘‘Even Paul’s ttanslation, ‘out of Zion’, although it 
seems to completely reverse the sense, is not so wholly inconsistent with it 
as some have maintained; for though the Hebrew word does not mean 
‘from’, it does mean that which may include ‘from Zion’ in its scope, 
because it might be by going out of Israel that He was to act as her deliverer, 
and the apostle might intend by his translation to suggest the idea that 
Zion's Redeemer was to be also the Redeemer of the Gentiles.”’ 

Scofield says, ‘“The time when the Redeemer shall come to Zion is 
fixed relatively by Rom. 11.23-29 as following the completion of the 
Gentile Church. That is also the order of the great dispensational pas- 
sage. (Acts 15.14-17.) In both, the return of the Lord to Zion elites 
the outcalling of the Church.” 


CHAP TERS LX lay 


The following quotations set forth the method of approach to a 
passage of this kind by the two prevailing schools of interpretation. 

Alexander says, ‘“The chapter refers to spiritual Israel, the Church; 
though Israel’s national pre-eminence was to be discontinued because of 
her sins the true spiritual Israel was to be ushered into a new and far more 
glorious experience which the prophet describes as a light rising upon her.”’ 

Fausset says, ““This chapter is an ode to Zion upon her restoration at 
the second coming to her true position as mother of the Church from 
which the Gospel is to be diffused to the whole Gentile world. The first 
promulgation of the Gospel to the Gentiles beginning at Jerusalem was 
but an earnest of this.”’ 


1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 
and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon 3 And nations shall come to thy light, 
thee. 2 For, behold, darkness shall cover and kings to the brightness of thy ris- 
the earth, and gross darkness the peo- ing. 
ples; but Jehovah will arise upon thee, 4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and 


112 


ISAIAH 


see: they all gather themselves together, 
they come to thee; thy sons shall come 
from far, and thy daughters shall be 
‘carried in the arms. 5 Then thou shalt 
see and be radiant, and thy heart shall 
thrill and be enlarged; because the abun- 
dance of the sea shall be turned unto 
thee, the wealth of the nations shall 
come unto thee. 6 The multitude of 
camels shall cover thee, the *"dromedaries 
of Midian and Ephah; all they from 
Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold 
and frankincense, and shall *proclaim 


*Heb. nursed upon the side. - 
"Or, young camels 
3Heb. bring good tidings of the praises 


the praises of Jehovah. 7 All the flocks 
of Kedar shall be gathered together unto 
thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister 
unto thee; they shall come up with ac- 
ceptance on mine altar; and I will 
*slorify ‘the house of my glory. 8 Who 
are these that fly as a cloud, and as the 
doves to their windows? 9 Surely the 
isles shall wait for me, and the ships of 
Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from 
far, their silver and their gold with 
them, for the name of Jehovah thy God, 
and for the Holy One of Israel, because 
he hath ‘glorified thee. 


4Or, beautify 
5Or, my beautiful house 
6Or, deautified 


Vers. 1-9. 


Ver. 1. “‘Arise’’,—1. e., from the dust where thou hast been sitting 
as a mourning female captive. 


“shine’’,—Gesenius translates with the margin, “be enlightened’, 
but our text is better, the literal of which is ‘‘be light’. She is to shine 
and so give spiritual light to others, but she is not to shine in her own 
light, but to let herself be enlightened, as the next clause shows. 


“the glory of Jehovah’’,—This is a description of the kind of light 
that has come. It is the glory of the Lord in person, although there is 
doubtless an allusion to the Shekinah and the cloudy pillar such as rested 
above the Ark. 


The words of this verse are not those of a prophetic chorus (V.), but 
of Isaiah speaking in the name of Jehovah. 


Ver. 2. It is not that Zion shall be glorious because of the exclusive 
light she enjoys while other nations are sitting in gross darkness, but 
because the light which has shone upon her shall be “‘seen’’ (seen conspicu- 
ously, as the Hebrew word expresses it) by these nations and draw them 
to her. 


Ver. 3. “thy rising’,—Literally “thy sun rising’, meaning the 
brightness that has arisen upon her. 


Ver. 4. “they... they’’,—Delitzsch makes these pronouns refer 
to the “‘sons’’ and “‘daughters’’ who bring the Gentiles with them, but it 
seems almost necessary to refer these pronouns to the “‘nations’’ of the 
previous verse, while the sons and the daughters are doubtless the Jews 
brought back or attended by the Gentiles who come to worship Jehovah. 


“carried in the arms’’,—The Hebrew is “nursed upon the side’, i. e., 
carried, with an allusion to the oriental custom of carrying the child on 
the side astride the hip. 


Alexander of course says this has reference only to the enlargement 
of the Church and has nothing to do with a return to Palestine after cap- 
tivity or a future restoration of Israel. Others maintain that all three 
thoughts are contained in the expression. (F. Na. He. Lo. Del.) 


Ver. 5. “‘see’’,-About sixty manuscripts read “‘fear’’ (V. Um. Lo. 
Do. Jus. Ges. Mic.), meaning the painful sensation which often attends 


E113 


THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS TO JERUSALEM. 


ISAIAH 


joy, and which is expressed in the next clause. Vitringa says “‘see’’ is a 
vain repetition of the preceding verse, while Knobel says to express “‘fear’’ 
twice in this verse is inexcusable tautology. The words in Hebrew are 
very alike, just a slight difference in the pointing. On the whole, “‘see’’ is 
to be preferred. (F. Na. Ew. He. Kn. Ma. Hit. Cle. Ros. Lut. Kim. Jer. 
Tar. Syr. Sept.) The idea then is the seeing of the bringing back of her 
sons and daughters. 


“be radiant’’,—The word means ‘“‘to brighten up” (for joy) as in 
Psass3 456, 


“thy heart shall thrill’’,—1i. e., tremble, because of the overpowering 
impression made by this complete change. (F. Al. Na. Ho. Del.) Hen- 
derson thinks it was because she had apprehension that she would not 
have room enough for all who were coming. 


“and be enlarged’’,—i. e., dilate, swell, throb with joy. 


“abundance of the sea’’,—i. e., the wealth, the costly things belonging 
to the islands and coast-lands. The Gentiles are to devote themselves and 
their possessions to the service of Jehovah. 


Ver. 6. So many of the merchandise-bearing animals, the ships of 
the desert, shall come that they will “cover’’ her, i. e. the country will 
swarm with them. 


Ver. 7. By a bold figure the rams are represented as offering them- 
selves acceptably. [he word rendered “with acceptance’’ signifies rather 
“‘with pleasure, delight” or “good-will” (V. F. He. Hit. Del.), “‘it being 
a general notion’’, says Lowth, “‘that prevailed with sacrificers among the 
heathen that the victims being brought without reluctance to the altar 
was a good omen; and the contrary a bad one.’ 


“the house of my glory’’,—The temple was built for His glory, and 
now He will make its internal glory like its external glory by adorning it 
with the gifts brought in homage by the world of converted Gentiles. 


Fausset says of the house of Jehovah's glory, ‘‘See the temple of Ezek. 
41.”" Delitzsch says, ‘“None of the prophets of the Old Testament is 
able to think of the worship of Jehovah by the Israel of the latter days 
without the offering of sacrifices; but it would be a return to the limited 
conceptions of the Old Testament if one were to conclude that animal 
sacrifice will ever be restored. ‘The dividing-wall of national particularism 
and ceremonial observances forming shadows of things to come will never 
be re-established; and with the cessation of sacrificial worship since the fiery 
judgment fell upon the second temple, there has forever passed away the 
restriction of worship to any one central spot on earth (John 4.21).” 


Says Donald Moore, “The picture drawn in this section perplexes 
those who understand it of the literal restoration of the Jews and of the 
future glory of the earthly Jerusalem. Hess, Baumgarten and others argue 
from verse 7 for the restoration of animal sacrifices. But Delitzsch justly 
rejects this notion as being utterly inconsistent with and contrary to the 
Christian system. But if the victims and the altar here spoken of are not 
to be taken literally, why should we look for a material temple or construe 
literally the other traits of the picture? “The whole description represents 
not the material Jerusalem, but the Church of God under images, which, 
to be consistently interpreted, cannot be taken in a gross, literal sense.”’ 


114 


ISAIAH 


Says Alexander, ‘‘Grotius supposes this prediction to have been liter- 
ally verified in Herod’s temple. Gesenius and other Germans easily dispose 
of it as a fanatical anticipation. It is much more embarrassing to those 
who make the passage a prediction of the future restoration of the Jews 
and the future splendor of the literal Jerusalem. Some of the most intrepid 
writers of this class consistently apply their fundamental principle of 
literal interpretation and believe that the Mosaic ritual or something like 
it is to be restored. But such interpreters as J. D. Michaelis and Hender- 
son, who cannot go this length, are obliged to own that spiritual services 


are here represented under forms and titles borrowed from the old dispen- 
sation.” 


_. Ver. 8. Said perhaps, says Vitringa, with reference to the ships 
sailing in from the sea in cloud-like form with spread sails. 


Ver. 9. “‘the isles shall wait for me’’,—This is meant to be under- 
stood in the same way as in Chap. 51.5, and like the “‘expectant waiting” 
of the isles in Chap. 42.4, the word containing a firm expectation of some- 
thing to be experienced. 


“their’’,—This is by some referred to “‘isles’’ (F. Del.) , but we prefer 
with our text, to connect it with “‘sons’’ as the nearer and more natural 
antecedent. (AI. Na.) 

“the ships of Tarshish first’’,—The ships that trade to the most dis- 
tant region shall be among the very foremost to bring back the sons of 


Israel. 


10 And foreigners shall build up thy 
walls, and their kings shall minister un- 
to thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, 
but in my favor have I had mercy on 
thee. 11 Thy gates also shall be open 
continually; they shall not be shut day 
nor night; that men may bring unto 
thee the wealth of the nations, and their 
kings led captive. 12 For that nation 
and kingdom that will not serve thee 
shall perish; yea, those nations shall be 
utterly wasted. 13 The glory of Leba- 
non shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, 
the pine, and the box-tree together, to 
beautify the place of my sanctuary; and 


ous. 14 And the sons of them that 
afflicted thee shall come bending unto 
thee; and all they that despised thee 
shall bow themselves down at the soles 
of thy feet; and they shall call thee The 
city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy 
One of Israel. 

15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken 
and hated, so that no man_ passed 
through thee, I will make thee an eter- 
nal excellency, a joy of many genera- 
tions. 16 Thou shalt also suck the milk 
of the nations, and shalt suck the breast 
of kings; and thou shalt know that I, 
Jehovah, am thy Saviour, and thy Re- 


I will make the place of my feet glori- deemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 


Vers. 10-16. 


Ver. 10. Delitzsch says on the first half of this verse, ‘“The walls of 
Zion rise out of their ruins—foreigners, quite overcome through the inter- 
position of Jehovah, rendering personal service in the work, while foreign 
kings are ready to help Zion; of this assistance the arrangements made 
through the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes Longimanus were 
but a prelude to what continued pointing to the latter days, though, in the 
view of the prophet, the time after the exile 1s itself the time of the end.” 


Ver. 11. “kings led captive’’,—Not so much “‘pompously attended”’ 
(Lo.), nor “‘escorted’’ (V. Ros. Kim. Ges.), but the word means “‘con- 
ducted’, i. e., “led as captive’, not, however, in the sense that their own 


115 


THE RESTORATION OF JERUSALEM TO GLORY. 


ISAIAH 


people disgusted with their rule deliver them up (Hit.), but as Delitzsch 
says, ‘‘led by the Church which irresistibly enchains them, i. e., conquers 
their hearts so that they let themselves be brought as God’s captives in 
triumphal procession to the Holy City.” 


Ver. 12. A reason primarily for the promise of increase to Jehovah's 
people and secondarily for the Gentile kings submitting themselves to them 
in service. 

Donald Moore says, ““They who consider the literal Jerusalem to be 
the subject of this prophecy, and not the Church of God, may well ask 
themselves if literal destruction will really be the punishment of every 
nation and kingdom that will not serve the Jews. But it is not they that 
are born of the flesh who are the heirs of this promise, but they who are 
Christ’s, and so the true seed of Abraham, the Israel of God. The Gen- 
tile Christians are not doomed to bondage.” 


Ver. 13. “The glory of Lebanon’’,—1. e., of her trees, her cedars 
and her luxuriant vegetation. 


\ 

“to beautify the place of my sanctuary’’,—Many think the adorn- 
ment is that of the buildings by the choicest kinds of timber, but others 
take it quite properly as the adornment of the grounds by living trees, this 
being more in keeping with the poetical tone of the context and more 
pleasing in itself. (Na. Al. Kn. Ew. Hit. Del.) The place of His sanc- 
tuary is of course Jerusalem. 

“T will make the place of my feet glortous’’,—i. e., the place where I 
habitually stand and walk (Ma.), the place where He dwells in the midst 
of His people forever. 


Says Nagelsbach, ‘“Though He has no temple of stone there, He has 
still the place of His glorious presence, the place where His feet rest.’’ But, 


says Donald Moore, “If notwithstanding the words of Isaiah about the 


temple and the sacrifices (Chap. 2.2,3 and verse 7 of this chapter), we are 
justified in holding, as Nagelsbach does, that there will be in the Holy City 
of God no external temple and no animal sacrifices, may we not go further 
and seek a spiritual sense for the description of the future outward glory 
of Jerusalem contained in this chapter?”’ 


Ver. 16. This is not enrichment by plunder (Hit.), as of a vampire 
sucking a child, but a statement that Zion shall draw unto herself and enjoy 
all that is valuable of the possessions of the Gentiles. 


17 For brass J will bring gold, and thee an everlasting light, and thy God 


for iron I will bring silver,and for wood he glory. rs ey ek shall no en 
‘ , go down. neither shall thy moon with- 
brass, and for stones iron. I will also draw itself; for Jehovah will be thine 


make thy officers peace, and “thine exac- everlasting light, and the days of thy 
tors righteousness. 18 Violence shall mourning shall be ended. 21 Thy ped- 
no more be heard in thy land, desola- ple also shall be all righteous; they shall 
tion nor destruction within thy borders; inherit the land for ever, the branch of 
but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, my planting, the work of my hands, 
and thy gates Praise. 19 The sun shall that I may be glorified. 22 The little 
be no more thy light by day; neither one shall become a thousand, and the 
for brightness shall the moon give light small one a strong nation: I, Jehovah 
unto thee: but Jehovah will be unto will hasten it in its time. . 
10r, thy taskmasters "Or, beauty 
116 


a 


ISAIAH 


Vers. 17-22. THE NEW LIFE OF JERUSALEM TO BE ENJOYED BY THE 
RESTORED. 


Ver. 17. Some take the words “‘peace’’ and “righteousness’’ as predi- 
cates (F.), meaning that all her rulers shall be, as it were, peace and right- 
eousness itself, but the majority (S. Na. Um. Del. Ges.) take it in the 
sense that peace and righteousness shall rule. ‘This is preferable. “The 
rulers may be peaceful and righteous but the city may be still disturbed 
by unrighteousness, but when the government itself is peace and righteous- 
ness then all will be well. The word “‘exactors’’, i. e., of tribute, is not 
to be taken in an evil sense. 


Ver. 18. “thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Pratse’’, 
—Delitzsch has put it well, ‘She has walls but in reality ‘Salvation’, the 
salvation of her God is to her an impregnable fortification: she has gates, 
but in reality all gates are rendered needless by her praise, the fame that 
brings fear and reverence, with which Jehovah has invested her.”’ 


Ver. 19. Among the various comments on the meaning of this 
verse the following are worthy of notice; 


Alexander,—‘‘All natural sources of illumination shall be swallowed 
up in the clear manifestation of the presence, power and will of God.”’ 


Henderson,—‘‘The superlative degree of happiness which shall be 
enjoyed by the new and holy Jerusalem church, expressed in language of 
the most sublime imagery.” 


Others make it a figurative promise of prosperity of which light is 
the natural and common emblem, while still others make it God's residence 
among His people clothed in such transcendent brightness as to make the 
light of the sun and the moon useless. 


Ver. 20. “the days of thy mourning shall be ended’’,—There shall 
be no national spiritual obscuration as in other days. 


Ver. 21. “the land’’,—Although the majority so translate (F. Na. 
Del.) as a more literal and exact rendering, it must not be overlooked that 
Scripture has attached to this prophetic formula a much higher meaning, 
namely, the earth, the possession of the land being just such a type or 
symbol of the broader, higher meaning. 


Ver. 22. This verse on its face is simply a description of increase. 
Vitringa and Alexander apply it to Israel itself. Gesenius and Delitzsch 
say it means one without a family or a small family. Nagelsbach refers 
it to the physically most insignificant, while Kimchi and Rosenmuller apply 
it to number and not to size. 


EE 2 CII 


it’’,—The reference is to this particular prophecy from verse 1 on 
(Del.), and not to the whole preceding series of prophecies. (Kn. Al.) 


“in its time’’,—1i. e., the time which Jehovah hath appointed. The 
word is not “‘hAis’’, as in the Authorized version, but “‘rts’’, and so does not 
refer to Jehovah, but modifies grammatically “‘time’’, although the meaning 
is as already shown one and the same thing. 


gly, 


Verse a -01) 


ISAIAH 


CHAPTER SIXT Y-ONE 


1 The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is 
upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed 
me to preach good tidings unto the 
*meek; he hath sent me to bind up the 
broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to 
the captives, and “the opening of the 
ptison to them that are bound; 2 to 
proclaim the year of Jehovah’s favor, 
and the day of vengeance of our God; 
to comfort all that mourn; 3 to appoint 
unto them that mourn in Zion to give 
unto them a garland for ashes, the oil 
of joy for mourning, the garment of 
praise for the spirit of heaviness; that 
they may be called trees of righteous- 
ness, the planting of Jehovah, that he 
may be glorified. 

4 And they shall build the old wastes, 
they shall raise up the former desola- 
tions, and they shall repair the waste 
cities, the desolations of many genera- 
tions. 5 And strangers shall stand and 
feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be 
your plowmen and your vinedressers. 
6 But ye shall be named the priests of 
Jehovah; men shall call you ministers 
of our God; ye shall eat the wealth of 
the nations, and “in their glory shall ye 


Or, pcor 
“Or, opening of the eyes 
8Or, to their glory shall ye succeed 


OF JEHOVAH. 


boast yourselves. 7 Instead of your 
shame ye shall have double; and instead 
of dishonor they shall rejoice in their 
portion: therefore in their land they 
shall possess double; everlasting joy shall 
be unto them. 8 For I, Jehovah, love 
justice, I hate robbery “with iniquity; 
and | will give them their recompense in 
truth, and I will make an everlasting 
covenant with them. 9 And their seed 
shall be known among the nations, and 
their offspring among the peoples; all 
that see them shall acknowledge them, 
that they are the seed which Jehovah 
hath blessed. 

10 I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, 
my soul shall be joyful in my God; for 
he hath clothed me with the garments of 
salvation, he hath covered me with the 
robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom 
*decketh himself with a garland, and as a 
bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 

11 For as the earth bringeth forth its 
bud, and as the garden causeth the things 
that are sown in it to spring forth; so 
the Lord Jehovah will cause righteous- 
ness and praise to spring forth before 
all the nations. 


4Or, for (or, with) a burnt-offering 
"Heb. decketh himself as a priest 


THE GLORY OF THE OFFICE OF MESSIAH, THE SERVANT 


The speaker in this chapter is the Messiah, the Servant of Jehovah. 
CRaMie Nat Orr Aln Drie Del Ghe?) 


The Lord’s use of this passage in His own time does not necessarily 
prove Him to be the speaker here (V.). There are, however, two parallel 
passages (Chap. 42.1-7 and 49.1-9) and all agree that the same speaker is 
here brought forward, and if therefore it is conceded that in these two 
passages just mentioned the speaker is the Messiah it is difficult to avoid 
the same conclusion in the passage before us. Gesenius, Umbreit and - 
most modern expositors make the speaker to be the prophet himself, but 
this cannot only be allowed in a subordinate sense. 


Ver. 1. “‘to proclaim liberty to the captives’’,—Said with manifest 
reference to the year of Jubilee (Lev. 25.10; Jer. 34.8,9), a year of general 
release from debts and obligations of all bondmen and bondwomen. ‘Ihe 
language may also be drawn from the deliverance of the Babylonish cap- 
tivity. It is a figurative description, of course, of the deliverance from 
sin and death. 


“opening of the prison’’,—The Hebrew is rather “the most complete 
opening’. The word is nowhere used of the opening of a room, but 
always of the opening of the eyes and because of the rest of: the sentence 
we are here led to think of the eyes being opened as in contrast to the 


118 


ISAIAH 


gloomy darkness of the prison. It is a figurative expression, of course, 
prison being represented poetically as a state of darkness and deliverance 
from it as a restoration to light, just as proclaiming liberty refers to the 
deliverance from the bondage of sin. 


Ver. 2. “the year of Jehovah’s favor’’,—The word “‘year’’ is used 
as a poetical equivalent to ‘‘day’’ and was suggested perhaps by the previous 
reference to the year of Jubilee. A year is assigned to grace but a day to 
vengeance. ‘‘Wrath is short, but grace is long.”’ 


Scofield says, “‘Observe that Jesus suspended the reading of this 
passage in the synagogue at the comma in the middle of the verse. “The 
first advent, therefore, opened the day of grace, ‘the acceptable year of 
Jehovah’, but does not fulfill the day of vengeance. ‘That will be taken 
up when Messiah returns. “The vengeance precedes the regathering of 
Israel, and synchronizes with the day of the Lord.”’ 


“them that mourn’’,—The main reference is to Zion’s mourners 
who are deeply affected by the desolations that have come to their city. 


Ver. 3. “‘a garland for ashes’’,—i. e., a crown, a tiara, worn in 
times of joy instead of a head-dress of ashes cast on the head in mourning. 


“oil of joy’’,—Perfumed oil was poured on the heads of guests at 
joyous occasions. 


“gatment of praise’’,—i. e., bright-colored garments indicative of 
thankfulness. 


“trecs of righteousness’’,—Terebinth trees, symbolic of men strong in 
righteousness instead of being bowed down as a reed with sin and calamity. 


Ver. 4. “build the old wastes’’,—Delitzsch says these are not to be 
confined merely to what was lying waste during the exile, but that now 
the country is to be so densely populated that the former dwelling places 
will not be sufficient; hence what is meant are localities lying waste and 
situated beyond the limits of the Holy Land until now. 


Henderson says, ‘“This verse admits of no consistent interpretation 
except on the principle that the Jews are to be returned again to the land 
of their fathers; the desolations are those of cities that had once been 
inhabited and cannot without the utmost violence be applied to the heathen 
world.” 


Ver. 5. “And strangers shall stand’’,—They shall stand, i. e., at 
their post, ready to offer their service. 


Ver. 6. Your exclusive business will be the service of God, while 
others attend to your flocks and fields. (F. Na. Aba.) 


“The Jews appear here as the priestly nobility and the Gentiles as 
those having to perform the hard work. But says the translator of Nagels- 
bach, ‘“The conversion of Israel, instead of reducing the Gentiles to the 
position of menials, will conduce exceedingly to their riches, Rom. 11.12. 
The prophet is speaking here not of Israel after the flesh, but of the Israel 
of God, and does not here contradict what he elsewhere says about the 
equal privileges of converted Gentiles. (Chap. 19.24,25; 66.21.) Even 
in connection with the new heavens and the new earth our prophet speaks 
of the people, the inhabitants of Jerusalem themselves planting vineyards 


119 


ISAIAH 


and eating their fruit (Chap. 65.17-23) and so not confining themselves 
to the exercise of priestly functions. Literally understood, these places 
are mutually exclusive and contradictory. They must be taken figura- 
tively.”’ 


“and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves’’,Some have thought 
that the idea is that of the dispossession of the Gentiles by the Jews of 
their wealth. But this does not necessarily inhere in the language even 
though the reading of our text be approved. The word rendered “‘boast’’ 
really means “‘to push upward’, to raise one’s self up proudly (Del. Tar. 
Sep.), and may be taken as meaning that they shall become sharers i in the 
glory and weaith of the Gentiles who have turned unto Jehovah. 


Others again make the literal translation of the word to mean, ‘‘ye 
shall substitute yourselves,’ i. e., in their place. Alexander has said that 
all the latest writers, not excepting Gesenius, have gone back to Jarchi’s 
explanation of the words as denoting “mutual exchange or substitution’”’, 
thus making this verse and the previous one describe not exaltation on. the 
part of the Jews and subjection on the part of the Gentile converts, but 
mutual exchange and intimate association. He says that context, etymol- 
ogy, and usage all favor this view, and consequently the true idea is that 
while the Jews shall be priests the Gentiles shall be their purveyors, the 
Jews supplying the spiritual wants of the Gentiles and the latter supplying 
the temporal wants of the Jews. (See Rom. 15.27.) 


Ver. 7. “Instead of your shame ye shall have double’’,—Double as 
much reward as your past share. (F. Al. Tar. Ges. Jar.) Twice as much 
reward as before they had shame. (He. Na.) Double possession in the 
land, which has been enlarged beyond the bounds of former occupation, 
as seen by the last half of the verse. (Del.) 

The first explanation is much to be preferred. 


“in their land they shall possess double’’,—Nagelsbach thinks the 
reference is not to an enlarged land and an enlarged inheritance of the indi- 
vidual in it, but that there is added to their own honor and their own 
possessions the wealth and possessions of the Gentiles. 


Fausset says the expression marks the reference as being to literal 
Israel and not to the Church at large. 


Ver. 8. “I, Jehovah, love justice’’,—1. e., the justice which requires 
of me that I should restore my people and give them double in compensa- 
tion for their former shame and suffering. 


“T hate robbery with tniquity’’,—There seems to be a little redund- 
ancy here, as Jerome says, all robbery being iniquitous; but there are a mul- 
titude of places where such redundancy of expression occurs. The refer- - 
ence is to such robbery as was perpetrated on Israel. Delitzsch thinks it 
refers to the injustice formerly rampant in Israel, but his reasons are hardly 
sufficient. 


Ver. 9. “Rnown’’,—1i. e., known honorably. 


Alexander here maintains that the Jews are represented as scattered 
among the Gentile nations instead of being gatherd out of them into their 
own land, because otherwise how could they be thus known. 


Ver. 10. Zion gives thanks for God’s returning favor. 
120 


' ISAIAH 





Some (Al. Na. Del.) say the speaker here is still the Messiah, the 
Servant of Jehovah. 

“decketh himself with a garland’’,—‘‘Maketh himself a priestly head- 
dress (F.) ; ““weareth the turban like a priest’ (Del.), i. e., winds it around 
his head after the manner of a priest, the reference being to the tall mitre 
of the ordinary priest, and appropriate to the ‘‘kingdom of priests’’ dedi- 
cated to the offering of spiritual sacrifices to God continually. 


Mere lle By “bud” is meant the tender shoot, by “‘righteousness’’, 
moral excellence in particular, and by “‘pratse,’’ the manifestation of excel- 
lence in general. 


CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO 


Were) 12. 


1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my 
peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will 
not rest, until her righteousness go forth 
as brightness, and her salvation as a 
lamp that burneth. 2 And the nations 
shall see thy righteousness, and all kings 
thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a 
new name, which the mouth of Jeho- 
vah shall name. 3 Thou shalt also be a 
crown of beauty in the hand of Jeho- 
vah, and a royal diadem in the hand of 
thy God.. 4 Thou shalt no more be 
termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land 
any more be termed Desolate: but thou 
shalt be called *Hephzi-bah, and thy 
land *Beulah: for Jehovah delighteth in 
thee, and thy land shall be married. 5 
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, 
so shall thy sons marry thee; and “as 
. the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, 
so shall thy God rejoice over thee. 

6 I have set watchmen upon thy 
walls, O Jerusalem: they shall never 
hold their peace day nor night: ye that 
are Jehovah’s remembrancers, “take ye 


1That is, My delight is in her 

*That is, Married 

®Heb. with the joy of the bridegroom 
4Or, keep not silence 


SALEM. 


no rest, 7 and give him no “rest, till he 
establish, and till he make Jerusalem a 
praise in the earth. 8 Jehovah hath 
sworn by his right hand, and by the arm 
of his strength, Surely I will no more 
give thy grain to be food for thine 
enemies; and foreigners shall not drink 
thy new wine for which thou hast lab- 
ored: 9 but they that have garnered it 
shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and 
they that have gathered it shall drink it 
in the courts of my sanctuary. 

10 Go through, go through the 
gates; prepare ye the way of the people; 
cast up, cast up the highway; gather out 
the stones; lift up an ensign “for the 
peoples. 11 Behold, Jehovah hath pro- 
claimed unto the end of the earth, Say 
ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, 
thy salvation cometh; behold, his re- 
ward is with him, and his ‘recompense 
before him. 12 And they shall call 
them The holy people, The redeemed 
of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called 
Sought out, A city not forsaken. 

5Or, silence 


6Or, over 
‘Or, work 


THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE GLORY OF JERU- 


Bredenkamp and most later interpreters think it is the prophet himself 
who is here speaking. Many others (S. Na. He. Al. Coc.) make the 
Messiah still the speaker. Delitzsch thinks it is Jehovah Himself, as 
shown by the first part of verse 6 and also by the expression employed. 
We see no reason for any change of speaker from the one who is repre- 
sented as uttering the words of the former chapter, and if an exclusive 
subject must be chosen it is without doubt the Messiah. 


Ver. 1. “I will not rest’’,—This with the previous expression, “J 
will not hold my peace’, refers then not to the further predicting of Zion’s 
glory, but to prayer on Zion’s behalf, as most take it. Messiah is repre- 
sented as unfainting in His efforts on behalf of His people. 


121 


ISAIAH 


“her righteousness—her salvation’ ,—The same as in Chap. 61.10 
and elsewhere. 


Ver. 2. “‘thou shalt be called by a new name’’,—1i. e., as expressive ~ 
of her new condition and character. 


Ver. 3. “itn the hand of Jehovah’’,—i. e., that He might hold it fast 
and keep it safe (V.), that He might admire it (Ew. Bre.), that He might 
exhibit it (Coc.), that He might crown Himself with it (Pis.), that it 
might be at His disposal for bestowment (Mic.). Gesenius says the hand 
of Jehovah is figurative for His power or protection, and this is perhaps 
the best solution to the problem, and therefore the first explanation made 
is to be preferred. 


Ver. 4. It would be better to retain all four words in the Hebrew, 
_ Azubah, Shemamah, Hephzibah and Beulah, or to put in the text their 
meaning in all four cases. 

“thy land shall be married’’,—i. e., to Jehovah, implying His pro- 
tection as well as His ownership. 


Ver. 5. “‘so shall thy sons marry thee’’,—There is here a seeming 
incongruity of sons marrying their mother. 

Alexander says the word rendered ‘‘marry’’ means as well “‘to in- 
habit’’ and that it is used in this sense here and so the difficulty is avoided. 
Fausset following Lowth changes the points, which are of no authority in 
Hebrew and reads “‘thy builder’ and refers the expression to Jehovah, in 
keeping with what has gone before and with the close of this verse. 

Gesenius objects to this by calling attention to the fact that the word 
is plural and cannot therefore refer to God. But this is not'an objection, 
as seen by a comparison of Gen. 20.13; 35.7; II Sam. 7.23 whereas the 
plural form “‘builders’’ may be used here of Jehovah in reference, as hus- 
bands. ‘The real objection to the change is that it is not necessary. “The 
word, which in itself expresses only “‘taking possession of’’ may be used 
here as Alexander would have us believe, or we may think, as Delitzsch 
does of Israel and the homeland being blended and intertwined in the 
personification here employed. Viewed in her relation to Jehovah she 
has Him for her Lord and Husband; viewed in her relation to her home- 
land she is the totality of those who are its possessors, and who call the 
land their own, as it were by the right of marriage. 


Ver. 6. ““watchmen”’,—The reference is not to “‘intercessory angels’ 
(Ew. Hah. Che.), nor to pious Israelites, who among the ruins of the 
walls await the return of the exiles (Ges.), because the appointment of such 
watchmen presupposes the existence of such walls and the restoration of 
the city, and if the watchers are upon the walls formerly destroyed but | 
now rebuilt, then it must be a post-exilic picture to which our attention is 
being called. 

Fausset says it is an image of the watchers set upon a city wall to look 
out for the approach of a messenger of good tidings, the good tidings in 
this case being the return of the exiles from Babylon, prefiguring the return 
of the Jews from their present time dispersion throughout the world. 

The watchers are not necessarily there to give notice of the approach 
of enemies, as Nagelsbach says, thus showing that even then there will be 


22 


ISAIAH 


enemies of Jerusalem, even though it be such a time as has been described; 
but the rather, as Delitzsch says, to lift up their entreating cry to Jehovah 
for the holy city entrusted to their care, the watchmen being the same as 
the “‘remembrancers’’ mentioned in the latter part of the verse. The post- 
exilian Jerusalem, says Delitzsch, is one with the Jerusalem of the last days 
in the eyes of the prophet. 

The speaker is still here to be considered as Messiah (Na.) although 
Delitzsch insists that Jehovah is still speaking, while in the latter part of 
the verse this writer thinks the prophet is introduced in an address to 
‘Jehovah's remembrancers’’. Others (F. Ges.) think the speaker is the 
prophet, even in the beginning of the verse, speaking in the name of the 


Messiah. 


Ver. 8. [hese words come not so much as an answer to the prayer 
of the remembrancers (Na.) as an assurance to inspire them with confidence 
in prayer. 


Ver. 9. “In the courts of my sanctuary’’,—This is not to be con- 
strued that the harvest produce will be consumed only in this place, but 
that its enjoyment will be consecrated through a festal meal of a religious 
character. 


Ver. 10. What has been solemnly promised in the two preceding 
verses is now to be fulfilled. Here at least we may concede that the speaker 
is the prophet speaking in the name of Jehovah. 

Alexander thinks that the analogy of Chap. 57.14, together with 
the context here makes it probable that what is here described is “‘the 
entrance of the Gentiles into Zion, an event so frequently and so fully set 
forth in the preceding chapters.” 

Gesenius, followed by Delitzsch, thinks the address is to the exiled 
Jews in Babylon and other cities to go through the gates of these cities, to 
march out of Babylon upon their return from exile. 

Henderson, Fausset, Rosenmuller and others think the address is to 
the Gentile nations to go through the gates of their own cities, in order 
to remove all obstacles out of the way of the returning Israelites. 


The second explanation is perhaps more nearly correct, although 
there is little ground on which to rest the decision one way or the other. 
We are rather inclined to the idea of Nagelsbach, who thinks the address, 
while primarily to the Jews, includes the Gentiles also. They are all to 
pass through the gates and to prepare the way by the removal of obstacles 
and to assist in making the return home practicable, easy and glorious. 
‘The expressions that follow are rhetorical and not to be literally under- 
stood of course. 


“lft up an ensign for the peoples’’,—Since the people are scattered 
much, not all being in one city, the command goes forth to lift up a 
standard “‘high over’ (Al. Lut. Del.), not “to” (Vul. Sep.), or hardly 
“for’ (our text, Mic.), the people so that the scattered ones in all places 
may see and come and join the outgoing procession back to the holy land. 


Ver. 11. “unto the end of the earth’’,—This shows that reference 
is not being made merely to a proclamation published in the realm of 
Cyrus, but to the very ends of the earth, wherever the scattered ones of 


Wee) 


ISAIAH 





Israel are to be found—there it is to be told to the daughter of Zion that 
her salvation is coming. 

“Say ye’’, etc..—T hose who are commanded to say this are not merely | 
the prophets in Israel, but all the mourners in Zion wherever they may be. 
According to analogy of Chap. 40.10 the reference in the pronoun “‘his’’ in 
both cases is to Jehovah. 


Ver. 12. “And they shall call’’, etc..—The verb is indefinite and 
the expression means ‘“‘men shall call’, etc. 

“Sought out’’,—The city will be sought after and loved by all and 
especially by Jehovah. The expression answers to “‘not forsaken’’ in the 
parallel clause. Jerusalem shall be no longer abandoned but highly prized 
and loved. Ss 


CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE 


1 Who is this that cometh from my garments, and I “have stained all my 


Edom, with *dyed garments from Boz- 
rah? this that is glorious in his apparel, 
marching in the greatness of his 
strength? I that speak in righteousness, 
mighty to save. 

2 Wherefore art thou red in thine ap- 
parel, and thy garments like him that 
treadeth in the winevat? 

3 I have trodden the winepress alone; 
and of the peoples there was no man 
with me; yea, I “trod them in mine 
anger, and trampled them in my wrath; 
and their “life-blood ‘is sprinkled upon 


raiment, 

4 Por the day of veangeance ‘was in 
my heart, and ‘the year of my redeemed 
is come. 

5 And I looked, and there was none 
to helo; and I wondered that there was 
none to uphold; therefore mine own 
arm brought salvation unto me; and my 
wrath, it upheld me. 

6 And I *trod down the peoples in 
mine anger, and °made them drunk in 
my wrath, and I “poured out their 
lifeblood on the earth. 


1Or, crimsoned 
“Or, will tread . . 
8Or, strength 

4Or, shall be 


‘Or, will stain 
and trample Or, zs 
‘Or, my year of redemption : 
8 Or, / will tread... and make... and 
will pour out 
Another reading is, drake them in pieces. 
WOr, drought down their strength to the 
earth. 


Ns 


Vers. 1-6. 


Ver. 1. The question here is to be put in the mouth of the prophet 
himself. The question is rhetorical, as the prophet well knows who it is, 
but the question is put to awaken our attention and direct it to the One 
whom the prophet sees coming. Messiah is pictured as approaching Jeru- 
salem after having taken vengeance on the enemies of His people and Him- 
self, and He is represented under imagery taken from the destruction of 
Edom, the last and most bitter foe of the people of Israel. He comes from 
Bozrah, the chief city of Edom, with garments “dyed” (crimsoned) with 
the blood of the Edomites. : 


“marching’’,—The literal is “throwing back his head’’, in proud 
self-consciousness. 


The last clause of this verse is Messiah’s answer to the question. 


‘THE DAY OF VENGEANCE. 


“speak in righteousness’ ,—Righteousness is here used adverbially, as 
frequently, and means to speak strictly according to the standard of truth, 
and the expression is not therefore with Fausset and others (Ma. Kn. Hit.) 


124 


ISAIAH 


, 


to be rendered “‘speak of righteousness,”’ i. e., of salvation as the result of 


His righteousness. 
Interpreters are much divided as to the meaning of the passage. 


Rosenmuller thinks the restored Jews might be apprehensive of the 
enmity of certain neighboring nations, who had rejoiced in their calamity, 
and that the prophecy before us was intended to allay their apprehension. 


Henderson thinks the prophet is deducing an argument from Jeho- 
vah’s past dealings with His ancient people in favor of His graciously 
regarding them in their then distantly future dispersion, and that therefore 
no reference is made to any future judgments to be inflicted on the country 
formerly occupied by the Edomites. 


Calvin disputes any reference to the Messiah whatsoever and finds 
here simply the announcement of a future judgment on Edom. ‘This is 
practically also the view of Hitzig, Umbreit, Gesenius, Beck and a number 
of other modern scholars. 


‘The Fathers applied the passage directly to the sufferings and ascension 
of Christ, and many of them put the question, ““‘Who ts this that cometh,”’ 
etc., in the mouth of angels who guard the gates of heaven. 


Vitringa understands by Bozrah the city of Rome and Edom as the 
countries captured by Rome, and he applies the passage to the overthrow 


of the Antichrist (Rome) by the warrior who rides on the white horse in 
Rev. 19.11. 


Stier is of the opinion that the one who is seen coming is Christ com- 
ing from the fulfillment of what is related in Rev. 14.20 and 19.18,21. 


Delitzsch finds the historical fulfillment of the prophecy in what befell 
Edom at the hands of the Maccabean princes, while its final fulfillment, he 
thinks, is the destruction of the Antichrist and his hosts, which is the New 
‘Testament counterpart to this piece. 


There is no doubt whatever but that the prophecy must be taken as 
a threatening against Edom and that Rosenmuller has the right idea as to 
the connection with what goes before it. As Delitzch says, ““The dis- 
course anticipates the question as to how Israel can rejoice in renewed pos- 
session of the land of its inheritance, if, as before, it is still to be sur- 
rounded by such malevolent neighbors as the Edomites.’’ Ass to its typical 
reference it must be that of the judgment of the end-time upon the Anti- 
christ. 


Ver. 2. “wine-vat’’;~—The wine-press wherein grapes were trodden 
by the feet by reason of which the garments become stained with the juice. 


Ver. 3. The reply of the Messiah. He treads the wine-press not as 
a sufferer, but as an inflicter. Many writers think that John had these 
words in mind when he wrote Rev. 19.13-15. (F. Na.) The verbs, as 


usual in animated discourse, are in the past tense. 


“and of the peoples there was no man with me’’,—This indicates 
the universal antichristian spirit of the nations. The reason of this is that 
it was the nations themselves that were cut off like grapes and put into the 
wine-press. 


Fausset says, ‘“This final blow inflicted by the Messiah and His armies 
(Rey. 19.13-15) shall decide His claim to the Kingdom usurped by Satan 


Epa) 


ISAIAH 


and by the Beast to whom Satan delegates his power. It will be a day of 
judgment to the hostile Gentiles just as His first coming was a day of 
judgment to the unbelieving Jews.”’ 


Ver. 4. Since the verbs in verse 3 were rendered in the past tense 
it would seem best to so render them both here, “‘was in my heart’, i. e., in 
my mind, in my thought, and “had come’. 

As in Chap. 34.8 and Chap. 61.2 the time of vengeance is described 
as a “‘day”’ and that of grace and reward to the redeemed as a “‘year.”’ 


Ver. 5. These are the same words as found in Chap. 59.16, except 
there the word “‘righteousness’’ is found instead of “‘wrath’’, the latter 
being an equivalent for the former, His wrath being but the executioner 
and agent of His righteousness and justice. 

Says Nagelsbach, ‘‘It will happen again as it did in the days of Edom; 
the Lord will see none of the peoples of the world on His side.”’ 


7 I will make mention of the loving- 
kindnesses of Jehovah, and the praises of 
Jehovah, according to all that Jehov-h 


hath bestowed on us, and the great 
goodness toward the house of Israel, 
which-he hath bestowed on them accord- 
ing to his mercies, and according to the 
multitude of his lovingkindnesses. 8 
For he said, Surely they are my people, 
children that will not deal falsely: so 
he was their Saviour. 9 ‘In all their 
affliction he was afflicted, and the angel 
of his presence saved them: in his love 
and in his pity he redeemed them; and 
he bare them, and carried them all the 
days of old. 


10 But they rebelled and grieved his 
holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to 
be their enemy, and himself fought 
against them. 11 “Then he remembered 
the days of old, Moses and his people, 
saying, Where is he that brought them 
up out of the sea with the *shepherds 
of his flock? where is he that put his 
holy Spirit in the midst of them? 12 
that caused his glorious arm to go at 
the right hand of Moses? that divided 


tAnother reading is, /z all their adversity 
he was no adversary 

“Or, Then his people remembered the ancient 
days of Moses &c. 

3Another reading is, shepherd. 


the waters before them, to make himself 
an everlasting name? 13 that led them 
through the depths, as a horse in the 
wilderness, so that they stumbled not? 
14 As the cattle that go down into the 
valley, the Spirit of Jehovah caused 
them to rest: so didst thou lead thy peo- 
ple, to make thyself a glorious name. 

15 Look down from heaven,*and be- 
hold from the habitation of thy holiness 
and of thy glory: where are thy zeal and 
thy mighty acts, the yearning of thy 
heart and thy compassions are restrained 
toward me. 16 For thou art our Father, 
though Abraham knoweth us not, and 
Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, 
O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeem- 
er from everlasting is thy name. 17 O 
Jehovah, why dost thou make us to err 
from thy ways, and hardenest our heart 
from thy fear? Return for thy serv- 
ants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheri- 
tance. 18 Thy holy people possessed 
it but a little while: our adversaries 
have trodden down thy sanctuary. 19 
We are become as they over whom thou 
never barest rule, as they that were not 
called by thy name. 


Vers. 7-19. ‘THANKSGIVING, CONFESSION AND SUPPLICATION OF 
JEHOVAH’S PEOPLE. 


Ver. 7. The speaker here is the prophet speaking in the name of 
Jehovah’s people. Favor in the past becomes the foundation of supplica- 
tion for the future. The plurals, says Fausset, and the repetitions imply 
that language is inadequate to express all the goodness of God. 

“The passage must be understood”’, says Alexander, ‘‘as relating to 
the favors experienced and the sins committed by the chosen people 
throughout the period of the old dispensation.”’ 


126 


ISAIAH 


The prevailing opinion is that we have here a prophecy relating to 
’ the future restoration of Israel. (V. F.) 

Fausset says, ‘‘us’’ refers to the Jews in the time just preceding their 
final restoration, while “house of Israel’ points to Israel of all ages to 
whom God had always been good. 


Ver. 8. The prophet makes Jehovah the author of the saying here 
quoted, but nowhere has the Lord said or did He say that Israel would not 
lie and prove false; indeed He knew they would do so and would not keep 
faith with Him. 

Fausset, and with him are the majority, explains the word “‘said’’ as 
a saying in His heart, 1. e., He thought, as in Psa. 95.10. Thus God is 
here said, according to human modes of thought, to say within Himself 
what He might naturally have expected as a result of His goodness to 
Israel, and thus the enormity of their unnatural perversity is the more 
vividly set forth. [he verb may therefore be taken as a future of hope. 
Says Delitzsch, ‘‘Jehovah looked for their gracious requital of His cove- 
nant-grace by covenant-fidelity.”’ 


Ver. 9. The first clause of this verse is famous for the diversity of 
explanation connected with it. 

According to the rendering of our text the meaning is, as Delitzsch 
says, ‘‘Just as a man may feel pain while in his person he is raised above it, 
so God feels pain without His blessedness being hurt, and God felt His 
people’s suffering; it moved Him inwardly.” (V. Ew. Um. Kn. Del. 
Lut. Hit. Cle. Hend.) 

The rendering of our text, however, can hardly be sustained for the 
reason that in all the ancient manuscripts there is a “‘not’’ in the text, and 
critical presumption is much in its favor. For this reason the marginal 
rendering must be substituted for that of the text. 

Some of the other readings, which retain the ‘‘not’’ are as follows: 

“In all their enmity He was not an enemy.” (D. Al.) 

“In all their affliction there was no affliction’’, i. e., such as their 
sins merited. (Jar.) 

“In all their affliction He did not afflict them.’’ (Jer.) But this can 
hardly be said to be true, unless some modifying clause is included in the 
explanation. 

“In all their affliction He was not an adversary’, i. e., though He 
afflicted them He did it not in hate. (He.) But this gives two different 
meanings to the same word. 

“In all their distress there was no distress’, i. e., of a real serious 
nature. (Ges.) 

“Tn all their straits there was no straitness in His goodness to them.” 


“Tn all their affliction there was no extreme, fatal affliction.” (Auri- 
villius. ) . 


Those who adopt the rendering of our text think the “not’’ is in the 
text by mistake for “‘to him’’, i. e., “In all their affliction there was afflic- 
tion to Him.”’ But this contention can hardly be sustained. 


“the angel of His presence’’,—This is the angel whom Jehovah sent 
PAP 


ISAIAH 


with Israel and who is identified with the presence of Jehovah. (Ex. 33. 
14,15), and in a certain sense with Jehovah Himself. It denotes the angel 
whose presence was the presence of Jehovah, or in whom Jehovah was 
personally present; therefore not an angel who stands always in the 
presence of Jehovah (Cle.), and so always beholds the countenance of 
Jehovah, but an angel who is Jehovah’s countenance, or in whom Jeho- 
vah’s countenance is to be seen. ‘That this angel of Jehovah’s presence 
was none other than that divine person who is represented in the New 
Testament as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image 
of His person, in whose face the glory of God shines and in whom dwelleth 
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, even Christ, the Messiah, there can 
be little if any doubt. 


Ver. 10. “he... himself’’,—i. e., Jehovah. He is changed into 
an adversary to those who resist His Holy Spirit. . : 


Ver. 11. Here again are various interpretations. 

The Dutch Bible makes Jehovah the subject of the first clause, but 
makes it all the language of the people, i. e., ““Once He remembered the 
days of old, but now where ts’, etc. But the words “but now” are thus 
supplied without authority. 

‘The Targum supplied “lest they say’’ before the second clause, which 
then becomes the language of Israel’s enemies exulting in the failure of 
Jehovah's promises. But this idea is arbitrarily supplied and not ex- 
pressed in the text. 

All are agreed that the language from the second clause on is that 
of the people. 

Fausset, following Jerome and Cyril, makes the first clause the lan- 
guage of Jehovah and the second with what follows, the language of the 
people. This is a possible construction and is that of our text. Not- 
withstanding their perversity Jehovah forgot not His covenant of old and 
therefore did not wholly forsake them. The transition, however, is 
somewhat abrupt, and not to be assumed without necessity. 

The marginal reading is much to be preferred. Most modern writers 
since Vitringa are agreed that the first clause describes the penitent language 
of the people, while what follows gives their very language. (Del.) 

However, instead of taking “His people’ of the text as the subject, 
as is done by the marginal reading, it is better, Stier thinks, because of its 
remoteness, to leave it where it is and read “‘they”’ for “‘He’’. Either con- 
struction, however, is acceptable. . 

The “‘sea’’ is the Red Sea, and the “shepherds’’ are Moses and Aaron 
and other leaders. If “‘shepherd’’ be read, then the reference is to Moses 
alone. 


Ver. 12. “caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of 
Moses’’,—i. e., caused His almighty power, of which His arm is the estab- 
lished symbol, to be near or present with Moses when he needed its help. 


Ver. 13. ‘“‘as a horse in the wilderness’ ,—By ‘“‘wilderness’’ is here 
meant the desert, free from inequalities over which a horse can run without 
stumbling. So He led them through the Red Sea. 


Ver. 14. “As the cattle that go down tn the valley’’,—i. e., as the 
droves descending from the bare hills to the grassy tracts of the lowlands. 


128 


ISAIAH 


Ver. 15. Here begins a fervent appeal to God to pity Israel now 
on the ground of His former mercies to them, an appeal which continues 
to the end of the chapter and throughout the following one. 

Jehovah is called upon to look down from His dwelling place in 
heaven on their present distress and not restrain His love and might. He 
is still their Father, and with great boldness He is besought as to why He 
permitted His people to become hardened and go astray, and He is called 
upon to return in His favor to His inheritance. The complaint is made 
that His people had possessed only for a short time the promised land, 
while their enemies had trodden down the Sanctuary, and they had become 
as though they were not the chosen people of their God. 


Ver. 16. “though Abraham .. . and Israel’’,—By some this is ex- 
plained as meaning that these human progenitors were dead and so unable 
to render help. (V. Na. Del.) Others, who read “‘when’’ for “‘though’’ 
(Moore), and still others, who retain “though” (F.), make the meaning 
that natural affection and regard would cease rather than that God's 
paternal love should fail, or His covenant of adoption be annulled. “‘Even 
though Abraham, our earthly father, on whom we have prided ourselves, 
disown us, Thou wilt not.” (F.) 


Ver. 17. The question with which this verse opens must be taken 
in a permissive sense. (F. Na. Del. Lut.) 


Ver. 19. The rendering of our text is approved by Nagelsbach, 
Delitzsch, Lowth and the majority, while Fausset, Alexander, Barnes and 
others prefer that of the Authorized Version, arguing from the analogy of 
verse 18 that while the first clause points to the Jews, the second one points 
to their foes. Our text, however, is much the smoother, and the grounds 
for the change are far from sufficient. 


CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR 


This chapter, the first verse of which in the Hebrew Bible belongs 
to the preceding one, contains Israel’s further prayer that Jehovah would 
visibly intervene and show Himself to be the God and Father of His 
people as of old. In violent agitation the prayer goes up that God would 
rend the heavens, bursting forth, as it were, to execute vengeance on His 
people’s foe and put an end to Israel’s distress (verses 1 and 2), a thing 
which only a God like Himself can do as proven by His acts of old (verses 
3 and 4), in spite of which Israel had sunk deeper in corruption and sin 
(verses 5, 6 and 7). But Jehovah is their Father and they the work of 
His hands; therefore let it please Him to be gracious (verses 8 and 9). 
All the cities, Zion and Jerusalem, have been made desolate (verses 10 and 
11), and surely Jehovah cannot refrain from taking vengeance and deliver- 
ing His people. 


CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE 


JEHOVAH’s ANSWER TO THE PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE. 


1 I *am inquired of by them that that sought me not: I said, Behold me, 

asked not for me; I 7am found of them behold me, unto a nation *that was not 
10r, was inquired of 3Or, as otherwise read, that hath not called 
*Or, was found ubon 


P29 


ISAIAH 


called by my name. 2 I have spread 
out my hands all the day unto a rebel- 
lious people, that walk in a way that is 
not good, after their own thoughts; 3 
a people that provoke me to my face 
continually, sacrificing in gardens, and 
burning incense upon bricks; 4 that ‘sit 
among the graves, and lodge in the 
*secret places; that eat swine’s flesh, and 
broth of abominable things is in their 


come not near to me, for I am holier 
than thou. These are a smoke in my 
nose, a fire that burneth all the day. 
6 Behold, it is written before me: I will 
not keep silence, but will recompense, 
yea, I will recompense into their bosom, 
7 your own iniquities, and the iniquities 
of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, 
that have burned incense upon the 
mountains, and “blasphemed me upon 
the hills: therefore will I ‘first measure 


their work into their bosom. 
6Or, defied 


vessels; 5 that say,. Stand by thyself, 
4Or, dwell 


5Or, vaults — ‘Or, measure their former work 
Vers. 1-7. Nor ALL IsRAEL SHALL BE SAVED. 
Ver 1. Before promise comes first a rebuke and a menace. The 


penitent portion of Israel had in her prayer identified herself with the 
whole nation, but Jehovah answers that destruction and not salvation 
awaits a portion of the nation, and that the larger portion. 


Many writers, and among them most of the modern scholars, think 
both this verse and the one following refers to unbelieving Jews. (Del.) 


But there are serious objections to thus taking the words. Paul in 
Rom. 10.20 refers verse 7 to the Gentiles and this Delitzsch admits has 
very great weight. The difference between the Hebrew words as used 
for “‘nation’’ in verse 1 and “‘people’’ in verse 2 favors the reference of the 
word in verse 1, as Delitzsch also admits, to the heathen. The context 
seems also to favor the thought that Jehovah is here contrasting His success 
among the heathen with His want of the same among Israel. But most 
of all the expression, “a nation that was not called by my name’ can 
hardly describe Israel even in her worst state of degradation. 


This last objection Delitzsch relieves by using the marginal reading 
of our text, “that hath not called upon my name’’, which is a possible and 
somewhat plausible rendering of the Hebrew. This author has also some- - 
what to say concerning Paul’s application of the passage, but we are in- 
clined to think he deals too lightly with this important testimony. The 
balance of argument certainly favors the reference to the Gentiles and to 
this opinion, for the reasons given, we incline. (F. S. Al. Na. Hof. Hend.) 


Ver. 3. “burning incense upon bricks’ ,— 


(1) Bricks come under the description of “‘hewn stones’’ and God's 
altars according to Mosaic law must be of unhewn stones and of earth.- 
The heathen used hewn stones. Chiseling was also forbidden and there- 
fore they could not inscribe superstitious symbols on them as the heathen 
did, and bricks were more easily inscribed than stone. (F. Na.) 

(2) The flat brick-paved roofs of the houses upon which, sacrifice 
to the sun was made. (Bo.) 

(3) An allusion to some practice now unknown, but possibly con- © 
nected with the curiously inscribed bricks found in modern times near 
the site of ancient Babylon. (Ros.) 


(4) Altars hastily constructed and naturally out of brick as the 
superficial covering. (Al. Ges.) The first view, which.-is but little dif- 
ferent from this last, is the preferable one. 


130 


ISAIAH 


Ver. 4. “‘sitt among the graves’’,—i. e., for the purpose of necro- 
mancy or communing with the dead (F. Na. Del.), or sacrificing to the 
dead, 1. e., purificatory offering presented to the dead (V.), the former 
being the better explanation. 


“lodge in the secret places’’,—1. e., consecrated precincts, the idol’s 
inmost shrine (Ho.), where they used to sleep to have divine communica- 
tions in dreams (Jer.), or perhaps, in keeping with the former clause, 
sepulchral caves. (Ma.) 


The whole verse, with the one before it, is, as Alexander says, “‘a 
highly wrought description of idolatrous abominations.”’ 


Ver. 5. “I am holier than thou’’,—The reference here is doubtless 
to the fact of their having gained initiation into the mysteries, or attained 
a high degree of sanctity by taking part in specially sacred heathen rites 
of purification which were not sanctioned by law. Such He says are the 
prey of a continual fire whose smoke goes up perpetually before Him. The 
fire of God’s wrath was kindled at the sight and exhibited itself in smoking 
pantings from His nostrils. In Hebrew the nose is the seat of anger. 


Ver. 6. “it 1s written before me’’,—What is written before Him? 
The punishment, the divine sentence of judgment which follows (V. Al. 
Na. Ma.), or the eternal law of retribution (Um.), or their idolatrous 
practices, their sin, in scornful contempt of Jehovah’s law (Del.)? Per- 
haps the former explanation is the better. “he meaning may be that the 
fact that he will recompense is written in a document, as in Job. 13.26 
and Jer. 22.30 (V. He. Na. Lo. Noy.), although nothing further than 
a decree in His own mind, an eternal purpose, is needed to give good 
meaning to the words. 


“tnto their. bosom’’,—Either a reference to the folds of the oriental 
dress where articles were carried and the thought of recompensing to them 
more than they can carry in their hand, i. e., a full, large measure of retri- 
bution; or, I will repay it to the very person from whom it emanated. 
The clause seems to be parenthetical, and is properly repeated at the close 
of the next verse. 


Ver. 7. “first measure their work’’,—The marginal reading cannot 
be right. For why should Jehovah punish only this? The word “‘first”’ 
is rightly taken as an adverb by our text. (Na. Ew. Or. Del. Bred.) 


8 Thus saith Jehovah, As the new 
wine is found in the cluster, and one 
saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in 
it: so will I do for my servants’ sake, 
that I may not destroy them all. 9 And 
I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, 
and out of Judah an inheritor of my 
mountains; and my chosen shall inherit 
it, and my servants shall dwell there. 
10 And Sharon shall be a “fold of flocks, 
and the valley of Achor a place for herds 
to lie down in, for my people that have 
sought me. 11 But ye that forsake 
Jehovah, that forget my holy mountain, 
that prepare a table for “Fortune, and 


1Or, pasture 
*Heb. Gad. See Gen. 30.11 


that fill up mingled wine unto “Destiny; 
12 I will destine you to the sword, and 
ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; 
because when I called, ye did not an- 
swer; when I spake, ye did not hear; 
but ye did that which was evil in mine 
eyes, and chose that wherein I delighted 
not. 

13 Therefore thus saith the Lord Je- 
hovah, Behold, my servants shall eat, 
but ye shall be hungry; behold, my serv- 
ants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; 
behold, my servants shall rejoice, but 
ye shall be put to shame; 14 behold, my 
servants shall sing for joy of heart, but 

®Heb. Meni 


ISAIAH 





ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and he who blesseth himself in the. earth 
shall wail for “vexation of spirit. 15 - shall bless himself in the God of *truth; 
And ye shall leave your name for °a and he that sweareth in the earth shall 
curse unto my chosen; and the Lord swear by the God of “truth; because the 
Jehovah will slay thee; and he will call former troubles are forgotten, and be- 
his servants by another name: 16 so that cause they are hid from mine eyes. 

+Heb. breaking ®SHeb. Amen See II Cor. 1.20; Rev. 3.14. 


®Heb. ax oath 


Vers. 8-16. Not ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE CAST OFF. THE REMNANT 
To BE SAVED. 4 


Even as in a cluster of grapes, consisting of good and bad berries, there 
is a blessing, i. e., the wine-producing juice of the good berries, and there- 
fore the whole cluster will not be thrown away; so God will spare the 
godly remnant while the ungodly mass of the nation shall be destroyed. 
The meaning is not therefore, as Knobel says, “He will not destroy the 
grapes along with the stem and husks’’, nor is the contrast between the 
good clusters and other bad clusters (Al.), but it is as J. D. Michaelis and 
others (F. Na. Del.) say, ‘He will not destroy the grapes that have good 
sap in them along with the preponderant bad ones.’ 


“my servants’’,—The remnant according to the election oe grace. 


(Rom. 11.28.) 


Ver. 9. “‘my mountatns’’,—Not Mount Zion and Mount Moriah 
only (V.), but the whole of Palestine. (F. Al. Na. Del.) 


Nearly all modern German commentators say this verse predicts the 
restoration of the Jews from Babylon. 


Here again the two schools of interpretation are at widest divergence. 
Henderson says the future happy occupation of Palestine by a regenerated 
remnant of Jews is here clearly predicted; while Alexander says it predicts 
the perpetuation of the Jewish Church in the remnant which believed on 
Christ, and which, enlarged by the accession of the Gentiles, is heir to all 
the promises of the Church of the old dispensation. 


Ver. 10. “the valley of Achor a place for herds’’,—Achor means 
trouble. It is a valley near Jericho so called because of the trouble caused 
to Israel by Achan’s sin. This valley, proverbial for whatever caused 
calamity, shall become proverbial for joy and prosperity. 

As Sharon was noted for its verdure, so also, some think, was Achor, 
this last being made more probable from the fact that Hosea says it shall 
be a “‘door of hope’. 

Some think that because Sharon was on the Mediterranean and Achan 
was by the Jordan these two are chosen as showing the whole breadth of 
the land from west to east. 


Ver. 11. The words “‘Fortune’’ and “‘Destiny’’ refer to two heathen 
deities and the last half of this verse refers to meals of the gods held in 
their honor. The Hebrew for the word is “Gad” and ‘Meni’, 

Gad, as the name of a divinity, means doubtless the star of fortune, 
of which the Babylonians had two, Jupiter, whom the Arabs named 
“Great Fortune’, and Venus, whom they named ‘‘Little Fortune’, and 
which in our text is represented by Meni, which Goddess: was supposed 
to number the fates or the destiny of men. 


ba? 


ISAIAH 


Vitringa and Knobel think Gad refers to the sun and Meni to the 
moon. 


The Authorized Version, and with it many interpreters, understands 
the word Gad as meaning ‘“‘troop’’, as in Gen. 30.11, and Meni as meaning 
“number’’, the first pointing to the troops of planets and the multitude of 
stars as objects of worship, while the second refers to convivial assemblies 
connected with idolatrous worship. 


The passage is descriptive of idolatrous worship which after all is 
the only point of importance. 


Ver. 12. “‘destine you to the sword’’,—Alexander has well re- 
marked that it is better here to retain the word “‘number’”’ as in the Author- 
ized Version, instead of “‘destine’’, as in our text, because the writer’s idea 
is that they shall be cut off one by one, or rather one with another—all 
without exception. ‘Ihe same word is used elsewhere for the numbering 
of sheep. (Jer. 33.13.) The word thus translated would seem to have 
some bearing on the meaning of the word in the preceding verse. 


Ver. 13. “‘ye shall be hungry’’,—Fausset thinks this may refer to 
the destruction of Jerusalem wherein the Jews were so hungry that 1,000,- 
000 perished by famine, and that it may refer to a further fulfillment to 
take place just before the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, 
as the context in verse 17 implies. 


Ver. 15. “And ye shall leave your name for a curse’’,—This means 
more than to leave the name to be cursed; it means to leave it as a formula 
for cursing, so that men will say, ‘‘Jehovah slay thee as He slew them’’. 
The name of the Jew, as Fausset reminds us, has long been a formula of 
execration; if one wishes to curse another, he can utter nothing worse than 
this: ‘God make thee what the Jew is.”’ 


“my chosen... his servants’’,—The believing remnant. 


“another name’’,—Nagelsbach says, ‘“‘One name originally united 
the wicked and the godly, for they were all called ‘Israelites’. Can the 
elect of the Lord still continue to bear the name which, after the judgment 
of God, has become cursed? No. ‘The Lord will therefore give to His 
servants ‘another name’, and thus is the new covenant, that should come 
in the place of the old, intimated.” 

Some think the meaning is that as your name is to be a name by 
which men shall curse, so my servants shall have a name by which men 
shall bless. Others merely give it a more general sense as meaning that 
their condition shall be altogether different, while still others think that 
it relates to the name ‘‘Christian’’ as distinguished from the Jew. Alexan- 
der thinks that the correct explanation is to be found in a combination of 
all three views. In Chap. 62.2 of Jehovah’s people it is said that they 
shall be given a “new name’’, and according to Old Testament usage the 
promise of “another name’ or a “‘new name’’ implies a different character 
and state. 


Ver. 16. “‘so that’’,—Whether the particle be so translated with 
Luther and others (Na. .Del.), or translated ‘‘which’’ (with respect to 
which, i. e., by which), as Alexander renders it, it must in either case relate 
to the previously expressed antecedent “‘name’’, by which the meaning 
would seem to be that the servants of Jehovah shall be called or named 


15 o> 


ISAIAH 





after the God of truth, so that His name and theirs shall be identical, and 
whoever blesses and swears by the one does so by the other also. (Al.) 

Blessing himself means praying for God’s blessing, and swearing 
means the solemn invocation of God’s presence as a witness. 


“the God of truth’’,—1i. e., the God of Amen; of what is true and 
firm; the God to whom that quality of covenant-keeping truth essentially 
belongs; the God who translates what He promises into Yea and Amen. 


17 For, behold, I create new heavens 
and a new earth; and the former things 
shall not be remembered, nor come into 
mind, 18 But be ye glad and rejoice 


for ever in that which I create; for, be- 
hold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and 
her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice 
in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and 
there shall be heard in her no more the 
voice of weeping and the voice of cry- 
ing. 20 There shall be no more thence 
an infant of days, nor an old man that 
hath not filled his days; for the child 
shall die a hundred years old, and the 
sinner being a hundred years old shall 
be accursed. 21 And they shall build 
houses, and inhabit them; and they shall 


plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of 
them. 22 They shall not build, and 
another inhabit; they shall not plant, 
and another eat: for as the days of a 
tree shall be the days of my people, and 
my chosen shall ‘long enjoy the work of 
their hands. 23 They shall not labor in 
vain, nor bring forth for “calamity; for 
they are the seed of the blessed of Jeho- 
vah, and their offspring *with them. 
24 And it shall come to pass that, before 
they call, I will answer; and while they 
are yet speaking, I will hear. 25 The 
wolf and the lamb shall feed together, 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; 
and dust shall be the serpent’s food. 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
my holy mountain, saith Jehovah. 


*Heb, wear out 
*Or, sudden terror 
8Or, shall be with them 


Vers. 17-25. “THE ETERNAL BLESSING OF THE REMNANT IN THE NEW 
EARTH AND THE NEW HEAVENS. 
Ver. 17. “‘the former things shall not be remembered’’,—Most in- 


terpreters refer “former things’’ to the former troubles of verse 16; others 
simply construe it indefinitely as all former troubles. The more natural 
explanation, however, is to refer it to the former heaven and earth, as the 
simple, more immediate and more exact parallel. (AI. Del.) (See Jer. 
3.16.) The former heavens and earth, with all their sorrows under the 
fall, shall be so far from recurring that their very remembrance shall be 
obliterated by the many mercies which Jehovah will bestow upon the new 
heavens and the new earth. 


Many expositors understand the reference to be to the renovation of 
the present earth with its skies after the destruction which shall occur at 
the end-time. (F. Sco. Burnet.) 


Scofield says that verse 17 looks beyond the kingdom age to the new 
heavens and the new earth, but verses 18 to 25 describe the kingdom age 
itself. ; 


Alexander says, of course, that it is merely a prediction of entire 
change in the existing state of things, the precise nature of the change and 
the means by which it is to be brought about forming no part of the reve- 
lation here. 


Ver. 18. “that which I create’’,—1. e., the new heavens and the 
new earth mentioned in the previous verse, Jerusalem being added for 
emphasis. Jerusalem is to be created a rejoicing and her people a joy by 


134 


ISAIAH 


_making these things the characteristics of her inner and outward life, her 
uniform, constant state. 


Ver. 19.—(See Rev. 7.17 and 2.14.) (F.N.) 


Ver. 20. “‘no more thence’’,—i. e., from that time forward. Lon- 
gevity of life is here promised as of old. 

The particle translated ‘‘thence’’, and properly so, is however never 
used in regard to time, but always in regard to place. It refers to the place 
where the conditions. prophesied are to exist. It does not therefore mean 
“from then’, or “‘from that time forward’’, as Fausset translates it, al- 
though such thought is in keeping with the real meaning of the prediction. 
It simply means, ‘There, in that place, shall be no more an infant of days’, 
or as Donald Moore puts it, ‘There shall no suckling thence arise or come 
into being who shall live only some days, whose age shall be counted by 
days’. 

“an infant of days’’,—1i. e., an infant who shall live but a few days. 


“an old man that hath not filled his days’’,—i. e., attained unto the 
regular measure of human life. None shall die, says Fausset, without 
attaining a full old age. 


“the child shall die a hundred years old’’,—i..e., he who in other 
days had died as a youth, and whose death was considered premature, shall 
not die before his hundredth year. He that dies a hundred years old shall 
die a mere child. 


“the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed’’,—This seems 
to mean that if a sinner shall die when he is a hundred years old, an age 
regarded in those days as mere childhood, it shall be deemed as the effect 
of a special visitation of God’s wrath. 


While the titne predicted will be far superior to those of the present, 
it will not be perfect, because sin and death will still exist. (Rev. 20.7,8.) 
“Longevity is restored, but death, the last enemy’, says Scofield, “‘is not 
destroyed till after Satan’s rebellion at the end of the thousand years.” 


“It would be wrong’’, says Delitzsch, ‘‘to think that all this means 
less than what is said in Chap. 25.8 only in appearance. ‘Ihere the final 
annulling of death is spoken of; here only the limiting of its power.”’ 
Nagelsbach thinks the last half of the verse contradicts the first half, for, 
says he, ‘‘if no one, not even an old man, falls short of the normal measure, 
then no one can die as a.boy.’’ ‘To this his interpreter, Donald Moore, 
replies, ‘“The prophet does not say that no one, not even an old man, falls 
short/of the normal measure, in the former part of this verse. When one 
who dies at the age of a hundred years is counted a boy, and when a sinner 
who dies a hundred years old is regarded as prematurely cut off by the 
judgment of God, this is no contradiction of the declaration that the suck- 
ling’s age will not be reckoned by days, and that old men will fill up the 
measure of their days. For the hundred years old sinner will not be 
included in the category of old men. If a sinner dies at a hundred he 
would be regarded as cursed by God. And if one of a hundred years 
should die a natural death (supposing such a case, which from what has 
been said cannot really occur), he would be only a boy at his death.”’ 


Ver. 22. ‘“‘as the days of a tree’’,—Vhey shall live as long as trees, 
Oaks, terebinths, palms, cedar, which live for centuries. 


135 


ISATAH 


“shall long enjoy’’,—The word means “enjoy to the full’. The 
Hebrew is really “‘to use up’, “‘to consume’’, “‘to wear out’’, seeming to 
imply, as it were, that they shall live to enjoy the last of it. 


Ver. 23. “nor bring forth for calamity’’,—i. e., that which falls 
unexpectedly and carries their offspring, their children away (Del.), not 
bring forth children for a sudden death (F.). But Alexander says these 
are mere conjectures and that the Hebrew word means “extreme agitation 
and alarm’’ and that the meaning is that they shall not bring forth children 
merely to be the subjects of distressing solicitude. 


“and their offspring with them’’,—Our text makes their offspring 
as well as themselves to be the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, which is of 
course true; but the marginal reading is to be preferred, ‘‘and their offspring 
shall be with them”, i. e., not brought forth only to be cut off by sudden 
destruction or calamity. 


Ver. 25. The curse seems to remain on the serpent. It will still 
creep in the dust, but without injuring man. (See Chap. 11.7.) 


CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX 


1 Thus saith Jehovah, Heaven is my 7 Before she travailed, she brought 
throne, and the earth is my footstool: forth; before her pain came, she was 
what manner of house will ye build unto delivered of a man-child. 8 Who hath 
me? and what place shall be my rest? heard such a thing? who hath seen 
2 For all these things hath my hand such things? Shall a land be “born in 
made, and so all these things came to one day? shall a nation be brought forth 
be, saith Jehovah: but to this man will at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, 
I look, even to him that is poor and of a she brought forth her children. 9 Shall 
contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my I bring to the birth, and not cause to 
word. 3 He that killeth an ox is as he bring forth? saith Jehovah: shall I that 
that slayeth a man; he that sacrificeth a cause to bring forth shut the womb? 
lamb, as he that breaketh a dog’s neck; saith thy God. 
he that offereth ‘an oblation, as he that 10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and 
offereth swine’s blood; he that *burneth be glad for her, all ye that love her: 
frankincense, as he that blesseth an idol. rejoice for joy with her, all ye that 
Yea, they have chosen their own ways, mourn over her; 11 that ye may suck 
and their soul delighteth in their abomi- arid be satished with: the, breastalori ner 
nations: 4 | also will choose their “de- consolations; that ye may milk out, and 
lusions, and will bring their fears upon be delighted with the abundance of her 
them; because when I called, none did glory. 12 For thus saith Jehovah, Be- 
answer; when I spake, they did not hold, I will extend peace to her like a 
hear: but they did that which was evil river, and the glory of the nations like 
in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I an overflowing stream: ‘and ye. shall 
delighted not. suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the 

5 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye that side, and shall be dandled upon the 
tremble at his word: Your brethren that knees. 13 As one whom his mother 
hate you, that cast you out for my comforteth, so will I comfort you; and 
name’s sake, have said, Let Jehovah be ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 
glorified, that we may see your joy; And ye shall see it, and your heart shall 
but it is they that shall be put to shame. rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like 
6 A voice of tumult from the city, a the tender grass: and the hand of Jeho- 
voice from the temple, a voice of Jeho- vah shall be known toward his serv- 
vah that rendereth recompense to his ants; and he will have indignation 
enemies, against his enemies. 

10Or, a meal-offering 4Or, travailed with for but one day 

"Heb. maketh a memorial of 5Or, then shall ye suck, ye Fone 


3Or, mockings 


136 


ISAIAH 


S 


Vers. 1-14. EXCLUSION OF THE WICKED FROM END-TIME BLESSINGS. 


Ver. 1. “what manner of house will ye build unto me?’’,—Hen- 
dewerk, Knobel and Hitzig think that God here forbids the Jews, who 
meditated remaining behind in Chaldea, or in Babylon, to build a temple 
there, as the Jews did in Egypt at a later time at Leontopolis. But there 
is nO support whatever in the text for this. The prophet is still describ- 
ing the condition of things to be expected in the time of the end when 
there will be a new heaven and a new earth. He is addressing those 
about to return from exile, and the “‘house’’ of our text refers doubtless to 
the temple which is to take the place of the one destroyed (Chap. 64.9). 
He does not interdict them from building this temple (Chap. 44.28; 56.7; 
60.7; Ezra 1.2-4; Haggai 1 and 2), but the thought is that the external 
temple is at all times a thing of minor importance; that, as Klostermann 
says, God does not need a temple at all, nor does He want men to forget 
His majesty in petty architecture, even though He promised the prospect 
of a rebuilt temple. 


Umbreit thinks the reference is to the New Jerusalem in which there 
is no temple, as Nagelsbach also remarks, and where God forbids one being 
built. But Delitzsch reminds us that according to Chaps. 56 and 60 
there is a temple in the New Jerusalem. 


Barnes and Alexander both think it refers to the time when the temple 
of Herod was being finished. 


“what manner’’,—This is much to be preferred to ““where’’ of the 
Authorized text, since the query seems to have reference in both places to 
the nature or the quality rather than the mere locality of the edifice in 
question. (F. V. Al. Na. Del.) 


Ver. 2. “‘all these things’’,—i. e., heaven and earth, the world of 
visible surroundings. 


In view of His creative dignity a temple is a small thing to Him, but 
His merciful look is directed to the mourners and the broken-hearted and 
those who have reverential fear toward His word. 


Ver. 3. With each form of sacrifice is coupled an offering which 
was inadmissible afd revolting. The first sacrifice mentioned counts as 
the slaying of a man,- the offering of a human victim. The dog in the 
east has ever been regarded as unclean and in that light is coupled with the 
swine. To offer a dog would be an abomination, and the prophet here 
does not even honor this abomination by the use of the word sacrifice, but 
uses the degrading term, “‘breaketh a dog’s neck’’, the peculiar mode of 
killing a dog. To offer ‘‘an oblation’’, a meal-offering, counts as the offer- 
ing of swine’s blood, and to burn frankincense counts as blessing an idol. 


“blesseth an idol’’,—-We see no good reason for not retaining the 
word “‘idol’’, as does our text (Na. Hit), for certainly this particular mean- 
ing corresponds better to the context than does the general one of wick- 
edness, or vanity (Al. Lut. Del.), and as all other secondary phrases refer 
to worship, it is better to understand it so here. 

Delitzsch says the chapter starts with an address to the entire body 
ready to return from exile, and while not prohibiting the building of a 
temple upon their return says that as Creator of heaven and earth Jehovah 
needs no house made with men’s hands, and then in verse 3, latter part, 


LS7, 


ISAIAH 


and verse 4 the address distinguishes between the penitent (the godly rem- 
nant) and those alienated from God (the majority) and rejects all wor- 
ship and offering at the hand of the latter and threatens them with just 
retribution. Nagelsbach, on the other hand, asks, ‘““Where is it by a 
single syllable intimated that verse 3, latter clause, and verse 4 is addressed 
solely to those estranged from God? If in Chaps. 56 and 60, as Delitzsch 
maintains, and in our chapter, verses 6 and 20, a temple and sacrificial 
worship is still spoken of, are we to suppose that the old temple of stone, 
with its material, bloody offerings, is intended? Even Jeremiah speaks of 
a time when the ark of the covenant will be no more thought of (Jer. 
3.16). The prophet surveys the whole time of salvation from the time 
of the close of the exile to the age to come in one view, and while he sees a 
temple and sacrificial worship in this space of time, he declares them both 
to be insufficient, and he declares most unambiguously that this temple 
must disappear and give place to a better one. And when this shall have 
happened, then the prophet sees quite clearly that any animal sacrifice 
will be an abomination. He who in the Christian Church would present 
any such sacrifice would thus despise the blood of the Lamb of God. I 
cannot therefore agree with those who think the passage refers to the man 
who with a disposition unholy and estranged from God offers an ox, etc. 
In the time present to the mind of the prophet not only the sacrifice of the 
ungodly will be a crime, but every sacrifice will be as the offering of a man, 
dog or sow to God, a heinous crime.” 


‘The fact remains that if the address pertained to those of Old Testa- 
ment times, even after the return from exile, it must have been made to or 
about the ungodly, whose sacrifices God abhors under any circumstances; 
but if the address pertains to those of the newer dispensation which the 
prophet saw coming the address is applicable to every sacrifice regardless 
of the disposition or character of the man who makes it, and in as much 
as the prophet seemingly conceives of all of this in one period there is 
truth in both of the above views, although the more important aspect of it 
rests with Nagelsbach. 

Vitringa, and with him agree Alexander and Henderson, applies them 
to those who still adhered to the old sacrifices after the great sacrifice for 
sin was come and had been offered once for all, i. e.,*in the new dispen- 
sation. 

Gesenius, somewhat after the manner of Delitzsch, thinks they refer 
to the practice of iniquity in general, which renders any sacrifice hateful 
to Jehovah. 


Ver. 4. “TI will also choose’’,—1. e., in harmony with the law of 
retribution. 


“their delusions’’,—This word answers to “their own ways’’ of verse 
3. God chose these delusions by allowing them in His providence and 
causing the people to eat the fruit of them. 


“will bring their fears upon them’’,—1i. e., the things they fear. 
(PeeALeNa;) 

Ver. 5. “ye that tremble at His word’’,—The reference here is the 
same as in verse 2, to the believing portion of Israel. 

“Your brethren that hate you’’,—Their own brethren, and what 


138 


ISAIAH 


aggravated the sin still more was that Jehovah’s name was the ground on 
which they are hated by them. 

Barnes and others (V. Al. Ka.) refer the expression to the Jews who 
hated and taunted the Christians during the early part of the Christian 
Bepencation: 

“that cast you out for my name’s sake’’,—‘‘that cast you out’’ of 
course belongs with what goes before, but Vitringa, Nagelsbach and others 
connect “‘for my name’s sake’ with what follows, but the majority rightly 
connect it with what goes before, as in our text, because the Jews would 
never admit that an Israelite was ever put out of the community for the 
sake of Jehovah's name. (AI. Del.) 

“Let Jehovah be glortfied’’,—The mocking words of the persecutors, 
as if their violence toward you was from zeal for the Lord, i. e., Let Him 
be glorified by manifesting Himself in your behalf. They regard the 
hope of the believers as a delusion and the words of the prophet as imagi- 
nation. 


Ver. 6. Fausset says that as verse 5 refers to the destruction of the 
unbelieving Jews, so it is said here that God from Jerusalem and the tem- 
ple shall take vengeance on the hostile Gentiles, the abrupt language of the 
verse marking the suddenness with which these foes outside of Jerusalem 
shall be put to destruction. 

Delitzsch and others (Ab. Na. Al. Bar.), on the other hand, rightly 
say that according to the context the enemies here meant are still primarily 
the God-estranged and yet arrogant mass of the Israelitish nation. Even 
_ Aben Ezra admits this. 

“A voice of tumult from the city’”’,— 

The rejoicing of the Maccabees and their followers when Antiochus 
Epiphanes evacuated the temple. (Gro.) 

The preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles beginning at Jerusalem. 
(Ju. ) 

A voice calling for vengeance on the Romans. (Jar.) 

‘The blasphemies of the heathen. (Aba.) 

The wail of such wicked Jews who may have gone up to Jerusalem 
from the exile in hope of worldly advantage and are smitten with divine 
judgments while there. (Ges. ) 

The voice is a joyful noise and not to be associated with the voice 
of Jehovah bringing vengeance (Na.) 

All these explanations are opposed by the fact that the Hebrew word 
here used is never applied to a joyful cry or a cry of lamentation, but always 
to the tumult of war, and the rushing noise of battle. 

Kimchi says it is the noise of tumult as applied to the destruction of 
Gog and Magog. 

Hitzig says it is a description of the general judgment foretold by 
Joel (Joel 4.2), when all the nations should be judged at Jerusalem. 

Knobel refers it to the confusion of punishment falling upon the 
antitheocratic Jews who remained in Babylon and especially upon the 
Babylonians themselves. 

Vitringa, Henderson and Alexander apply it to the scenes connected 


139 


ISAIAH 


with the destruction of the temple in the days of Herod, the noise being 
not only that of the Romans in taking Jerusalem (V.), but rather the 
whole confusion of the siege and conquest. (AlIl.) 


Delitzsch says, ““The thunder of judgment goes forth from the tem- 
ple which has risen again, Jehovah’s earthly dwelling place, of which He 
is again taking possession, followed by the faithful remnant of His people, 
and thence He renders recompense to His enemies, the God-estranged and 
yet arrogant mass of the exiles.’’ This is by far the most satisfactory 
explanation, whatever the passage may further represent by way of typical 
significance. 


Ver. 7. While the mass falls a prey to judgment, yet Zion is not 
left without children. 

“delivered of a man-child’’,—1i. e., a whole land full of people—a 
nation. Some take “‘man-child’’ merely in the sense of strength and num- 
bers, Nagelsbach saying that the male-child is used because male-children 
are as a rule born harder, being larger, but here it is with apparent ease. 

‘Contrast this ease of the future Jewish Church’’, says Fausset, “‘with 
ay Ne of the Christian Church in bringing forth a man-child (Rev. 

Vitringa and Alexander say the reference is to the call of the Gentiles. 

Henderson says the language expresses the sudden and unexpected 
reproduction of the Jewish nation in their own land in the latter days. 


Ver. 9. The meaning is, Shall I who have begun, not finish my 
work of restoring Israel? 


Ver. 11. Jerusalem is thought of as a mother, and the rich, real 
comfort which she enjoys as the milk filling her breast, and with which 
she now richly nourishes her children. 


Ver. 12. “the glory of the nations’’,—This comprehends all the 
desirable things in the way of outward blessings which the Gentiles may 
bring to her. 

Since “‘ye’’ refers in each case to the faithful Jews, Delitzsch thinks 
the “‘sides’’ and the “‘knees’’ refer to the Gentiles, who vie with each other 
in showing them delicate attention, and that therefore the pronoun “‘therr’’ 
should be used in each case instead of the article “‘the’’. 


Ver. 14. ‘“‘shall be known toward’’,—1. e., manifested in behalf of. 


15 For, behold, Jehovah will come 18 For I know their works and their 
‘with fire, and his chariots shall be like thoughts: the time cometh, that I will. 
the whirlwind; to render his anger with gather all nations and tongues; and they 
fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of shall come, and shall see my glory. 19 
fire. 16 For by fire will Jehovah exe- And I will set a sign among them, and I 
cute judgment, and by his sword, upon will send such as escape of them unto 
all flesh; and the slain of Jehovah shall the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, 
be many. 17 They that sanctify them- that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, 
selves and purify themselves ” *to go unto to the isles afar off, that have not heard 
the gardens, behind “one in the midst, my fame, neither have seen my glory; 
eating swine’s flesh, and the abomina- and they shall declare my glory among 
tion, and the mouse, they shall come to the nations. 20 And they shall bring 
an end together, saith Jehovah. all your brethren out of all the nations 

1Or, in % 


2Or, in the 
3Or, ome tree (or, Asherah; see Dt. 16.21) 


140 


ISAIAH 


for an oblation unto Jehovah, upon 
horses, and in chariots, and in litters, 
and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, 
to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith 
Jehovah, as the children of Israel bring 
their oblation in a clean vessel into the 
house of Jehovah. 21 And of them 
also will I take for priests and for 
Levites, saith Jehovah. 

22 For as the new heavens and the 
new earth, which I will make, shall 


remain before me, saith Jehovah, so 
shall your seed and your name remain. 
23 And it shall come to pass, that from 
one new moon to another, and from one 
sabbath to another, shall all flesh come 
to worship before me, saith Jehovah. 
24 And they shall go forth, and look 
upon the dead bodies of the men that 
have transgressed against me: for their 
worm shall not die, neither shall their 
fire be quenched; and they shall be an 
abhorring unto all flesh. 


Vers. 15-24. 


Ver. 15. “with fire’,—Some (Al. Del.) render with the margin, 
in fire’; Lowth reads “‘as fire’, but our text is quite appropriate, the 
meaning being the same according to any of the proposed renderings. 
“to render his anger with fierceness’’,—1i. e., to deal out His wrath 
with burning (Del.), or to apply His wrath with burning heat (Kn. 
Ges. ) 


A GENERAL PICTURE OF THE TIME OF THE END. 


Ver. 16. “upon all flesh’’,—1i. e., upon all who are the objects of 
His wrath. The judgment here predicted, says Delitzsch, is a general 
one and falls not only upon the heathen but upon the mass of unbelieving 
Jews as well. During this judgment the godly will be hidden away, says 
Fausset, referring to I Thess. 4.16,17. 


Henderson applies the text also to the battle of Armageddon in Rev. 


16 and 19, and Vitringa admits a reference to this also. 


Alexander of course applies the judgment here mentioned to the 
destruction of Jerusalem under the Romans, and says the Apocalyptic 
prophecies borrow their images from the Old Testament .prophecies, but 
are not exegetical of them. 7 


Ver. 17. This verse refers to idolators whoever they may be and 
are the same persons doubtless as those in Chap. 65.3,5. 


“to go unto the garden’’,—The idea is not that they purified them- 
selves in the gardens, but on their way to the gardens, or in preparation 
for the gardens where idolatrous services were to be held. 


“behind one in the midst’’,—The literal is “‘one one tn the midst’. 
Gesenius reads, “following one in the midst’’,—1. e., a priest who led the 
rest in performing the sacred rites, and led the idolatrous procession through 
the garden. 

Maurer reads, ‘‘following one in the midst’’, i. e., some idol or other, 
which out of contempt he does not mention. Vitringa says the word, 
twice mentioned in the text, is the name of a Syrian idol called Adad, the 
literal meaning of which is “‘one’’, and with him agree Bochart and other 


learned men of early date. 


On the ground that the word “‘priest’’ is to be supplied, then the word 
which means “‘in the midst’’ means in the midst of the crowd—the priest 
who prescribes the rites stands in their midst and they follow him. 

__ On the ground either that the word means “‘idol’’, or that the word 
idol” is to be supplied, the identity of which idol no one can know, the 


141 


ISAIAH 


word which means “in the midst’ must refer to the garden—the idol in 
the midst of the garden. 

Of the two explanations the former is by far the better. (Kn. Um. 
Na. Ro. Hit. Del. Ges. Baud. Hend. Beck, Pfeifer, Seinecke.) 

Some supply the word “‘tree’’ (Bo.) and think of one of the trees 
behind which they perform their lustrations; while others supply the 
word “‘pool’’ (Kim.) in which the lustrations are made. 

All the things mentioned in the following words were forbidden to 
the Jew. 


Ver. 18. ‘“‘and they shall come’’,—They will be impelled with 
enmity against Jerusalem and they shall come, but not without Jehovah's 
superintendence who makes even evil subservient to His plan. 


“shall see my glory’’,—Not His glory as manifested in grace (S. Um. 
Ew. Hahn), but in judgment. (F. Al. Del.) 


“T will gather all nations’ “s— This includes the apostates of Israel, 
but it is evident from what follows in the next verse that the nations assem- 
bled against Jerusalem and perishing themselves in the enterprise are not 
to be taken as all nations without exception, because in the following verse 
many nations are mentioned by name who are situated outside the range 
of these great events. 

Fausset says these nations shall gather together against Jerusalem, 
where the ungodly Jews shall perish, the apostate Jews, and then the Lord 
at last shall fight against those nations for Jerusalem's sake. He then 
says the survivors shall see Jehovah’s glory. But why confine this to the 
survivors? Why is it not true of all present? 

Alexander thinks this is a prediction of the calling of the Gentiles, 
both to witness the destruction of the apostate Jews and to supply their 
place in His Church or chosen people. He bases this much upon the fact, 
as he thinks, that the crimes described in the foregoing verses are those 
of the apostate Jews and not those of the heathen. But surely this learned 
expositor is wrong as to this latter proposition. 


Ver. 19. The tidings of Jehovah are to be carried to the far-off 
heathen world. Fausset says, Tarshish is Tartessus in Spain in the west; 
Pul is East Africa and North Africa; Lud is the Lybians of Africa, famous 
as bowmen; Tubal refers to the Tibarennians in Asia Minor south of the. 
Caucasus, and Java is the Greeks. The reference seems to be to the entire 
heathen world, and the prophet mentions only the farthest removed to inti- 
mate that to all—to the most remote—the joyful message should come.”’ 


“And I will set a sign among them’’,—The judgment is that which 
falls primarily upon the heathen, those mentioned in verse 17, to whom 
the “‘them’’ of this phrase refers, and they are primarily the ones mentioned 
also in verse 18 as being gathered, together with the apostate Jews. 

Now most writers are agreed with Gesenius that the “‘sign’: is to be 
taken in the same sense as that in Ex. 10.1,2, where God is said twice to 
have placed his signs among the Egyptians, and as these signs were the 
miraculous plagues, so here the reference must be to some miracle God will 
work in the midst of those gathered to judgment. 

Calvin explains, “I make a sign on them”’, i. e., on the elect for their 
deliverance. But the sign is given to those who are judged and not to 
those who are saved. 


142 


ISAIAH 


Alexander says the sign is the whole display of miraculous power in 
the beginning of the new dispensation which the Apostles had bestowed 
upon them. But if there were no other objection to this interpretation it 
is exposed to the one just mentioned. 

Fausset says it is ‘‘A banner on a high place to indicate the place of 
meeting for the dispersed Jewish exiles preparatory to their return to their 
own land’’; while Gesenius thinks it is the extraordinary confluence itself 
of the Jews from all parts of the world. But these, too, are open to the 
objection just mentioned, and besides they commit themselves to the 
rather unfortunate arrangement of the verses proposed by Alexander where- 
by in point of time verse 19 is prior, to verse 18, inasmuch as it is by the 
sign that the nations mentioned in verse 18 are gathered together at Jeru- 
salem. Hitzig and Knobel consider the sign to be the dreadful miracle 
of the battle in which Jehovah fights against His enemies with fire and 
sword and inflicts His judgment upon them in their terrific slaughter. 
Delitzsch, however, says that if they were to witness the judicial glory 
of Jehovah, as verse 18 distinctly declares they shall, then if they were 
to have a sign set on them in that retributive sense it would be more approp- 
riate for the words, “J will set a sign on them’’ to precede than to fol- 
low the words, “‘they shall see my glory’’. The sign, therefore, he 
thinks, consists in the sparing of the remnant—the unexpected, surprising 
circumstance, considering the great slaughter, that a remnant is spared. 
(Del. Um. Ew. Seinecke.) But Nagelsbach asks, “‘Is it something so 
extraordinary and wonderful that individuals should escape from a slaugh- 
ter, be it every so bloody?” 

Stier refers the sign to the judgment upon apostate Israel. Nagels- 
bach says, however, that it seems strange to speak of the sign after the 
judgment has occurred and they have seen the glory of Jehovah. If, how- 
ever, we place verse 19 after verse 18 in point of time, as do Alexander 
and the translator of Nagelsbach, and make verse 19, sign and all, the 
method by which the nations of verse 18 are gathered, the difficulty in 
Nagelsbach’s mind must disappear. 

It would be manifestly absurd to think of the nations in verse 18 
being called to their own judgment in which they were to see the glory 
of God and then at the same time think of “‘those that escape’ from this 
judgment going out to gather or call these same nations in. The only 
way therefore to consistently bring verse 19 in before verse 18 as to time 
is to think of those in verse 17 being apostate Jews who are to be judged, 
and after the judgment..upon them had fallen, those that escape of them 
are to go out to the Gentiles of verse 18 and gather them in, not for judg- 
ment, but for mercy, to take the place of the apostate Jews, and this going 
ee to them, as Alexander says, is the sign—the Gospel being preached to 
them. 

Alexander in his exegesis of verse 18 says the Gentiles were brought 
in to witness the vengeance of God upon the Jews as well as to take their 
place. But this, of course, according to his own explanation could not be, 
because there would then as yet have been no remnant, none of “‘those 
that escape’ to go out and gather the Gentiles in, as Alexander says they 
do, because there is no remnant until after the judgment on the apostate 
Jews has taken place, for the remnant is what is left out of that judgment. 
Our author must therefore eliminate the idea of the Gentiles being gath- 
ered in to witness the judgment in order to be consistent with himself. 


143, 


ISAIAH 


However, this disarrangement of the flow of thought does not appeal 
to us, and there are reasons other than contextual why those mentioned in 
verse 17 can hardly refer to the apostate Jews, in as much as they were 
never guilty after the exile of the abominations mentioned in the verse. 

It is impossible to tell what the sign is; the best is but conjecture. 
The translator of Nagelsbach thinks it refers to the Messiah, and Nagels- 
bach himself comes to pretty much the same conclusion. 


We are now prepared to say that even though the sign is apparently 
placed among those upon whom the judgment falls, it does not at all fol- 
low that the sign is upon them in the sense that that retribution is to fall 
upon them. Any sign that could be given could be said with propriety to 
be “among them’’, whether by “‘them’’ is meant those upon whom the 
judgment falls, or those who escape, or both, which is perhaps the better 
idea, although the close connection would seem to refer the first “them” 
of verse 19 to those mentioned in verse 18. 


Of all the explanations given that of Delitzsch seems to be less open 
to serious objection. 

“‘such as escape of them’’,—1i. e., from the judgment previously men- 
tioned. Alexander says these are the survivors of the Jewish nation upon 
the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, the elect for whose sake the days 
were shortened when all besides them perished. “These were the first 
preachers of the Gospel. 

Nagelsbach agrees with Alexander and says the destruction of Jeru- 
salem by the Romans was the first act in the judgment to which reference 
is made in the verses before us; because it could not, he says, be the general 
judgment to which reference is made, because after that there will be no 
nations to go to. 

Henderson, on the other hand, says that any reference to the Jews 
here is “‘violent’’, and that those intended are the Gentiles who shall have 
been present at, but have not perished in the judgment of the great over- 
throw in Palestine, and who go as missionaries to all parts of the world. 


Fausset also says they are the Gentile survivors spared by God. He 
maintains that other Old Testament passages (Isa. 2.2,3; Micah 5.7; 
Zech. 14.16-19) represent, not the Jews going as missionaries to the Gen- 
tiles, but that the Gentiles come up to Jerusalem to learn the ways of the 
Lord there. 


Ver. 20. ‘“‘they’’,—Not the messengers of verse 19, who bring back 
converts to the true religion. [hese come by faith and not by litters and - 
mules and dromedaries, and besides “‘such as escape’ from the judgment 
could hardly have furnished all the expense attached to the process men- 
tioned in this verse. Furthermore the “‘they’’ mentioned here is evi- 
dently regarded as different from the Israelites who are mentioned in the 
last part of the verse. 

The reference is doubtless to the Gentiles mentioned in verse 19 (F, 
Na. Del:). 

“your brethren’’,—This doubtless refers not to Gentiles (V. Al. Um. 
Ew. Ges.), but to the Jews (F. He. Ma. Kn. Na. and his translator, Hit. 
Hend. ) 


Ver. 21. “And of them also will I take’’,—4. e., ot the Gentiles. 
144 


ISAIAH 


(F. Um. Ew. Ma. Ges. Del. Ros.) It refers to an abrogation of the 
ancient national distinction. (Compare these same authorities under Chap. 


61.5,6.) 


Kimchi resolves the sentence or its meaning into, “‘I will take of them, 
i. e., of the Gentiles, for the priests and Levites, as drawers of water and 
hewers of wood, etc.”’ 


Hitzig, Knobel and Cheyne refer it to the scattered Jews, who will 
be brought home. But why should being scattered deprive one of being a 
priest if he was of the tribe of Levi? 


The reference is of course to the enjoyment of direct access to God 
which was formerly enjoyed by the ministers of the temple alone. Vit- 
ringa refers it to the Christian ministry, to which Gentiles as well as Jews 
were admitted. He says the words, “I will take of them’’, implies selec- 
tion of some kind from among the mass and so it is not to be allowed to 
all believers. His criticism is not, however, well sustained. Since all the 
priests were Levites, the two may have been mentioned here merely with 
a view to identify the two classes, both names being given lest either should 
appear to be excluded. 


“bring their oblation’’,—This bringing of the Jews by the Gentiles 
will be regarded by God as a precious, unbloody offering which the Gen- 
tiles offer unto Him. 


Ver. 22. This refers to the entire preceding promise including verse 
21. The name and seed of Israel, that is, Israel as a nation with the same 
ancestors and an independent name, is to remain forever. 


Delitzsch says, ““IThe prophet thus represents to himself the Church 
of the future on a new earth and under a new heavens, but he is unable 
to represent the eternal in the form of eternity; he represents it to himself 
as an unending continuation of temporal history. 


Ver. 23. “from one Sabbath to another’’,—The Sabbath is there- 
fore to be perpetually obligatory on earth. 


“before me’’,—i. e., at Jerusalem, as the next verse certainly shows, 
The Jewish writers all say that the scene is laid in Jerusalem and the Sep- 
tuagint actually has the name of Jerusalem inserted in this verse. 


Henderson remarks that, “‘it is absolutely impossible that all should 
assemble at Jerusalem’’, but as the scene of the next verse is laid in the 
environs of Jerusalem, he seems to think the two verses are tantamount to 
saying that everywhere, all over the world, people will assemble for wor- 
ship and go out to the environs of Jerusalem and see, etc. 


Why may it not be that the nations could be there through their 
representatives? 

Nagelsbach says, “‘It would have been impossible for the inhabitants 
of the circumscribed Palestine to have come up to Jerusalem once a month, 
but in the new conditions in that far off future of the new heavens and the 
new earth this will be possible for all flesh.”’ 

Alexander says the verse is merely a prediction of the general diffusion 
of the true religion with its stated observances and religious forms, and 
that the prophet, in accordance with his constant practice, speaks of the 
emancipated Church in language borrowed from the state of bondage. 


145 


JEREMIAH 
Ver. 24. “‘they’’,—1i. e., all flesh. 


“go forth’’,—1, e., to the environs of Jerusalem. South of Jerusa- 
lem is the valley of Hinnon where a perpetual fire was kept to burn the 
refuse thrown there. 


“look upon the dead bodtes’’, etc..—The word denotes a qualified 
seeing, i. e., with pleasure, or interest,,or satisfaction, or horror, as the 
case may be. Here it is with horror, says the translator of Nagelsbach. 
Fausset says it is with satisfaction, and this he says is not inconsistent with 
true love for them to thus look with satisfaction upon what God has done 
to the wicked. 


“the dead bodtes’’, i. e., of these slain by the Lord in that time of 
great judgment. 


The neighborhood of Jerusalem becomes the scene of God’ s retribu- 
tive judgment as predictede in verse 18. 


Says Delitzsch, ‘“Whereas we are forced to transfer what is set forth 
in verse 23, in accordance with Zech. 14.16, to the yet unglorified earth 
of those days; the last part of verse 24, on the other hand, looks like 
eternal punishment raised above the conditions of temporality. The 
prophet blends temporal and eternal. ‘This world and the next coalesce to 
his view; the new creating of the heavens and the earth does not in his view 
go beyond the horizon of the present life; for the separation of what lies 
on this side of the gulf of the ‘regeneration’ and what lies beyond it we 
must look to the New Testament. The latter knows of a new setting up 
of the present Jerusalem after “‘the times of the Gentiles’ have run their 
course, and of a glorious temporal restoration of Israel; but it knows also 
of a worm that dies not and of a fire that is never quenched beyond the 
history of time.”’ 


THE BOOK OF 


JEREMIAH 


(B. C. 629—B. C. 588) 


GHAP TER. TVHREE 


14 Return, O backsliding children. remember it; neither shall they ‘miss it; 
saith Jehovah; for I am a husband unto neither “shall it be made any more. 17 
you: and I will take you one of a city, At that time they shall call Jerusalem 
and two of a family, and I will bring the throne of Jehovah; and all the na- 
you to Zion. 15 And I will give you tions shall be gathered unto it, to the 
shepherds according to my heart, who name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither 
shall feed you with knowledge and un- shall they walk any more after thé stub- 
derstanding. 16 And it shall come to bornness of their evil heart. 18 In those 
pass, when ye are multiplied and in- days the house of Judah shall walk *with 
creased in the land, in those days, saith the house of Israel, and they shall come 
Jehovah, they shall say no more, The together out of the land of the north 
ark of the covenant of Jehovah; neither to the land that I gave for an inheritance 
shall it come to mind; neither shall they unto your fathers. 

1Or, visit 
2Or, shall that be done 
3Or, to 


146 


JEREMIAH 


Vers. 14-18. PROMISE OF FINAL RESTORATION AND BLESSING TO THE 
JEWS. 


Ver. [4 There is no doubt that this verse as well as the whole 
passage contains an allusion to the final period. 


“one of a city and two of a family’’,—Though there be but one or 
two Israelites in a foreign city they shall not be forgotten. All shall be 
restored. (F. Na. He. Noy. Kim. Ros.) There is another view which 
explains, ‘‘and even if so few fulfill the conditions of true reform’. (Ei. 
Ew. Graf.) But this would seem to be a definite statement that only a 
few would return, and the other explanation is much to be preferred. 


_, he expressions “city’’ and “‘tribe’”’ intimate quite plainly that the 
cities and tribes of the heathen are in view. 


Ver. 15. “‘pastors’’,—Older commentators understand by these 
pastors, Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra and later the Apostles and their suc- 
cessors, and this is of course the case unless we see in the return under 
Zerubbabel, and in the Christian Church only the beginnings of the ful- 
fillment of this promise, all of which will depend upon the view to be 
taken of the prophecy as a whole. 


Ver. 16. “‘when ye be multiplied’’,—The Israel of the future is first 
to become numerous in order to become fitted for the concluding and per- 
fected revelation of the kingdom. 


“The ark of the covenant’’,—This will be no more mentioned be- 
cause the thing itself and every thought of it will have disappeared. 


Ver. 17. “Jerusalem the throne of the Lord’’,—What the ark had 
been to Jerusalem, Jerusalem is now to be in relation to all the nations. 
All Jerusalem is then to be the throne of the Lord. On the one hand this 
reminds us of Micah 4 but on the other of Rev. 21. 


“all the nations’,—So also is it in Revelation 21. 


Ver. 18. Two distinct apostacies, that of Judah and that of Israel, 
’ were foretold (verses 8 and 10). ‘There has been of course a developing 
fulfillment of this prophecy of reunion of the two tribes of Israel in 
spiritual Israel as God gathers one convert here and another there into His 
Church, but so far as the nation is concerned the two sections of it have 
never been united since the Babylonish captivity. The ten tribes are 
unknown to the present day and the prophet, gaze into the inconceivably 
distant future as he will, can see no restoration of these tribes. Nagelsbach 
reminds us that this prophecy was not fulfilled by the return under Zerub- 
babel and Ezra, because (a) not even the whole of Judah, to say nothing 
of the whole of Israel, then returned, and (b) not even Judah, to say 
nothing of the heathen, had then returned to the Lord. He also reminds 
us that it was not fulfilled by the founding of the Christian Church, be- 
cause (a) the reunion of Judah and Israel has not yet taken place, the 
latter being unknown as to their whereabouts, (b) Israel in general has 
rejected the Lord and refused to enter the Christian Church, and (c) the 
heathen have not begun to come to the Lord and to the Jerusalem that is 
above in any such measure as prophesied. It would seem therefore that 
we must still wait for the complete fulfillment of this prophecy, and that 
it must be reserved for the final period to bring back the lost tribes of 


147 


JEREMIAH 


Israel to the light of salvation, and to effect their restoration together with 
the tribes of Judah, if a literal as well as a spiritual fulfillment of this 
prophecy is to be looked for. (Isa. 11.12,13; Ezek. 37,16-22; Hos. 
1a ay 


The prophesied coming together in verse 18 of Judah and Israel 
seems to be the performance of the command given to them in verse 14. 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


14 Thus saith Jehovah against all 
mine evil neighbors, that touch the in- 
heritance which I have caused my people 
Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck 
them up from off their land, and will 
pluck up the house of Judah from 
among them. 15 And it shall come to 
pass, after that I have plucked them up, 
I will return and have compassion on 
them; and I will bring them again, every 


man to his heritage, and every man to 
his land. 16 And it shall come to pass, 
if they will diligently learn the ways of 
my people, to swear by my name, As 
Jehovah liveth; even as they taught my 
people to swear by Baal; then shall 
they be built up in the midst of my 
people. 17 But if they will not hear, 
then will I pluck up that nation, pluck- 
ing up and destroying it, saith Jehovah. 


Vers. 14-17. 


Ver. 14. “evil netghbors’’,—This expression refers to the Gentile 
nations, the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines and Assyrians, 
nations that were always endeavoring to assault Israel. These nations, 
as well as Israel, were carried away into exile by Nebuchadnezzar. 


“T will pluck them up from off their land’’,—The pronoun in this 
sentence points of course to these heathen nations and the expression is 
brpphene of their being carried away into exile. 


“pluck up the house of Judah from among them’ + Keil and Nagels- 
bach, with most commentators, take this in an evil sense also as referring 
to the carrying away of Judah into captivity, contending, as they do, that 
the same word “‘pluck’’ cannot occur in the two corresponding clauses in 
two different senses. Judah and her neighboring nations, they say, will 
share the same fate, Judah directly and her neighbors indirectly, because 
what they did against Judah was done against Judah’s God. ‘The carry- 
ing away of Judah, they say, involves her liberation from the attacks of 
her neighbors. Calvin, Fausset and others, however, take the word 
“pluck” in a favorable sense and say it refers to the Jews who had fled to 
these nations and were being oppressed by them, the forcible word “pluck” ° 
being used because the heathen would never willingly give them up. This_ 
latter is perhaps the better explanation, there being little force in the objec- 
tion raised by the other authorities quoted. 


Fausset would have us believe that God is here speaking consolation 
to the elect remnant among the Jews. 


The ‘‘them’’ of verse 15 refers to the evil neighbors of verse 14. 


OBEDIENCE REWARDED BY FINAL UNION IN JEHOVAH. 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


brought up the children of Israel from 
the land of the north, and from all the 


14 Therefore, behold, the days come, 
saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be 


said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up 
the children of Israel out of the land of 
Egypt; 15 but, As Jehovah liveth, that 


countries whither he had driven them. 
And I will bring them again into their 
land that I gave unto their fathers. 


i. 


a 


JEREMIAH 


Vers. 14,15. CONSOLATORY PROMISE OF FUTURE RESTORATION 


“from the land of the north”’,—It was from the north that the Chal- 
deans came, and the primary reference is of course here to the restoration 
from captivity in Babylon. 


“from all the countries’ ,— Israel was not, save in a very limited sense, 
gathered from all the countries at the time of the return from Babylon, 
and while this return is doubtless the one primarily meant, it is perhaps 
true, as Fausset would have us believe, that ‘‘the return hereafter is the full 
and final accomplishment contemplated.”’ 


Campbell Morgan makes here the following interesting remarks, “The 
restoration is now compared with the deliverance out of Egypt and the 
assertion is made that marvelous as that exodus was, this final work of 
God for Israel will so transcend it in majestic power that ‘it shall no more 
be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the 
land of Egypt’. Here again I must ask you to note that the restoration 
is from a world-wide dispersion and that the ‘land’ is identified beyond 
peradventure as ‘their land that I gave unto their fathers-—not the United 
States, not England, nor any land where the Jews may have temporary 
peace and prosperity, but Palestine. It is impossible to seriously pretend 
that this prediction has been fulfilled in any sense. Who, for example, 
ever referred to the return to Palestine under sufferance of a heathen king 
of less than fifty thousand men of Judah as an ‘event so supremely wonder- 
ful as to efface by its greater splendor the amazing events of the exodus. 
The same comparison is repeated in Chap. 23.7,8.” 


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 


1 Woe unto the shepherds that de- 5 Behold, the days come, saith Je- 
stroy and scatter the sheep of my pas- hovah, that I will raise unto David a 
ture! saith Jehovah. 2 Therefore thus righteous “Branch, and he shall reign as 
saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, against king and “deal wisely, and shall execute 
the shepherds that feed my people: Ye — justice and righteousness in the land. 
have scattered my flock, and driven them 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and 
away, and have not visited them;- be- Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his 
hold, I will visit upon you the evil of name whereby he shall be called: *Jeho- 
your doings, saith Jehovah. 3 And I vah our righteousness. 7 Therefore, 
will gather the remnant of my flock out behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, 
of all the countries whither I have that they shall no more say, As Jehovah 
driven them, and will bring them again liveth, who brought up the children of 
to their folds; and they shall be fruitful Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 but, 
and multiply. 4 And I will set up shep- As Jehovah liveth, who brought up and 
herds over them, who shall feed them; who led the seed of the house of Israel 
and they shall fear no more, nor be dis- out of the north country, and from all 
mayed, neither shall any be lacking, the countries whither I had driven them. 
saith Jehovah. And they shall dwell in their own land. 

1Or, Shoot Or, Bud 
2Or, prosper 


3Or, Jehovah is our righteousness 


Vers. 1-8. “THE FUTURE RESTORATION AND CONVERSION OF ISRAEL. 


Israel, or the Ten Lost Tribes, were carried away captive into Assyria 
in B. C. 725. Their captivity was complete in number and time and to 


ag 


JEREMIAH 


this day they have not returned. Judah was carried away captive into 
Babylon in B. C. 588. It was partial in number and time. They re- 
turned and remained until finally scattered about A. D. 70. 

The shepherds mentioned in verses 1 and 2 are the ungodly monarchs 
on the throne of David who brought ruin to the kingdom and scattered 
Israel. 


Ver. 3. In this and the following verses the restoration from Baby- 
lon is foretold in language which, Fausset and many others say, in its 
fullness can only apply to the final restoration of both Judah and Israel as 
set forth in verse 6. 

“out of all countries’’,—As remarked in Chap. 16.15 Israel was 
not, save in a very limited sense, gathered out of all countries when they 
were brought back from Babylon (see also verse 8). 


Ver. 4. “‘netther shall any be lacking’’,—i. e., none shall be miss- 
ing or detached from the rest. Neither these words nor those immediately 
preceding them, “‘they shall fear no more’, have ever yet been fully ful- 
filled. . 

Scofield says, ““The restoration here foretold is not to be confounded 
with the return of the feeble remnant of Judah under Ezra, Nehemiah and 
Zerubbabel at the end of the seventy years (Jer. 29.10). At His first 
advent Christ, David’s righteous Branch, did not ‘execute justice and 
judgment in the earth’, but was crowned with thorns and crucified. Neither 
was Israel the nation restored, nor did the Jewish people say, “Ihe Lord 
our Righteousness’. The prophecy is yet to be fulfilled.” 


Ver. 5. ‘“‘Behold the days come’’,—The phrase does not indicate 
any progress in time as compared with what precedes. 

“righteous” ,—He would be righteous in distinction from the un- 
righteous rulers before Him who were brought into view in the previous 
chapter. Fausset calls attention to the fact that in the New Testament 
He is set forth not only as righteous Himself, but as righteousness to us, 
so that we become the righteousness of God in Him. (Romans 10.3,4; 
II. Cor. 5.19-21.) This, however, has nothing to do with our passage. 

“unto David’’,—In fulfillment of the promise made to him. (I Chron. 
LA Same 7A) 

“‘Branch’’,—Not precisely a limb of the tree but a shoot or sprout, 
which springing up from the root becomes itself the tree. “This word, as 
a rule, has the collective sense, but not necessarily so. It has this sense 

when used of a plant of the field but this sense does not necessarily obtain 
when used in its spiritual signification. 

Graf tries to show that the word is to be taken in its collective sense 
here but against this are the following facts: 

1. Zech. 3.8 calls this same branch a man whose name is Branch. 

2. Ezek. 34.23 says, ““And I will set ONE Shepherd over them.” 

3. The Jews expected ONE great King. 

4, Our verse says he shall reign as ““king’’ and verse 6 says he shall 
be called ‘‘our righteousness’, and these things cannot be said of a series 
of kings. 

Chap. 33.17 does not prove that the branch of David is a collective 


150 


JEREMIAH 


grouping together of all David’s future posterity, but only that this one 
Branch of David shall possess the throne forever. 


Some think that “branch’’ contradicts “‘shepherds’’, the one being 
singular and the other plural, and they explain by rendering, ‘‘I will raise 
up shepherds, then the Messiah; or better shepherds, the chief of whom 
will be the Messiah.’” But the two promises are not to be joined. First 
we have the raising up of good shepherds in contrast to the evil shepherds 
that have destroyed the flock, the people; then the promise, says Keil, is 
further explained to the effect that these good shepherds shall be raised 
up to David in the “righteous branch’, that is, in the promised seed of his 
sons. ‘he good shepherds are summed up in the person of the Messiah, 
as being comprised therein. In the one Branch of David the people shall 
have given unto them all the good shepherds needed for their deliverance. 


Hengstenberg takes shepherds in a generic sense, a generic plural, which 
does not exclude the possibility of one shepherd being intended. But this 
will not do in as much as Jeremiah elsewhere presents the prospect of a 
multiplicity of rulers of the seed of David for the time of the great restora- 
Hoa. .oece Chap. 33.17;18,22,26.) 


Ver. 6. Says Fausset, ‘“‘So far are the Jews as yet from having en- 
joyed the temporal blessings here foretold as the result of the Messiah’s 
reign, that their lot has been for eighteen centuries worse than ever before. 
The accomplishment must therefore still be future.”’ 


“he shall be called Jehovah our righteousness’ ,—Nagelsbach says 
this refers not to the Branch but to the people Israel, and he appeals to 
Chap. 33.16 for proof of his opinion. But this passage does not prove 
his case by any means, although of course grammatically he can support his 
decision. It is, however, much better with others to take it as referring 


to ““Branch’’, the Messiah. (K. F. Hit. Cow.) 


It is hardly sound exegesis to take this expression as a proof of the 
divinity of Christ, or in the sense that His righteousness becomes ours by 
substitution or that we are justified in Him through the forgiveness of 
sins, as did the old commentators. Chap. 33.16, where the same ex- 
pression is used of Jerusalem, the people, ought to make this plain. The 
expression is here, as elsewhere, the abbreviation of a sentence and means, 
“He by whom Jehovah deals righteousness’, 1. e., makes the people right- 
eous in contrast to what other shepherds had done, and with this Chap. 
33.16 corresponds well. 


Wets./,6. (see Chap. 16.14,15.) 


Of course there are those also who give a figurative or spiritual inter- 
pretation to the whole passage, maintaining that the reference in verse 3 
is to the great ingathering of the Christian period and to the pastoral work 
of the Messiah as set forth in verses 5 to 8. ‘The whole is, says Cowles, 
a magnificent picture of the Messiah’s reign, and the reference in verse 6 
is to the kingdom of the Messiah as enlarged by the accession of the Gen- 
tiles through the work of the Holy Spirit, the true Israel according to Gal. 
6.16. There is no question as to the spiritual interpretation being pos- 
sible; the question is as to whether these prophecies can be taken in a literal 
sense. If they can, they ought so to be taken. 


151 


JEREMIAH 


heart; in the latter days ye shall under- 


20 The anger of Jehovah shall not 
stand it perfectly. 


return, until he have executed, and till 
he have performed the intents of his 


Ver. 20. JEHOVAH’S UNALTERABLE PURPOSE AS TO ISRAEL AND HER 


ENEMIES. 


“tn the latter days’’,—This expression refers of course primarily to 
the days of their Babylonish captivity, but if there is an ultimate scope to 
the prophecy, as many would have us believe, it is that which points to 
the Jews in their final dispersion, who shall at last, consider their sin and 


turn to the Messiah. (Hos. 3.5.) 


CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 


4 And the word of Jehovah came to this land: and I will build them, 


unto me, saying, 5 Thus saith Jehovah, 
the God of Israel: Like these good figs, 
so will I regard the captives of Judah, 
whom I have sent out of this place into 
the land of the Chaldeans, for good. 
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them 
for good, and I[ will bring them again 


and not pull them down; and I will 
plant them, and not pluck them up. 
7 And I will give them a heart to know 
me, that I am Jehovah: and they shall 
be my people, and I will be their God; 
for they shall return unto me with their 
whole heart. 


‘THE PROMISE OF RESTORATION AND CONVERSION OF 
ISRAEL. 


Vers. 4-7. 


The good figs represent the better classes taken away to Babylon. 
God sifted the nation and saved the more precious grain for replanting 
in the land after captivity. When Cyrus told them they could go back, 
the best men, the men of faith, would more quickly respond. While the 
primary reference is to the chastening effect of the Babylonish captivity, 
the language in its fullness, Fausset and others would have us believe, 
applies to the more complete conversion hereafter of the Jews “with their 
whole heart’’ (verse 7) through the painful discipline of the present dis- 
persion. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 


This chapter is devoted to the prophecy of the Seventy Years Cap- . 
tivity. In verse 5 the prophet rzminds the people that the land had been ~ 
promised to them and to their fathers for ever and ever, but because of 
their disobedience (verse 7) they were to be carried into the land of the 
north and there serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. This is one 
of the clearest and most definite of Jeremiah’s predictions; but his predic- 
tion of the deliverance which Jehovah was to work out for His people is 
just as clear and just as definite. At the end of the seventy years redemp- 
tion was to come to the holy nation along with judgment upon Babylon 
(verse 12) and all the kingdoms of the then known world (verses 19-26), 
including Jerusalem and the cities of Judah (verse 18). 


The seventy years of captivity may be reckoned to begin with the 
first deportation of Judah to Babylon (B. C. 606), or ‘with the final 
deportation (B. C. 588). 


152 


JEREMIAH 


29 For, lo, I begin to work evil at Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will 
the city which is called by my name; call for a sword upon all the inhabi- 
and should ye be utterly unpunished? tants of the earth. 


Ver. 29. If Jehovah does not spare His own city (verse 18) should 
the Gentile nations imagine that there is no judgment for them? 

“all the inhabitants of the earth’’,—‘‘The scope of this great proph- 
ecy’’, says Scofield, ‘“‘cannot be limited to the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. 
‘The prophecy leaps to the very end of this age. (See ‘Day of the Lord’, 
Isa. 2.10-22; Rev. 19.11-21; ‘Armageddon’, Rev. 16.14; 19.11-21.)” 

While in what follows verse 25 no nation is mentioned by name the 
limits of the territory to be reached by the judgment are strictly defined 
by the words, “‘all the tnhabitants of the earth’ (verses 29,30), “‘all 
flesh’ (verse 31), and “from one end of the earth even unto the other end 
of the earth’, and from this it would seem to follow that the prophet here 
beholds the judicial act of God in its last and highest stage. 

“He now describes’, says Nagelsbach, “‘the world-judgment, 1. e., 
the judgment of all nations of the earth absolutely without regard to their 
greater or lesser importance. [he storm rolls from nation to nation until 
the whole surface of the earth is covered with the slain. ‘There is no pos- 
sibility of escaping the day of slaughter though they howl and wallow as 
it breaks upon them (verses 34,35).” 


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 


12 And ye shall call upon me, and Jehovah, and I will *turn again your 
ye shall go and pray unto me, and I captivity, and I will gather you from 
will hearken unto you. all the nations, and from all the places 

13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, whither I have driven you, saith Jeho- 
when ye shall search for me with all vah; and I will bring you again unto 
your heart. the place whence I caused you to be 

14 And I will be found of you, saith carried away captive. 


1Or, return to 


Vers. 12-14. ISRAEL TO BE REGATHERED TO HER ORIGINAL INHERI- 
TANCE. 


There are those who would have us believe that there is here in verses 
12 and 13 a brief renewal of the promise of Deut. 4.29,30, and in verse 14 
a brief summary of the promise in Deut. 30.3-5. Notice the similarity 
of language. There can be no doubt, however, that the promise here looks 
primarily and specially, as seen by verse 10, to the times of Cyrus and 
Zerubbabel. 


CHAPTER THIRTY 


1 The word that came to Jeremiah I will cause them to return to the land 
from Jehovah, saying, 2 Thus speaketh that I gave to their fathers, and they 
Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, shall possess it. 

Write thee all the words that I have 4 And these are the words that 

spoken unto thee in a book. 3 For, lo, Jehovah spake concerning Israel and 

the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will concerning Judah. 5 For thus saith 

‘turn again the captivity of my people Jehovah: We have heard a voice of 

Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and trembling, *of fear, and not of peace. 
1Or, return to 2Or, there is fear, and no peace 


153 


JEREMIAH 





6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man 
doth travail with child: wherefore do I 
see every man with his hands on his 
loins, as a woman in travail, and all 


faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! 
for that day is great, so that none is like 
it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; 
but he shall be saved out of it. 8 And 
it shall come to pass in that day, saith 
Jehovah of hosts, that I will break his 
yoke from off thy neck, and will burst 
thy bonds; and strangers shall no more 
make him their bondman; 9 but they 
shall serve Jehovah their God, and 
David their king, whom I will raise up 
unto them. 10 Therefore fear thou 
not, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; 
neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, 
I will save thee from afar, and thy seed 
from the land of their captivity; and 
Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet 
and at ease, and none shall make him 
afraid. 11 For I am with thee, saith 
Jehovah, to save thee: for I will make a 
full end of all the nations whither I 
have scattered thee, but I will not make 
a full end of thee; but I will correct 
thee in “measure, and will in no wise 
‘leave thee unpunished. 

12 For thus saith Jehovah, Thy hurt 
is incurable, and thy wound grievous. 
13 There is none to plead *thy cause, 
“that thou mayest be bound up: thou 
hast no healing medicines. 14 All thy 
lovers have forgotten thee; they seek 
thee not: for I have wounded thee with 
the wound of an enemy, with the chas- 
tisement of a cruel one, for the ‘great- 
ness of thine iniquity, because thy sins 
were increased. 15 Why criest thou ‘for 
thy hurt? thy pain is incurable: for the 
greatness of thine iniquity, because thy 

SHeb. judgment 

*Or, hold thee guiltless 


*Or,, thy cause; for thy wound thou hast no 
medicines nor plaster 


®Heb. for closing up, or pressing. 


sins were increased, I have done these 
things unto thee. 16 Therefore all they 
that devour thee shall be devoured; and — 
all thine adversaries, every one of them, 
shall go into captivity; and they that 
despoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that 
prey upon thee will I give for a prey. 
17 For I will restore health unto thee, 
and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith 
Jehovah; because they have called thee 
an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no 
man “seeketh: after. 

18 Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I 
will “turn again the captivity of Jacob’s 
tents, and have compassion on _ his 
dwelling-places; and the city shall be 
builded upon its own “hill, and the 
palace shall “be inhabited after its own 
manner. 19 And out of them shall 
proceed thanksgiving and the voice of 
them that make merry: and I will mul- 
tiply them, and they shall not be few; 
I will also glorify them, and they shall 
not be small. 20 Their children also 
shall be as aforetime, and their congre- 
gation shall be established before me; 
and J will punish all that oppress them. 
21 And their prince shall be of them- 
selves, and their ruler shall proceed from 
the midst of them; and [| will cause him 
to draw near, and he shall approach 
unto me: for who is he that “hath had 
boldness to approach unto me? saith 
Jehovah. 22 And ye shall be my peo- 
ple, and I will be your God. 

23 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, 
even his wrath, is gone forth, a “sweep- 
ing tempest: it shall burst upon the head 
of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of 
Jehovah shall not return, until he have 
executed, and till he have performed the 
intents of his heart: in the latter days 
ye shall understand it. 

°Or, careth for 

Or, return to 

“Or, mound Heb. tel. 

2Or, remain 

WHeb. hath been surety for his heart. 


‘Or, multitude 


8Or, for thy hurt, because thy pain is incur- 
able? 


Vers. 1-24. 


M4Or, gathering 


ISRAEL IN TRIBULATION AND THE PROMISED DELIV- 
ERANCE. 


There are some of course who think this chapter looks primarily to 
the restoration of the Jews from Babylon and the raising up of the Mes- 
siah, and while this is doubtless true there can, however, be scarcely any 
doubt but that it looks on further into the future, as the language plainly 
indicates, and that whatever restoration was made after the capture of 
Babylon was but a pledge of the fuller restoration which is yet to take place. 


Ver. 3. The ten tribes (Israel) are mentioned first because their 
captivity had been longer. A few of them only returned with Judah, 


154 


JEREMIAH 


_and this promise having never been fulfilled must await for its complete 
fulfillment for the days which are still to come. 


Ver.5. Jehovah here introduces the Jews asspeaking for themselves. 
The dark background set forth in this and the following verses only sets 
off in stronger light the blessings that are to be revealed. 


This verse and the two following do not refer to the political con- 
vulsion and calamities of the heathen nations that resulted in the capture 
of Babylon and the releasing of the Jews, as some think, but to the troubles 
of the Jews themselves. 


With regard to verses 5 to 8 Campbell Morgan says, “Exposition is 
scarcely needed here. “There cannot be two periods of unexampled tribula- 
tion, and Jeremiah and Jesus, in Matthew, therefore speak of. the same 
period. [The passages cannot refer to the destruction of Jerusalem for 
while that was a time of Jewish tribulation the Jews were not saved out 
of it, but were slain by the thousands and the remnant were carried away 
into slavery. Neither was the Davidic monarchy restored at that time. 
Jesus says it is the elect who are in tribulation, and Jeremiah tells us of 
whom Jesus speaks, namely the elect Jews. It is the time of Jacob’s trou- 
ble. The period then is yet future.”’ 


Ver. 6. Nagelsbach says, ‘“The prophet portrays with drastic vivid- 
ness the effects of the terror by saying that he saw men behaving like women 
in the pangs of childbirth.” 

“Ask ye now’’,—i. e., ask anywhere, consult all the authorities; you 
will not find an instance. 


Ver. 7. Here the cause of this terror is described. 


“for that day ts great’’,—The day is the same as that spoken of in 
verses 5 and 6, and by being “‘great’’ is meant that it is marked by great 
calamities. (Joel 2.11,31; Amos 5.18; Zeph. 1.14.) 


Keil has quite properly said, ‘“That day is for Jacob also, that is, for 
all Israel, a time of distress; for the judgment falls not merely on the 
heathen nations, but also on the godless members of the covenant people 
that they may be destroyed from among the congregation of the Lord, but 
the Israel of God will be delivered.’’ The heathen nations are therefore 
included in the judgment, which is for both them and Israel, but Israel 
shall be saved out of it. It is clear therefore that the reference cannot be 
to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans because this cannot be 
represented at the same time as a day of deliverance for the Jews. 


Ver. 8. “in that day’’,—The day when Jacob shall be saved out 
of his trouble. 


“his yoke’,—The pronoun “‘his’”’ as well as “‘thy’”’ (thy neck) refers 
to Jacob, such a change from the third to the second person being quite 
frequent. God is both speaking about Jacob and addressing him. For- 
- eigners shall no more make him their servant. After the deliverance from 
Babylon by Cyrus, Judah did become the servant of Persia, Alexandria, 
Antiochus Epiphanes and Rome, and therefore the full deliverance, it 
would seem, must be future. 


Ver. 9. “David, their king’’,—The reference is no doubt here to 
the Messiah. The conception of a second David is analogous to that of 


ivahs) 


JEREMIAH 


the second Adam. . The Messiah, it appears, is here called ““David’’ not 
merely as a descendent of David, but as a real David in the highest sense 
and crete (See Hos. 3.5.) 

“whom I will raise up unto them’’,—This refers of course to the 
days of the Messiah which were to come, and is of course an incontrovert- 
ible argument that “‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ looks primarily to a 
period prior to the appearance of the Messiah. 


Ver. 10. “‘thy seed’’,—Though you yourselves, by reason of the 
many years of captivity, may not see the restoration, the promise shall be 
fulfilled to your seed, ‘‘primarily’’, says Fausset, “‘at the return from Baby- 
lon and fully at the final restoration.” 


Ver. 11. “J will not make a full end of thee’’,—Assyria and 
Chaldea were utterly destroyed, but Israel, after chastisement, was deliv- 
ered. 


Ver. 12. “Thy hutt ts tncurable’’,—Her wounds were beyond her 
own power or that of any human helpers, but not, of course, peyciie the 
power of God. 


Ver. 14. “All thy lovers’’,—i. e., the people formerly allied to thee, 
Egypt, Assyria and other nations with whom she had formerly made for- 
bidden alliances. 


Ver. 15. “Why criest thou for thy hurt?’’—She had no right to 
_ complain and cry because she had brought on this suffering through her 
own sins., 


Vera TOs § prefer with Nagelsbach to connect this verse with verse 
ae aan it may quite as logically be connected with verse 13. (F. K. 
ow 


Ver. 18. ‘“‘tents’’,This intimates their present dwelling in Chaldea 
as temporary only. 

“have compassion on his dwelling places’’,—This means doubtless 
that the dwellings that have been destroyed will be restored. 

“builded upon its own hill’’,—This rendering is much to be pre- 
ferred, a hill being the usual site foracity. (F.K. Cow.) It also the bet- 
ter answers the parallel clause, “after its own manner’, 1. e., in the same be- 
coming way as formerly, than does the rendering of Nagelsbach, “‘upon | 
its own heap of ruins.”’ 

“after its own manner’’,—This doubtless means “according to tts 
right’’ (Deut. 17.11), that is, in accordance with what a palace requires, 
after its own fashion. 

Cowles says, ‘““When we cannot find an adequate fulfillment for a 
prophecy like this in its external and literal application, we are certainly 
justified in assuming its outlook onward to the better, brighter days of 
King Messiah.”’ ‘This is certainly true, and ought it not to be held as 
further true that, if in the days of the Messiah its complete fulfillment did 
not take place, we are justified in looking for a further fulfillment in the 
days that are yet to come. The restored city and temple under Zerub- 
babel never did reach the magnificence of the days of Solomon, and neither 
was this true of Herod’s temple. 


156 


JEREMIAH 


Ver. 20. “Their children also shall be as aforetime’’,—Their chil- 
dren shall come into settled and precious relations to the Lord their God, 


enjoying the full blessings of the covenant even as in the days of old. 
They shall flourish as in the days of David. 


“their congregation shall be established’’,—They shall no more be 
shaken or moved from their position. 


Ver. 21. “shall be of themselves’’,—i. e., be a Jew, and not a 
foreigner. “That the words “prince’’ and “‘ruler’’ refer to the Messiah there 
can be no doubt, and they can be applicable to ZeruBbabel only as a type 
of Christ, the Messiah. 


“cause him to draw near and he shall approach unto me’’,—God will 
cause the “‘prince’’ and the “‘ruler’’ (the Messiah) to draw near as the great 
high priest through whom believers also have access to God. He is called 
“king” in verse 9, and here he is called “‘prince’’ and “‘ruler’’. His priestly 
and kingly characters are similarly combined in Ps. 110.4 and Zech. 6.13. 
He may approach unto Jehovah and in this the mediatorial position of the 
king is announced. 


“For’’,—This states the reason why the Lord leads the prince to 
Himself, i. e., because there is no other who would be capable of entering 
into this relation of nearness and communion with God. 


In this last clause some introduce the word “‘otherwise’’, i. e., Who 
would otherwise, that is, without my special permission, dare commit his 
heart to approach unto me,—Who would dare such near approach if I 
had not invited and drawn him? But there is nothing in the Hebrew 
to represent this word ‘‘otherwise’’, and this alone is fatal to its use. 


“who ts he’’,By some this is taken in the sense of surprise, astonish- 
ment, that any sinful mortal should dare such approach; by some as a 
question of rebuke and repulsion, as if to bid him begone; by some as if 
the question were one of offended dignity or at least of invaded dignity, 
inquiring the rank of the intruder who thus presumes to draw near to God. 
But all this is foreign to the course of the thought and the flow of feeling 
throughout the chapter. We must, as Cowles says, regard the question 
as implying on the part of God a joyous welcome to him who thus pledges 
his heart to draw near unto Him. ‘The question is an emotional one and 
not a categorical one demanding an answer. Just as the question in Chap. 
31.20 does not demand an answer but implies an outburst of parental 
emotion and gladly welcoming the prodigal home, so here whoever is 
conceived of as drawing near to God it is evident that God is pleased and 
gladly welcomes him. The question, Fausset says, implies admiration at 
one being found competent by reason of his twofold nature, as God and 
man, for the task. 


“hath had boldness’’,—The literal Hebrew is, “‘hath been surety for 
his heart’’. Fausset gives to this a derived meaning such as ‘‘stake’’, ‘‘risk’’, 
“venture’, and takes the word “‘heart’’ in the sense of “‘life’’, heart being 
used only as expressive of the courage it takes to undertake such a tremen- 
dous thing. Nagelsbach thinks this harsh and renders, ‘‘who stands bail 
for his heart’, as if the prophet wishes to say, ‘“Who can stand for his 
heart that it approach me?’’ Cowles says the action of the verb termi- 
nates upon one’s own heart with reference to making approach unto God, 
hence it would seem that the sense must be “‘to pledge one’s own heart, to 


157 


JEREMIAH 


covenant with oneself, solemnly committing and earnestly purposing and 
endeavoring to approach unto God. Perhaps no better explanation can 
be found than that given us by Fausset, the answer implied being evidently, 
no one but the extraordinary person of the Mediator, the Christ, He 
alone having made His life responsible as the surety in order to gain access 
not only for Himself but for us. 


Vers. 23,24. The reference here is as in Chap. 23.19,20, and refers 
perhaps primarily to the judgment brought on the land and the cities of 
Judah for their sins through the agency of the Chaldeans, although it must 
be understood of a judgment extending to Babylon and other heathen 
nations, the enemies of Israel, as well. It refers of course to all ‘“‘wicked 
ones’ and in such a way as that the godless members of the covenant 
people will be excluded from salvation. 

“a sweeping tempest’’,—The idea is that of the rushing sound of the 
storm as it carries everything along with it. [he Authorized Version, 
“continuing’’, gives hardly an appropriate meaning. 

Hengstenberg connects the verses with what precedes, while Keil con- 
nects them with the judgment of verse 5 as a resumption, and Ewald con- 
nects them with the first verse of the following chapter, either of the latter 
‘two connections being preferable to that of Hengstenberg, as affording 
smoother transition. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE 


1 At that time, saith Jehovah, will ple, the remnant of Israel. 8 Behold! I 


I be the God of all the families of Israel, will bring them from the north coun- 
and they shall be my people. 2 Thus try, and gather them from the uttermost 
saith Jehovah, The people that were left parts of the earth, and with them the 
of the sword *found favor in the wilder- blind and the lame, the woman with 
ness; even Israel, "when I went to cause child and her that travaileth with child 
him to rest. 3 Jehovah appeared *of old together: a great company shall they 
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee return hither. 9 They shall come with 
with an everlasting love: therefore *with weeping; and with supplications will I 
lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 4 lead them: I will ‘cause them to walk 
Again will I build thee, and thou shalt by rivers of waters, in a straight way 
be built, O virgin of Israel: again shalt wherein they shall not stumble; for I 
thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is 
shalt go forth in the dances of them that my first-born. 
make merry. 5 Again shalt thou plant 10 Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye 
vineyards upon the mountains of Sa- nations, and declare it in the isles afar. 
maria; the planters shall plant, and shall off; and say, he that scattered Israel will 
"enjoy the fruit thereof. 6 For there gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd 
shall be a day, that the watchmen upon doth his flock. 11 For Jehovah hath 
the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from 
ye, and let us go up to Zion unto Jeho- the hand of him that was stronger than 
vah our God. he. 12 And they shall come and sing 
7 For thus saith Jehovah, Sing with in the height of Zion, and shall, flow 
gladness for Jacob, and shout ‘for the unto the goodness of Jehovah, to the 
chief of the nations: publish ye, praise grain, and to the new wine, and to the 
ye, and say, O Jehovah, save they peo- oil, and to the young of the flock and 
10r, have found... whenTI go 7Or, bring them unto 


*Or, when he went to find him rest 

3Or, from afar 

4Or, have I continued lovingkindness unto 
thee 

5Heb. profane, or, make common. See Lev. 
19.23-25; Dt. 20.6; 30. 

®Or, at the head 


158 


JEREMIAH 


of the herd: and their soul shall be as a 
watered garden; and they shall not sor- 
row any more at all. 13 Then shall 
the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the 


young men and the old together; for I 
will turn their mourning into joy, and 
will comfort them, and make them re- 
joice from their sorrow. 14 And I will 
satiate the soul of the priests with fat- 
ness, and my people shall be satisfied 
with my goodness, saith Jehovah. 


15 Thus saith Jehovah: A voice is 
heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter 
weeping, Rachel weeping for her chil- 
dren; she refuseth to be comforted for 
her children, because they are not. 16 
Thus saith Jehovah: Refrain thy voice 
from weeping, and thine eyes from 
tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, 
saith Jehovah; and they shall come again 
from the land of the enemy. 17 And 
there is hope for thy latter end, saith 
Jehovah; and thy children shall come 
again to their own border. 18 I have 
surely heard Ephraim, bemoaning him- 
self thus, Thou hast chastised me, and 
I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed 
to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall 
be turned; for thou art. Jehovah my 
God. 19 Surely after that I was turned, 
I repented; and after that I was in- 
structed, I smote upon my thigh: I was 
ashamed, yea, even confounded, because 
I did bear the reproach of my youth. 
20 Is Ephraim my. dear son? is he a 
darling child? for as often as I speak 
against him, I do earnestly remember 
him still: therefore my heart ‘yearneth 
for him; I will surely have mercy upon 
him, saith Jehovah. 

21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee 
guide-posts; set thy heart toward the 
highway, even the way by which thou 
wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, 
turn again to these thy cities. 22 How 
long wilt thou go hither and thither, O 
thou backsliding daughter? for Jehovah 
hath created a new thing in the earth: 
A woman shall encompass a man. 

23 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, 
the God of Israel, Yet again shall they 
use this speech in the land of Judah 
and in the cities thereof, when I shall 
“bring again their captivity: Jehovah 
bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, 
O mountain of holiness. 24 And Judah 
and all the cities thereof shall dwell 
therein together, the husbandmen, and 
they that go about with flocks. 25 For 
I have satiated the weary soul, and every 
sorrowful soul have I replenished. 26 


®Heb. soundeth 
®Or, return to 


159 


Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and 


my sleep was sweet unto me. 


27 Behold, the days come, saith Jeho- 
vah, that I will sow the house of Israel 
and the house of Judah with the seed 
of man, and with the seed of beast. 
28 And it shall come to pass that, like 
as I have watched over them to pluck up 
and to break down and to overthrow 
and to destroy and to afflict, so will I 
watch over them to build and to plant, 
saith Jehovah. 29 In those days they 
shall say no more, The fathers have 
eaten sour grapes, and the children’s 
teeth are set on edge. 30 But every 
one shall die for his own iniquity: every 
man that eateth the sour grapes, his 
teeth shall be set on edge. 

31 Behold, the days come, saith Jeho- 
vah, that I will make a new covenant 
with the house of Israel, and with the 
house of Judah: 32 not according to 
the covenant that I made with their 
fathers in the day that I took them by 
the hand to bring them out of the land 
of Egypt; “which my covenant they 
brake, although I was “a husband unto 
them, saith Jehovah. 33 But this is 
the covenant that I will make with the 
house of Israel after those days, saith 
Jehovah: I will put my law in their 
inward parts, and in their heart will I 
write it; and I will be their God, and 
they shall be my people. 34 And they 
shall teach no more every man his neigh- 
bor, and every man his brother, saying, 
Know Jehovah; for they shall all know 
me, from the least of them unto the 
greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I 
will forgive their iniquity, and their sin 
will I remember no more. 

35 Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth 
the sun for a light by day, and the ordi- 
nances of the moon and of the stars for 
a light by night, who “stirreth up the 
sea, so that the waves thereof roar; 
Jehovah of hosts is his name: 36 If 
these ordinances depart from before me, 
saith Jehovah, then the seed of Israel 
also shall cease from being a nation 
before me for ever. 37 Thus saith 
Jehovah: If heaven above can be meas- 
ured, and the foundations of the earth 
searched out beneath, then will I also 
cast off all the seed of Israel for all that 
they have done, saith Jehovah. 

38 Behold, the days come, saith Jeho- 
vah, that the city shall be built to Jeho- 
vah from the tower of Hananel unto the 
gate of the corner. 39 And the meas- 
uring line shall go out further straight 
onward unto the hill Gareb, and shall 


WOr, forasmuch as they brake my covenant 
NQOr, lord over them 
12Or, stilleth the sea, when, etc. 


JEREMIAH 


turn about unto Goah. 40 And the horse gate toward the east, shall be 
whole valley of the dead bodies and of holy unto Jehovah; it shall not be 
the ashes, and all the fields unto the plucked up, nor thrown down any more 
brook Kidron, unto the corner of the for ever. 


Vers. 1-40. “THE DECREE OF RESTORATION AND THE NEW COVENANT. 
\ 


Ver. 1. “At the same time’’,—i. e., in the time of the latter days. 
Cowles, who refers the fulfillment of the prophecy to the present dispen- 
sation, says that it indicates a great enlargement and increase of the visible 
Church and kingdom of the Messiah. Fausset, of course, calls attention 
to the fact that the prophecy has never yet been fulfilled. 


Ver. 2. The prophet devotes more attention to the ten tribes, Israel, 
evidently because judging from all appearances they seem irrevocably lost 
forever, rejected of the Lord. 


“left of the sword’’,—i. e., escaped from the sword of the Chaldeans 
and were carried captive into the wilderness. 


By Ewald and others this verse is made to refer to those who were 
delivered from the captivity of Egypt. But this cannot be. The Ten 
Tribes did not then obtain a special deliverance; Pharaoh did not oppress 
them by the sword; Israel was then led through the desert as a whole and 
not asaremnant. ‘The whole relates to the future as is proven by verses 
4 to 6, which verses only particularize what was said in verses 2 and 3, the 
perfects in verses 2 and 3 being prophetical. “The words “escaped from 
the sword’ seem unconditionally to require us to refer the passage to the 
deliverance of Israel from exile. It is of course proper to conceive of the 
restoration of Israel from exile under the figure of their exodus out of 
Egypt into the promised land of their fathers, as in Hos. 2.15. 


“when 1 went to cause him to rest’’,—This is perhaps better trans- 
lated by Keil, ““‘Let me go to cause him to rest’’.. Nagelsbach renders it, 
“Up to bring him to rest’, taking it as a command, as it were, from God 
to Himself. Both of these latter renderings take the words as an expres- 
sion relating to the future. 


Ver. 3. Israel gratefully acknowledges God’s favor. 


“of old’’,—Fausset says that this implies that God does not so appear 
to her now. We prefer the marginal reading, ‘‘from afar’, implying that 
the Lord had kept Himself afar off, having almost, as it were, disappeared 


from their sight. (K. Na. Cow.) Keil says that so long as Israel was. 


in exile the Lord had apparently withdrawn from them. ‘‘From afar’ 
probably means from Zion where He was enthroned. 


“with lovingkindness have I drawn thee’’,—This rendering is a 
proper one, but we prefer with Keil that of the margin as the better, i. e., 


“T have continued (drawn out) my loving kindness toward thee.’’ (See 
Ps. 36.4.) : 


Ver. 5. “‘Samaria’’,—i. e., the capital of the Ten Tribes. 

“planters shall plant and shalt enjoy the fruit thereof’’,The render- 
ing of the Authorized Version is here much to be preferred since it not 
only gives a far more preferable meaning but adheres strictly to the original 
language. It shall no longer be that one shall plant and another shall eat 
the fruit. (See the law about this in Lev. 19.23-25, and see also Isa. 62.8.) 


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JEREMIAH 


The idea contained in the marginal reading is that the fruits are to 
- be applied to one’s own use (Deut. 20.6), i. e., common (profane), no 
longer restricted to holy use as set forth in Lev. 19. 


Ver. 6. “the hills of Ephraim’’,—This stands for the whole moun- 
tainous region of the Ten Tribes. 


“ap to Zion’’,—1i. e., up to the annual feasts as in the days of old. 


Ver. 7. “the chief of the nations’,—The reference is to Israel. 
God estimates the greatness of nations not by man’s standard of material 
resources, but by His electing favor. In this verse the people are urged 
with prayers and praises to supplicate for the restoration. 


Ver. 8. “and with them’’, etc.—So universal is the restoration to 
be that not even the most unfit will be left behind. 


Ver. 9. “weeping’’,—Tears of joy as well as penitential tears. 


“Ephraim ts my first-born’’,— (See Exodus 4.22). The designation 
of Israel as a whole in the Exodus passage is here transferred to Ephraim as 
the head and representative of the Ten Tribes. ‘There is no trace in this 
prophecy of any preference given Israel over Judah. We have already 
seen why Ephraim is mentioned first and at greater length than Judah is 
mentioned a little later. “The designation “‘first-born’’ here simply shows 
that Israel is not to be in any sense behind Judah; the love which God 
displayed toward whole Israel is to be shown toward this disobedient part 
of Israel, the Ten Tribes. 


Ver. 10. Even heathen nations afar off will have their attention 
arrested by this wonderful happening to Israel, and even they must pro- 
claim God’s willingness to redeem graciously His people. 


Ver. 12. ‘“‘to the goodness of the Lord’’,—i. e., to the Lord as the 
source of all good things. 


Ver. 14. “satiate with fatness’’,—The reference is to the fat pieces 
of the thank-offering, because numerous offerings will be made to the Lord 
in consequence of the blessings received from Him, 


Ver. 15. Rachel, who so loved her children, is represented as lifting 
her maternal head from the tomb and looking around on the wild waste 
of ruin and sees none of her children in their native land. 

Nagelsbach says the voice of Rachel is heard in Ramah because her 
tomb is there, but makes it the Ramah five miles north of Jerusalem. But 
Gen. 35.16 says Rachel was buried south of Jerusalem and near Bethlehem. 
Delitzsch says that Rachel’s weeping is heard in Ramah, not because her 
tomb is in that neighborhood but because according to Jer. 40.1 the 
exiles were assembled there by Nebuchadnezzar before transportation into 
exile. But Keil rightly objects to this view because it was Jews who were 
assembled there and were from there to be carried away captive, whereas 
it was over Israelites or Ephraimites that had been carried away that Rachel 
weeps. 

Samuel lived in Ramah, five miles north of Jerusalem, not far from 
Gibeah. (I Sam. 7.17.) All attempts to fix the tomb of Rachel at Ramah 
north of Jerusalem are groundless. If then she was buried near Bethlehem 
it was far away from Ramah, there being no Ramah near Bethlehem. 


161 


JEREMIAH 


Keil says, and we feel rightly, that the weeping is heard at Ramah as 
the most northernly situated border town of the two kingdoms, whence the 
wailing that had arisen sounded far and near, and could be heard in Judah. 
She weeps as their common mother. As the people are often included 
under the notion of “‘the daughter of Zton’’ as their ideal representative, 
so here the great ancestress of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh is named 
as the representative of the maternal love shown by Israel in the pain felt 
when the people are lost, the mother of the ruling tribe, Ephraim, appear- 
ing thus as the personification of the kingdom ruled by it. 


This verse is quoted by Matthew after relating the story of the mas- 
sacre of the children at Bethlehem. From this we can hardly conclude, as 
did the older theologians, that Jeremiah directly prophesied that event, be- 
cause it will not fit in with the context of the prophecy. ‘The expression 
used by Matthew only shows that the prophecy of Jeremiah received a 
new fulfillment through the act of Herod. 


Ver. 16. “thy work shall be rewarded’’,—1. e., thy parental weep- 
ing for thy children; all the pain and grief which thou hast borne and all 
thy toiling in love for Zion shall not go unrewarded; thy grief shall not 
be perpetual because thy children, the exiles, shall return. 


Ver. 17. ‘“‘there ts hope for thy latter end’’,—1i. e., all thy calamities 
shall have a prosperous issue. 


Ver. 18. ‘“‘Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised’’,——The first 
refers to the chastisement itself and the second to the beneficial effects of this 
chastisement. 


“as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke’’,—-As one therefore needing the 
goad. Fausset says that when Israel is restored, which as yet she has not 
been, she will confess that the chastisement was for her good. 


Ver. 19. “‘smote upon thy thigh’’ ,—1. e., as a sign of mourning, of 
terror and horror, of grief and indignation against oneself. (Ezek. 21.17.) 


Ver. 20. To the question Fausset says a negative reply was to be 
expected, i. e., No, to judge from the way he has acted and lived. And 
yet God so regards him, and on Ephraim’s being turned to God he is so 
welcomed. The question does not really call for an answer. It is, as 
Cowles says, the outburst and overflow of strong emotion. It seems 
almost like an expression of God’s surprise at Himself for so considering . 
Ephraim after all his sin. (Na. Ma. Ros. Cow.) 

“speak against him’’,—i. e., threaten him on account of his idolatry. 


Ver. 21. Waymarks and guide posts and heaps of stones to guide 
their way through the desert on their return. 


“to these thy cittes’’,—The words “‘these’’ shows that the author has 
his point of view in Palestine and not in the land of captivity,—the sum- 
mons issues from the homeland. 


Ver. 22. “go hither and thither’’,—i. e., after human help. 


“A woman shall encompass a man’’,—The Christian Fathers almost 
unanimously interpreted this of the Virgin Mary compassing Christ. A 
number of arguments are presented favoring this view but none of them 


162 


JEREMIAH 


are very strong, while there are objections which are fatal to this inter- 
pretation. The new arrangement on earth, whatever it may be, is men- 
tioned as a motive which should rouse Ephraim to return without delay to 
the Lord and to His cities. This should be borne in mind in trying to 
explain the meaning of this strange sentence. Therefore the following 
will not do: 


1. hose who formerly behaved like women shall be men. (Lut.) 
2. A woman shall change intoa man. (Ew.) 

3. The woman shall protect the man. (Ros. Ma. Ges.) 

4. The woman shall turn the man to herself. (Na.) 


None of these four interpretations furnish the motive mentioned 
and none of them can be lexically sustained because the word “‘encompass”’ 
does not bear the meanings thus given to it; nor can any of them with 
much propriety be called a new creative act or a new arrangement of things. 


5. A fifth and very commendable interpretation is that of Keil, who 
thinks the word “‘encompass’”’ is better rendered ‘‘embrace,’’ and who trans- 
lates as follows, ‘“A woman shall embrace a man’’, the woman being the 
virgin Israel and the man being Jehovah. Hitzig renders, ‘‘make suit to 
a man’’, while Cowles retains the word “‘encompass’’, but all three of these 
authorities rightly perceive that the general idea has been set forth with 
special reference to the relation between the woman, Israel, and the man, 
Jehovah, and their interpretations are practically one and the same thing. 
There is a change of relations between the Lord and Israel. “The word 
means to compass with love and care, to lovingly embrace, the natural and 
' fitting dealing on the part of the stronger to the weak and those who need 
assistance, and now the new thing that God creates consists in this, that 
the woman, the weaker nature, that needs help, will lovingly and solici- 
tously surround the man, the stronger. God deals so condescendingly 
toward weak Israel that she can lovingly embrace Him. It is a new thing 
fora woman to wooaman. ‘The word “encompass’’ means to go around 
about and the idea is that of soliciting the hand, wooing the heart, seeking 
the love of her rightful Lord. 


Ver. 23. Here the prophecy turns to Judah and conceives of her 
as coming back from her captivity. Jerusalem was again to be the habi- 
tation of righteousness, and Zion will again be the seat of the Divine King. 


Ver. 26. These words refer not to the people languishing in exile 
(Jer.), nor to God (Um. Ros. Mic.), such a thing as sleep being inap- 
propriate as referred to God. ‘They refer to the prophet. - (K. F. Na. 
Hit. Cow. Hen. Kim. ) 


Ver. 29. Nagelsbach explains, ‘“The fathers have begun to eat sour 
grapes, but not until the teeth of the children have become blunted by 
them’’, the meaning being that the punishment does not always come im- 
mediately upon the first who are guilty, but upon those of the second, 
third and fourth generations. But the change of tense in the verbs is 
against this, the first being perfect and the second imperfect, and this shows 
that the blunting of the children’s teeth is set down as the result of the 
fathers’ eating. The proverb means that the children atone for the mis- 
deeds of their fathers. 


Why shall they no more say this? 
163 


JEREMIAH 


1. Because they will have no more occasion to say it. (K. Hit. Cow.) 
The children born in exile of their exiled parents complained 
doubtless that they were suffering for the sins of their fathers. 
It is true that during the season of exile the nation did suffer the 
retributions that had been accumulating for ages. The follow- 
ing verse would seem to favor this view of the matter. 


2. Because they will no longer be disposed to thus reflect upon the 
government of God, as in that wicked proverb, but they will per- 
ceive that every one has to suffer for his own guilt. (Graf.) But 
the proverb is not a wicked one; it is true. 


3. Because after the re-establishment of Israel, the Lord will make 
known to His people His grace in so glorious a manner that the 
favored ones will perceive the righteousness of His government 
and His judgments. (K.) 


Ver. 30. This verse unquestionably contains the opposite of verse 
29. It does not, however, says Keil, contain a judgment expressed by 
the prophet in opposition to that of his contemporaries, but it simply de- 
clares that the opinion contained in that current proverb shall no longer be 
accepted then, but the favored people will recognize in the death of the 
sinner the punishment due them for their own sins. 


Ver. 31. “‘a new covenant’’,—1i. e., as compared with the old one 
made with their fathers at Sinai when the people were led out of Egypt. 


“The remaining verses of this chapter’, says Cowles, ‘“‘have but one 
theme—the richer spiritual blessings of the Gospel age.”’ 


Ver. 33. “‘after those days’’,—Keil thinks the inexact expression 
“after’’ owes its origin to the idea contained in the phrase, “in the end of 
the days’. The days meant are the coming days. 


Fausset says, ““With ‘the remnant according to the election of grace’ 
in Israel the new covenant has already taken effect, but with regard to the 
whole nation its realization is reserved for the last days, to which Paul 
refers this prophecy in an abridged form in Romans 11.27.” 


Ver. 34. This verse does not contain a prohibition but a prediction. 
Why is this prediction to be true? 


Is it because knowledge will be so universal that there is no longer 
occasion for teaching? The words, “‘all shall know me’’, would seem 
sotoimply. Yet the connection with the previous verse, which makes the ~ 
teaching of the Spirit so prominent, would seem to indicate another reason, 
suggesting that far less teaching is left for man to do under the new cove- 
nant than under the old covenant. The words therefore do not mean 
that, “‘the office of the teacher must cease’ (Hit.), but merely that the 
knowledge of God will, under the new covenant, be no longer dependent 
upon the communication and instruction of man. The Holy Spirit is a 
teacher so glorious as to eclipse all human agencies. ‘The statement of the 
verse is comparative rather than absolute. 


Ver. 36. ‘“‘these ordinances’’,—1i. e., the established arrangements. 


Though Israel’s national polity has been broken up they are still 
reserved as a distinct people though scattered among the nations of the 
world for twenty centuries. Cowles insists that we must look beyond 


164 





JEREMIAH 


the outward Israel for the fulfillment of this prophecy to the spiritual 
Israel, the sanctified people of the living God, while others, conceding the 
view of Cowles as one proper form of interpretation, contend that there is 
yet to be an outward and literal fulfillment in the days that are yet to come. 


Ver. 37. The measuring of the heavens and the searching out of the 
foundations of the earth are set forth as things impossible to be done and 
adduced to show that this casting off of Israel can never be. 


Vers. 38-40. The measuring starts from the well-known “tower of 
Hananel’’ in the northwest quarter of the city, runs to the northwest 
corner gate, then includes Gareb, the hill of the leprous outside of the city 
on the northwest, then to the hill of Goah, the place of capital punish- 
ment; then finally the whole valley of the son of Hinnom, including 
Tophet defiled by the accumulated filth of the city with its worms and 
ever-burning fires. All these defiled places are to be embraced in the city 
and are to be made thoroughly clean and holy before the Lord. 


By some the hill of Goah is supposed to be identical with Golgotha 
(V. Hen.), but by others (Hit. Fur.) it is taken as the projecting rock 
of the castle of Antonia on the southwest corner. It can hardly be identi- 
fied as Golgotha because the latter was north or northwest of the city and 
the line was running down toward the southwest, while furthermore lexical 
considerations are against so taking it. 


Says Keil, and with him agrees Cowles, ‘“The prophecy does not refer 
to the building of Jerusalem after the exile, but to the erection of a more 
spiritual kingdom of God in the Messianic age—the prophecy reaches on 
to the time when the kingdom of God shall have been perfected—it con- 
tains under an Old Testament dress the outlines of the image of the 
heavenly Jerusalem which John saw on Patmos in its full glory.” 


CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO 


36 And now therefore thus saith will put my fear in their hearts, that 


Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning they may not depart from me. 41 Yea, 
Se ee gees EE Tein oiven I will rejoice over them to do them 
yeas y Y 8 good, and [I will plant them in this 


into the hand of the king of Babylon land ‘assuredly with my whole heart 
by the sword, and by the famine, and and with my whole soul. 42 For 
by the pestilence: 37 Behold, I will thus saith Jehovah: Like as I have 


: ; brought all this great evil upon this 
gather them out of all the countries, beoplensomrill cbrincenpen ahem all 


whither I have driven them in mine the good that I have promised them. 
anger, and in my wrath, and in great 43 And fields shall be bought in this 
indignation; and I will bring them land, whereof ye say, It is desolate, 


again unto this place, and I will cause ealpeamen ee Seah ais eiyen ane 
them to dwell safely. 38 And they shall buy fields for money, and sub- 
shall be my people, and I will be their scribe the deeds, and seal them, and call 


God: 39 and I will give them one heart witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and 
and one way, that they may fear me in the places about Jerusalem, and in the 
for ever, for the good of them, and of cities of Judah, and in the cities of the 
their children after them: 40 and I will hill-country, and in the cities of the 
make an everlasting covenant with them, lowland, and in the cities of the South: 
that I will not turn away from fol- for I will cause their captivity to re- 
lowing them, to do them good; and I turn, saith Jehovah. 


4Heb. ix truth 


165 


JEREMIAH 


Vers. 36-44. JURTHER PROPHECY OF ISRAEL’S RETURN AND RESTOR- 
ATION. 


Ver. 36. “Therefore thus saith the Lord’’,—These words corre- 
spond to the same words in verse 28. ‘‘Therefore’’,—i. e., because noth- 
ing is too hard for the Lord. He is now drawing the second inference 
from the fact that nothing is too hard for Him to accomplish. Fausset 
would render, ‘“‘Now nevertheless’’ without seeking connection with the 
“therefore’’ of verse 28. This is permissible, although the former con- 
struction appears to be the better one. 


Ver. 37. This prophecy has never received as yet but meager ful- 
fillment, and while some look solely to the Gospel age for their fulfillment, 
others believe the words look on to the last days, to the kingdom-age which 
is to follow, though accepting of course as a possible interpretation the view 
which finds their fulfillment in the Gospel age. 


Ver. 40. “they may not depart from me’’,—Fausset says this has 
never yet been fully realized as to the Israelites. 


Ver. 41. “assuredly with my whole heart’’,—The first planting 
was imperfect as was the first covenant because it was only hypothetical and 
because the Lord knew the condition would not be kept and He could 
not therefore be in it with His whole heart. Now He knows, for He 
Himself has promised (verse 40) that the condition will be fulfilled; 
therefore He can designate the planting as done “‘assuredly”’ (‘‘in truth’’—- 
margin), without the reservation that it is only for a short time, and also 
as one which He performs with a whole and an undivided heart. 


Ver. 42. The restoration from Babylon was only a slight fore- 
taste, says Fausset, of the grace to be expected by Israel at last through 
Christ. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE 


1 Moreover the word of Jehovah it “health and cure, and I will cure 
came unto Jeremiah the second time, them; and [ will reveal unto them 
while he was yet shut up in the court abundance of peace and truth. 7 And I 
of the guard, saying, 2 Thus saith Je- will cause the captivity of Judah and 
hovah that doeth it, Jehovah that form- the captivity of Israel to return, and 
eth it to establish it; Jehovah is his will build them, as at the first. 8 And 
name: 3 Call unto me, and I will an- I will cleanse them from all their in- 
swer thee, and will show thee great iquity, whereby they have sinned against 
things, and ‘difficult, which thou know- me; and I will pardon all their iniqui- 
est not. 4 For thus saith Jehovah, the ties, whereby they have sinned against 
God of Israel, concerning the houses me, and whereby they have transgressed 
of this city, and concerning the houses against me. 9 And this city shall be 
of the kings of Judah, which are broken to me for a name of joy, for z+praise 
down to make a defence against the and for a glory, before all the nations 
mounds and against the swords; 5 while of the earth, which shall hear all the 
men come to fight with the Chaldeans, good that I do unto them, and shall 
and to fill them with the dead bodies fear and tremble for all the good and 
of men, whom I have slain in mine for all the peace that I procure unto it. 
anger and in my wrath, and for all 10 Thus saith Jehovah: Yet again 
whose wickedness I have hid my face there shall be heard in this place, where- 
from this city: 6 Behold, I will bring of ye say, It is waste, without man 

1Heb. fortified *Heb. a bandage 


166 


JEREMIAH 


and without beast, even in the cities of 
Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, 
that are desolate, without man and with- 
out inhabitant and without beast, 11 
the voice of joy and the voice of glad- 
ness, the voice of the bridegroom and 
the voice of the bride, the voice of them 
that say, Give thanks to Jehovah of 
hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his lov- 
ingkindness endureth for ever; and of 
them that bring sacrifices of thanksgiv- 
ing into the house of Jehovah. For I 
will cause the captivity of the land to 
return as at the first, saith Jehovah. 

12 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 
Yet again shall there be in this place, 
which is waste, without man and with- 
out beast, and in all the cities thereof, a 
habitation of shepherds causing their 
flocks to lie down. 13 In the cities of 
the hill-country, in the cities of the low- 
land, in the cities of the South, and in 
the land of Benjamin, and in the places 
about Jerusalem, and in the cities of 
Judah, shall the flocks again pass under 


the hands of him that numbereth them, | 


saith Jehovah. 

14 Behold, the days come, saith Jeho- 
vah, that I will perform that good word 
which I have spoken concerning the 
house of Israel and concerning the house 
of Judah. 15 In those days, and at 
that time, will I cause a Branch of right- 
eousness to grow up unto David; and 
he shall execute justice and righteous- 
ness in the land.’ 16 In those days 
shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem 
shall dwell safely; and this is the name 
whereby she shall be called: Jehovah our 


Vers. 1-26. 
N CFT D. 


righteousness. 17 For thus saith Jeho- 
vah: *David shall never want a man to 
sit upon the throne of the house of 
Israel; 18 neither shall the priests the 
Levites want a man before me to offer 
burnt-offerings, and to burn meal-offer- 
ings, and to do sacrifice continually. 

19 And the word of Jehovah came 
unto Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus saith 
Jehovah: If ye can break my covenant 
of the day, and my covenant of the 
night, so that there shall not be day 
and night in their season; 21 then may 
also my covenant be broken with David 
my servant, that he shall not have a son 
to reign upon his throne; and with the 
Levites the priests, my ministers. 22 As 
the host of heaven cannot be numbered, 
neither the sand of the sea measured; 
so will I multiply the seed of David my 
servant, and the Levites that minister 
unto me. 

23 And the word of Jehovah came 
to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Considerest 
thou not what this people have spoken, 
saying, The two families which Jeho- 
vah did choose, he hath cast them off? 
thus do they despise my people, that 
they should be no more a nation before 
them. 25 Thus saith Jehovah: If my 
covenant of day and night stand not, if 
I have not appointed the ordinances of 
heaven and earth; 26 then will I also 
cast away the seed of Jacob, and of 
David my servant, so that I will not 
take of his seed to be rulers over the 
seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for 
I will *cause their captivity to return, 
and will have mercy on them. 


SHeb. There shall not be cut of from David. 
4Or, return to their captivity 


FURTHER PROMISE OF JSRAEL’S GLORIOUS FUTURE. 


“Jehovah ts His name’’,—In the name lies the guarantee of 


His action. The Lord not only has power to carry out His thoughts but 
He completes what He has spoken and determined on. 


Ver. 3. This verse is probably addressed to Jeremiah though some 
think it addressed to Israel. It is a call to pray for that which the Lord 
has determined to grant, i. e., the restoration. (F. Na.) 

“difficult’’,—The Hebrew means “‘inaccessible’’, incredible—hard to 
man’s understanding, namely the restoration of the Jews, an event 
despaired of. 


“which thou knowest not’’,—God had revealed this thing to Jere- 
miah, but the unbelief of the people in rejecting the grace of God had 


caused him to forget God’s promise, as though the case of the people ad- 
mitted of no remedy. 


Ver. 4.  “‘agatnst the mounds’’,—It is not that the houses are broken 
down by the missiles of destruction hurled from these mounds, as Fausset 


167 


JEREMIAH 


thinks; the houses are pulled down, according to Isa. 22.10, in order to 
fortify the walls of the city in defense against the attacks from these 
mounds of the besiegers. [he houses of kings are mentioned along with 
others to show that no house is spared to defend the city. 


Ver. 5. The Jewish soldiers go to fight with the Chaldeans but 
only to fill the houses with their own slain. (K. F. Cow.) The word 
“them” is a bit troublesome, inasmuch as the houses already thrown 
down cannot be filled and of other houses no mention has been made, 
unless the reference be to the houses before they have been thrown down. 
Changing the word “‘Chaldeans’’ to ‘‘Jerusalem’’ and making the mounds 
and ath sword the subject of ‘““come’’, as Nagelsbach does, is hardly per- 
missible, 


Ver. 7. Fausset reminds us that the specification of both Judah and 
Israel can only apply fully to the future restoration. 


“as at the first’’,—(Isa. 1.26. See also verse 11 of this chapter. ) 


Ver. 9. “it” refers to the city of Jerusalem, “‘them’’ to its inhabi- 
tants, and “‘they’’ to the Gentiles. (K. F. Na. Cow.) 


“fear and tremble’’,—It is the idea of wholesome fear that is here 
most strongly set forth. The ungodly shall tremble for fear of God’s 
judgment on them, and the penitent shall reverentially fear and turn to the 
Lord. ‘That this latter thought is the predominating one is set forth in 
the fact that Jerusalem is to be a “joy’’ unto all the nations when they 
hear of what the Lord has done for it. 


Ver. 13. “pass under the hands of him that numbereth them’ ,— 
The usual mode of counting the flocks. The fact that they must be num- 
bered speaks therefore of multitudes. . 


Ver. 14. The promise of verses 14 to 16 has already been given 
in Chap. 23.5,6, where see remarks. 


“that good word’’,—(See Deut. 28.1-14). 

This verse forms a transition from the promise of the restoration 
and blessings of Israel in the future to the special promise of the renewal 
and completion of the Davidic monarchy; the blessing promised to the 
people in the ‘‘good word’’ culminates in the promise (verse 15) that the 
Lord will cause a righteous spout to spring up for David. 


Ver. 16. “Jehovah our righteousness’’,—The righteousness which 
the Messiah works in and on Jerusalem may, without changing the sub- 
stance of the thought, be attributed to Jerusalem herself inasmuch as 
she reflects this righteousness bestowed upon her. ‘This name in Chap. 
23.5,6 is given to the sprout of David, and the transference of it to the 
city of Jerusalem is connected with the fact that the name only expresses 
what the Messiah is to the people. 


Ver. 17. This prediction does not preclude a temporary interrup- 
tion, and has been fulfilled in Christ, the Messiah. 


Ver. 18. Hebrews say this priesthood is to give way to a higher 
one. Nagelsbach says, ‘Though lost in its outward, temporal and local 
form, it was really afterwards established in its ideal character.’’ Fausset 


168 


JEREMIAH 


_ says, ‘‘Messiah’s literal priesthood (Heb. 7.17,21,25-28) and His follow- 


ers’ spiritual priesthood and sacrifices (Rom. 12,1; 15.16; I Pet. 2.5,9; 

Rev. 1.6) shall never cease, according to the covenant with Levi, broken 

BY 5m) priests, but fulfilled in the Messiah (Num. 25.12,13; Mal. 
IO) 

Keil says, ““The prophecy which follows shows clearly that the restor- 
ation spoken of will not be a reinstitution of the old form which was then 
perishing but a renovation of it, in its essential features, to a permanent 
existence.” 


Ver. 20. “of the day’’,—Better rendered, ‘‘with the day’’, and so 
“with the night’, answering to the covenant with David. “The kingdom 
and the priesthood is to flourish in the Messiah, says Fausset, when the 
whole nation shall temporarily and spiritually prosper. 


Ver. 22. ‘“‘as the hosts of heaven. ..the sands of the sea’’,—Jahn 
remarks that this would be a burden on the people if there is to be an un- 
limited increase of the royal and priestly posterity. But Exodus 19.6 
says, ‘Israel shall be a kingdom of priests’, and Isaiah 61.6 says, “‘ye 
shall be named the priests of Jehovah and men shall call you the ministers 
of our God.’ ‘The priestly and royal character of the whole people is 
referred to, and this is only to be realized, says Nagelsbach, as the whole of 
regenerated humanity is included. 


Vers. 24-26. The same promise is here repeated, especially to rebut 
the unbelieving cavils of some among the people. By saying what they 
did, they despised the Lord’s people and insulted the Lord Himself by 
assuming that His promises were worthless. The “two families’ are of 
course Judah and Israel, and it is hardly worth while to rebut the view of 
Hitzig that “this people’ refers to foreign nations. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE 


7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s 
eyes and bound him with chains, to 
catry him to Babylon. 


Ver. 7. THE BEGINNING OF THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES. 


At this date began “‘the times of the Gentiles’, from which time on 
Jerusalem has been ‘‘trodden down of the Gentiles’, and this has been 
true from the time of. Nebuchadnezzar even until this day. Jerusalem 
has been during all this time under Gentile rule and dominion. 


CHAPTER FORTY-SIX 


1 The word of Jehovah which came quiet and at ease, and none shall make 


bh th het concerning the him afraid. 28 Fear not thou, O Jacob 
es ANd No alee Samm my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am 


ee: : with thee: for I will make a full end of 

27 But fear not thou, O Jacob my all the nations whither I have driven 
servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: thee; but I will not make a full end of 
for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thee, but I will correct thee in *measure, 
thy seed from the land of their captiv- and will in no wise “leave thee unpun- 


ity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be ished. 
Heb. judgment 
2Or, hold thee guiltless 


169 


JEREMIAH 


Vers. 1,27,28. "THE JUDGMENT OF THE GENTILES AND THE DE- 
LIVERANCE OF ISRAEL. 


Ver. 1. “concerning the nations’’,—Scofield calls attention to the 
fact that we are to distinguish between a near and a far fulfillment of 
these prophecies against the Gentiles. The near vision, as seen in verse 2, 
is‘of a Babylonish invasion of Egypt, but verses 27 and 28 look forward 
to the judgment of the nations after Armageddon (Matt. 25.32), and the 
deliverance of Israel. 

On verses 27 and 28 see Chap. 30.10,11, from which place they 
are here repeated. 


CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT 


46 Woe unto thee, O Moab! the 47 Yet will I ‘bring back the cap- 
people of Chemosh is undone; for thy tivity of Moab in the latter days, saith , 
sons are taken away captive, and thy Jehovah. ‘Thus far is the judgment of 
daughters into captivity. Moab. 


10r, return to 


Vers. 46,47. “THE CONVERSION OF THE HEATHEN IN THE FINAL 
PERIOD. 


Ver. 46. This verse is copied from Numbers 21.29, and in the 
verse which follows restoration is promised for the sake of righteous Lot, 
their progenitor. 


Ver. 47. In verse 42 it is said that Moab shall be destroyed. The 
fact seems to be that under the Chaldean army, shortly after Jeremiah 
wrote, Moab suffered severely, yet she rallied again and was prosperous 
in the age of Josephus; but its nationality has long since ceased. 

Gospel blessings, temporal and spiritual, to the Gentiles in the last 
days are intended. 

“in the latter days’’,—1. e., at the end of the days, in Messianic times 
there is in store for them a turn in their fortunes. Similar promises are 
made for Egypt (Chap. 46.26), and for Ammon and Elam, in Chap. 
49.6 and 39. 


CHAPTER FORT Y-NINE 


Vers. 6,39. (See remarks under Chap. 48.47.) There was but 
partial fulfillment under Cyrus of these promises, but they were to have a 
more complete fulfillment in Gospel times. 


CHAPTER. FIFI 


4 In those days, and in that time, 6 My people have been lost. sheep: 
saith Jehovah, the children of Israel their shepherds have caused them to go 


. astray; they have turned them away on 
shall come, they and the children of the ‘mountains: they have gone from 


Judah together; they shall go on their mountain to hill; they have forgotten 
way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their resting-place. 7 All that found 
their God. 5 They shall inquire con- them have devoured them; and their ad- 
cerning Zion with their faces *thither- versaries said, We are not guilty, be- 
ward, saying, Come ye, and “join your- cause they have sinned against Jehovah, 
selves to Jehovah in an_ everlasting the habitation of righteousness, even Je- 
covenant that shall not be forgotten. hovah, the hope of their fathers. 


1Or, hitherward 
2Or, they shall join themselves 


170 


JEREMIAH 


19 And I will bring Israel again to 
his *pasture, and he shall feed on Car- 
mel and Bashan, and his soul shall be 
satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and 
in Gilead. 

20 In those days, and in that time, 
saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall 
be sought for, and there shall be none; 
and the sins of Judah, and they shall not 


33 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; 
The children of Israel and the children 
of Judah are oppressed together; and 
all that took them captive hold them 


fast; they refuse to let them go. 

34 Their Redeemer is strong; Jeho- 
vah of hosts is his name; he will thor- 
oughly plead their cause, that he may 


give rest to the earth, and disquiet the 
inhabitants of Babylon. 


be found: for I will pardon them 
whom [I leave as a remnant. 
8Or, fold 


Vers. 4-7,19,20,33,34. “THE CHOSEN PEOPLE RESTORED AND UNITED 
IN ETERNAL COVENANT WITH THEIR GOD. 


Ver. 4. “In those days and tn that time’’,—1i. e., the time coincident 
with the fall of Babylon. 


“they shall go on their way weeping’’,—Weeping doubtless with joy 
at their restoration and with sorrow at the remembrance of their sins and 
sufferings. 


FPausset reminds us that this prophecy was fulfilled in part when some 
few of the Ten Tribes of Israel joined with Judah in a covenant with God 
at the restoration of Judah to its land, but that the full event is yet to 
pamteme chap 31.9 bios: 1311s"Zech. 1251.07) 


Ver. 5. “thitherward’’,—The Hebrew is ‘‘hitherward’’, Jeremiah’s 
prophetic standpoint being at Zion. 


Ver. 6. “they have gone from mountain to hill’’,—These words 
have no meaning unless they are understood of the idolatrous dealings of 
Israel, the mountains and hills being those on which they sacrificed to idols. 


“their resting place’,—This is, according to verse 7, Jehovah the 
hope of their fathers. 


Ver. 19. Carmel and Bashan were the most fertile tracts of the 
country and the mountains of Ephraim and Gilead furnished fodder in 
abundance for the sheep. 


Ver. 20. Fausset says the mention of Israel as well as Judah shows 
that the full reference is to times yet to come. 


“and there shall be.none... and they shall not be found’’,—God’s 
promise to grant pardon points to the time of the new covenant. God for 
Christ’s sake will count them innocent. The reference is to Messianic 
times and the sin and iniquity refers not to idolatry but to the rejection of 
the Messiah, and of this it is predicted that they shall not be guilty in 
those days, though thus guilty now. 


Ver. 33. He anticipates an objection in order to answer it, i. e., ye 
_ have been no doubt oppressed and therefore ye despair of deliverance; but 
remember your Redeemer is strong and therefore can and will deliver you. 


Ver. 34. 


pressor. 


“strong’’,—1i. e., as opposed to the power of Israel’s op- 


“thoroughly plead their cause’’,—God, as their advocate, delivers His 
people not by mere might but by righteousness, 


i biel 


EZBRIBG 
‘THE BOOK OF 


EZEKIEL 


(B. C. 595—B. C. 574) 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 


17 Therefore say, Thus saith the new spirit within you; and I will take 
Lord Jehovah: I will gather you from the stony heart out of their flesh, and 


the peoples, and assemble you out of the will give them a heart of flesh; 20 that 
= fe they may walk in my statutes, and keep 
countries where ye have been scattered, mine ordinances, and do them: and they 


and I will give you the land of Israel. shall be my people, and I will be their 
18 And they shall come thither, and God. 21 But as for them whose heart 
they shall take away all the detestable walketh after the heart of their detest- 
things thereof and all the abominations able things and their abominations, I 
thereof from thence. 19 And I will will bring their way upon their own 
give them one heart, and I will put a heads, saith the Lord Jehovah. 


Vers. 17-21. ISRAEL PROMISED RESTORATION TO THEIR OWN LAND. 


The literal fulfillment of this prophecy did actually take place in their 
restoration at the end of the Babylonian captivity. Yet it was only a 
partial fulfillment after all. Only a small portion, and these practically 
all from the house of Judah, returned. 

Then further, while Israel did practically relinquish the practice of 
gross idolatry (verse 18), it did not then attain to that newness of heart 
predicted in verses 19 and 20. ‘This only commenced with the preaching 
of John the Baptist and with the coming of Christ. The Shekinah glory 
had departed (Chap. 9.3; 10.18 and 11.23), the ark was not restored, nor 
was the second temple strictly inhabited by God until Christ came, who 
made it more glorious than the first temple (Hag. 2.9): Even then His 
stay was short, and ended in His being rejected. ‘The full realization of 
the promise must then still be future, since the greater portion of Israel 
has still that hardness of the stony heart. 


CHAP LERS FOURTEEN 


21 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: and ye shall see their way and their 
How much more when I send my four doings; and ye shall be comforted con- 
cerning the evil that I have brought up- 


j on Jerusalem, the : 
sore’ judgments’ up J on Jerusalem, even concerning all that 


sword, and the famine, the evil beasts, I have brought upon it. 23 And they 
and the pestilence, to cut off from it shall comfort you, when ye see their 
man and beast! 22 Yet, behold, therein way and their doings: and ye shall 
shall be left *a remnant that shall be know that I have not done *without 
carried forth, both sons and daughters: cause all that I have done in it, saith the 
behold, they shall come forth unto you, Lord Jehovah. 

1Heb. they that escape Or, in vain 


Vers. 21-23. THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD JUSTIFIED BY THE DISOBEDI- 
ENCE OF THE PEOPLE. 


This chapter from verse 12 to its close tells of the judgment of Jeho- 
vah upon Jerusalem. ° 


TAZ 


EZERIEL 


The “‘remnant’’ in verse 21 are not those who save their lives or are 


spared by Jehovah because of their righteousness, but those who, after 


escaping, go to the captives in Babylon and by their wicked way and 
character cause the exiles there to acknowledge that Jehovah was justified 
in bringing severe judgment upon both Jerusalem and its inhabitants, 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, 
that dwelleth at thy left hand, she and 
her daughters; and thy younger sister, 
that dwelleth at thy right hand, is 


Sodom and her daughters. 

53 And I will ‘turn again their cap- 
tivity, the captivity of Sodom and her 
daughters, and the captivity of Samaria 
and her daughters, and the captivity of 
thy captives in the midst of them; 55 
And thy sisters, Sodom and her daugh- 
ters, shall return to their former estate; 
and Samaria and her daughters shall re- 
turn to their former estate; and thou 
and thy daughters shall return to your 
former estate. 


60 Nevertheless I will remember my 
covenant with thee in the days of thy 
youth, and [| will establish unto thee an 
everlasting covenant. 61 Then shalt 
thou remember thy ways, and _ be 
ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy 
sisters, thine elder sisters and thy young- 
er; and I will give them unto thee for 
daughters, but not by thy covenant. 
62 And I will establish my covenant 
with thee; and thou shalt know that I 
am Jehovah; 63 that thou mayest re- 
member, and be confounded, and never 
open thy mouth any more, because of 
thy shame, when I have forgiven thee 
all that thou hast done, saith the Lord 
Jehovah. 


Israel is precluded. 


10r, return to 
" a 


Vers. 46,53,55,60-63. 
‘This portion of the chapter is exceedingly difficult to understand. 


THE HARLOTRY OF JERUSALEM FORGIVEN. 


Ver. 46. God says that in a sense Jerusalem is worse than her elder 
and younger sisters, Samaria and Sodom. ‘They were called her sisters 
because they both belonged to the same mother-land, Canaan, and perhaps 
more appropriately in a spiritual sense, because they were all animated by 
the same spirit of idolatry. In what sense could Samaria be said to be 
older than Sodom? None of the reasons given are at all satisfactory, and 
we are inclined to the explanation of Keil, who takes the words in the sense 
of “‘greater’’ and ‘‘smaller’’, i. e., with reference to the extent of the 
kingdoms. 


That Samaria and Sodom stand for kingdoms is clearly proven by 


the expression “‘daughters’’, i. e., the cities adjacent and dependent upon 
the capital. 


Ver. 53. This verse announces the restoration of Sodom and 
Samaria as well as that of Jerusalem, so that all boasting on the part of 
You shall be restored, but Sodom and Samaria shall 
be restored with you. 


But we know nothing of an exile of Sodom. ‘Then, too, in what 
sense can Sodom be said to be restored since Sodom and all the cities of the 
plains together with their inhabitants were utterly destroyed and sunk into 
the depths of the Dead Sea? 


Some think that Sodom stands for the Moabites and the Ammonites, 
Moab and Ammon being the offspring of Lot. (F. Lap.) But they were 
no more Sodomites than Lot was. 


173 


EZEKIBE 


Some think Sodom stands for the heathen. (Ori. Jer. Hav.) But in 
what sense could Sodom stand for heathenism any more than Samaria 
could. . 


Some think they stand for the descendents of Sodom, who were 
carried captive to Elam in the expedition against Sodom mentioned in 
Genesis 14, and for those of Zoar, which city was spared at the petition of 
Lot. (Lap.) These descendents were destined to restoration just as it 
was also merely the descendents of Samaria and Jerusalem that could be 
restored. (Coc. Neteler.) The prophecy in this sense might be said to 
have commenced its fulfillment on the day of Pentecost when it is expressly 
stated the Elamites were present. 


The only other explanation is that of Keil, who contends that the 
literal Sodom was meant, and yet he says, ‘““We certainly cannot think for a 
moment of any earthly restoration of Sodom’’, for even if the cities could 
be found, how could the inhabitants, who perished in them, be restored, 
and, says Keil, “in this connection it is chiefly to them that the words 
refer.” ‘“Therefore’’, says Keil, ‘‘the realization of the prophecy must 
be sought for beyond the present order of things, in one that extends into 
the life everlasting, and can only take place on the great day of the resur- 
rection of the dead in the persons of the former inhabitants of Sodom and 
her neighboring cities. Not only will the Gospel be preached to all nations 
before the end comes, but even to the dead.’’ He thinks that all heathen 
nations that died before Christ or departed from this earthly life without 
having heard the Gospel preached will still have a chance to hear it and an 
opportunity to believe it. 


_ It is difficult to decide with so little data before us, but perhaps that 
view which takes Sodom as representing the heathen in general is the more 
acceptable. 


Ver, 55. “return to their former estate’,—If by Sodom the 
Moabites and the Amonites are represented there was a partial fulfillment 
in the return under Cyrus (Jer. 48.47), and if by Sodom is represented 
the heathen the full realization is yet future, says Fausset. 

But what is their “former estate’? 


It cannot be their wicked state before their punishment to which 
they are to be returned in order that they may thereafter be converted. 


Keil thinks it is to their first estate in the sense of the restoration of 
all moral relations to their original moral constitution, which will begin 
by the reception of the heathen world, represented by Sodom, into the 
kingdom of Christ and will attain its perfection in the general restoration 
of the world to its original glory, the palingenesia. (II Pet. 3.13; Rom. 
8.18; Matt. 19.28.) The forgiveness of the inhabitants of Sodom, he 
insists, can only take place on the great day of the resurrection of the dead: 


If, however, Sodom be taken as representing the heathen in general 
(to which view it would seem that even Keil has committed himself), why 
may not the “‘return to their former estate’ be a symbolical way of ex- 
pressing the idea of bestowing pardoning grace, as simply relating to the 
pardon of Jerusalem and Samaria, the covenant nation, and of Sodom 
representing the heathen? If Sodom does not represent the heathen then 
of course her pardon must be delayed, if it is to come at all, until the 
resurrection day. 


tat 


EZEKIEL 





This much is certain under any explanation, namely, that the be- 
- ginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy commenced with the establish- 
ment of the covenant made through Christ and with the reception of the 
believing portion of Israel in Judea, Samaria and Galilee (Acts 8.5; 9.31), 
and with the spread of the Gospel among the heathen and their entrance 
into the kingdom of Christ. 


Calvin, and Fausset following him, says we do not have any promise 
at all until we reach verse 60, and that verses 53 and 55 mean, When 
Sodom and Samaria shall be restored, then Jerusalem also will be restored, 
1. @., never! ‘This is sustained neither by the letter nor by the connection. 


Ver. 60. The unfaithfulness of man can never alter the faithful- 
ness of God. The reference is not to a new covenant, but to the renewing 
or perfecting of the old one, the fulfillment of the promise given to David 
in II Samuel. 


_ Ver. 61. “thou shalt recetve thy sisters’’,—This of course means in 
this place not only Sodom and Samaria and their daughters, but heathen 
nations generally, great and small. 


The prophecy goes even beyond Rom. 11.25 presenting, as it does, 
not only to the covenant nation but to all heathen nations the prospect of 
being eventually received into the kingdom of Christ. 


“but not by thy covenant’’,—By what grammatical law Keil connects 
these words with “‘daughters’’ we fail to see. It must mean either the letter 
of the Old Testament, the covenant of works, upon which the Jews rested 
even while they broke it, or what is still better, the expression must be 
taken, as do the majority, as meaning, Not that thou on thy part hast stood 
to the covenant, but that I am the Lord; I change not. 


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 


22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I 
will also take of the lofty top of the 
cedar, and will set it; I will crop off 
from the topmost of its young twigs 
a tender one, and I will plant it upon 
a high and lofty mountain: 23 in the 
mountain of the height of Israel will I 
plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, 
and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: 


and under it shall dwell all birds of 
every wing; in the shade of the branches 
thereof shall they dwell. 24 And all 
the trees of the field shall know that I, 
Jehovah, have brought down the high 
tree, have exalted the low tree, have 
dried up the green tree, and have made 
the dry tree to flourish: I, Jehovah, 
have spoken and have done it. 


Vers. 22-24. PLANTING OF THE TRUE TWIG OF THE STEM OF DAVID. 


Ver. 22. The Lord will fulfill the promise which He had given to 
the seed of David. , As Nebuchadnezzar had broken off a twig from the 
top of the cedar and brought it to Babel (verse 13), but through it the 
kingdom of Judah had been brought to destruction, so will Jehovah Him- 
self crop off a tender twig from the top of the high cedar and plant it upon 
_a high mountain and it shall be a shelter to the whole world and shall be 
forever. This tender twig is none other than the Messiah, originally ‘‘a 
tender plant and root out of a dry ground”’. (Isa. 53.2.) 


“the cedar’’,—i. e., the royal house of David. 
“of its young twigs a tender one’’,—The idea of the tender ‘‘twig’’ 


175 


EZEKIEL 





or ‘shoot’ or “‘sprout’’ indicates not so much the youthful age of the 
Messiah (Hit.) as it does His lowly origin. 


“a high and lofty mountain’’,—i. e., Zion, destined, says Fausset, 
“‘to be the moral center and eminence of grace and glory shining forth to 
the world, out-topping all mundane elevation. The kingdom, typically 
begun at the return from Babylon, and rebuilding of the temple, fully 
began with Christ’s appearing and shall have its highest manifestation at 
His reappearing to reign on Zion, and thence over the whole earth.”’ 


Ver. 23. “and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing’’,—Says 
Keil, ‘“‘All the inhabitants of the earth will not only find food from the 
fruit of this tree, but protection under its shadow.”’ ‘The expression’, 
says Schroeder, ‘‘points to Noah’s ark of safety, and the meaning is, all the 
different nations and families of men upon earth.’”’ Says Fausset, ‘“The 
Gospel ‘mustard tree’, small at first, but at length receiving all under its 
covert.” 


Ver. 24. “And all the trees of the field’’,—These are the collective 
ruling powers of the world, the kings and royal families of the earth, just 
as the cedar represents the royal house of David. 


“high tree. . low tree. . green tree... dry tree’’,—The high tree, 
Schroeder thinks, points to Jehoiachin and the green tree to Zedekiah. 


Keil says that the high and green tree naturally suggests the royal 
house of David and the dry tree Jehoiachin, and while these suggestions are 
not to be set aside, at the same time the words are not to be restricted to any 
particular persons, but are applicable to every high and green, or withered 
and lowly tree, i. e., not merely to kings alone, but to all men in common. 

According to Hengstenberg the high tree is the worldly sovereignty, 
the green tree, Nebuchadnezzar’s sovereignty of the world at the time; 
while the low tree and the dry tree represent the house of David with special 
reference here, of course, to the Messiah. 

Thus Fausset says, ‘“‘All the empires of the world, represented by 
Babylon, once flourishing (green tree), shall be brought low before the 
once depressed (dry), but then exalted kingdom of Messiah and His peo- 
ple, the head of whom shall be Israel.”’ 


CHAPTER TWENTY 


33 As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, enter into judgment with you, saith the 
surely with a mighty hand, and with an Lord Jehovah. 37 And I will cause 
outstretched arm, and with wrath you to pass under the rod, and I will 
poured out, will I be king over you. bring you into the bond of the cove- 
34 And I will bring you out from the nant; 38 and I will purge out from 
peoples, and will gather you out of the among you the rebels, and them that 
countries wherein ye are scattered, with _ transgress against me; I will bring them 
a mighty hand, and with an outstretched forth out of the land where they so- 
arm, and with wrath poured out; 35 journ, but they shall not enter into 
and I will bring you into the wilder- the land of Israel: and ye shall know 
ness of the peoples, and there will I © that I am Jehovah. 39 As for you, O 
enter into judgment with you face to house of Israel, thus saith the Lord 
face. 36 Like as I entered into judg- Jehovah: Go ye, serve every one his 
ment with your fathers in the wilder- idols, *and hereafter also, if ye will not 
ness of the land of Egypt, so will I hearken unto me; but my holy name 


10r but hereafter surely ye shall hearken 
unto me and &c. 


176 


PACK TEE 


shall ye no more profane with your 
gifts, and with your idols. 

40 For in my holy mountain, in 
the mountain of the height of Israel, 


saith the Lord Jehovah, there shall all 
the house of Israel, all of them, serve 
me in the land: there will I accept them, 
and there will I require your offerings, 
and the “first-fruits of your “oblations, 
with all your holy things. 41 *As a 
sweet savor will I accept you, when I 
bring you out from the peoples, and 
gather you out of the countries where- 
in ye have been scattered; and I will 
be sanctified in you in the sight of the 





nations. 42 And ye shall know that I 
am Jehovah, when [ shall bring you 
into the land of Israel, into the coun- 
try which I °sware to give unto your 
fathers. 43 And there shall ye remem- 
ber your ways, and all your doings, 
wherein ye have polluted your selves; 
and. ye shall loathe yourselves in. your 
own sight for all your evils that ye have 
committed. 

44 And ye shall know that I am Je- 
hovah,- when I have dealt with you for 
my name’s sake, not according to your 
evil ways, nor according to your cor- 
rupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith 
the Lord Jehovah. 


on ile 5SHeb. lifted up my hand 
4Or, with 
Vers. 33-44. THE JUDGMENT UPON AND THE FUTURE RESTORATION 


OF ISRAEL. 


“The passage’, says Scofield, ‘“‘is a prophecy of the future judgment 
upon Israel, regathered from all nations into the old wilderness of the 
wanderings. ‘The issue of this judgment determines who of Israel in that 
day shall enter the land for kingdom blessing.”’ 

Fausset says, ‘‘Lest the covenant people should abandon their distinc- 
tive hopes, and amalgamate with the surrounding heathen, he tells them 
that as the wilderness journey from Egypt was made subservient to disci- 
pline, and also to the taking out from among them of the rebellious, just 
- so a severe discipline should be administered to them during the next exodus 
for the same purpose, and so to prepare them for the restored possession 
of their land. This was only partially fulfilled before and at the return 
from Babylon, and its full and final accomplishment is yet future. “The 
Jews now for long have been actually undergoing such discipline.”’ 


Ver. 33. “and with wrath poured out’’,—These words, says 
Schroeder, strictly exclude any reference to a future leading into Canaan, 
because that is a thing of blessing and not of wrath. He appeals to the 
later expression, “into the wilderness of the peoples’, maintaining that 
this means the conducting of Israel into another exile, an intensifying of 
their exile where Jehovah will contend with them. With this Keil agrees; 
but this argument is not sufficiently sustained. The wrath may be poured 
out on the nations from whom Jehovah’s people are delivered, or it may 
refer to the judgment upon Israel herself through which she is to pass into 
the blessings which await her. 


Ver. 34. “out from the peoples... out from the countries wherein 
ye are scattered’’,—Keil says that this excludes any reference to the then 
existing exile, because Israel was then dispersed in one land only and among 
one people. (KI.) . But this is not well maintained in view of the extensive 
empire of the king of Babylon. (Jer. 27.5.) That there was a partial 
fulfillment of this prophecy in the return from Babylon cannot upon this 
ground be disputed. 


Ver. 35. “and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples’, 
—Says Scofield here, ““The passage is a prophecy of the future judgment 


L77 


EZe ie 


upon Israel, regathered from all nations into the old wilderness of the 
wanderings. The issue of this judgment determines who of Israel in that 
day shall enter the land for kingdom blessing.’ It is, however, not only 
a question as to whether the expression should be so literally construed, but 
in case it is thus construed the wilderness ought the rather to be referred 
to the desert land lying between them and the land of Palestine, whether 
we think of the return as from Babylon alone, or from other nations as 
well whither they may have been scattered. (Hit. Ros.) The future 
guidance of Israel is depicted as a repetition of their earlier guidance from 
Egypt to Canaan, and as their Arabian desert experience was an experience 
of discipline preparatory to their entrance into Canaan (for which very 
reason the Arabian desert is called the ‘‘wilderness of Egypt’’, whereas it 
might, so far as geographical reasons are concerned, be called the “‘wilder- 
ness of Canaan’’, because it touched Canaan as well as Egypt), so is the 
wilderness experience into which they are now to be led to be one of 
discipline. 

Keil thinks the expression is a figurative one applied to the world of 
nations, from whom the Israelites were spiritually distinct, whilst out- 
wardly they were in the very midst of them and had to suffer from their 
oppression. ‘‘Consequently’’, he says, “‘the leading of Israel out of the 
nations is not a local and corporeal deliverance out of the heathen lands 
at all, but a spiritual severance from the heathen world in order that they 
might not be absorbed in it and so become inseparably blended with the 
heathen.”’ 


Keil’s conclusion is, however, by no means a necessary or unavoidable 
one. ‘The “peoples’’ are without doubt those referred to in verse 34 and 
out from whom God says He will bring Israel, and all this passage teaches, 
in case it is to be figuratively construed, is that in contrast to the literal 
“wilderness of Egypt’ the “wilderness of the peoples’ refers to Israel’s 
spiritual state or period of trial, discipline and purification while exiles 
among these “‘peoples’’. 


Fausset says, ‘“The full and final fulfillment is future. The wilderness 
state will comprise not only the transition period of their restoration, but 
the beginning of their occupancy of Palestine, a time in which they shall 
endure the sorest of all their chastisements, to ‘purge out the rebels’ (verse 
38), and then the remnant shall ‘all serve God tn the land’. ‘Thus the 
wilderness period does not denote locality, but their state intervening be- 
tween their rejection and their future restoration.” 


Schroeder says that the expression, “wilderness of the peoples’, and 
the “bringing out from the peoples’ as well must be taken spiritually as 
an aggravation of their exile condition, a spiritual experience of it, so that 
they should know and feel that they as the people of God were once more 
in the wilderness, but not at all in the same sense as before in the old 
wilderness wanderings on their way back from Egypt.’’ This is in sub- 
stantial agreement with Fausset. 


The difficulty arising from the fact that the disciplinary experience 
in the ‘‘wilderness of the peoples”’ is after the “bringing out from the peo- 
ples’ is relieved by some who adopt the figurative interpretation by 
referring the wilderness state to the transition period of discipline from 
the time Cyrus first decreed their restoration to the time of their complete 
settlement once more in their own land. Either this explanation must 


178 


EZERIEIS 


be adopted or that which takes the language literally and refers the “‘wilder- 
ness of the peoples’ to the desert land lying between Babylon and Palestine. 
All things considered, the literal construction is the simpler and by far the 
less objectionable. 


Ver. 36. Though God saved them out of Egypt, says Fausset, He 
afterwards destroyed in the wilderness them that believed not; so, though 
He brings the exiles out of Babylon, yet their wilderness state of chasten- 
ing and discipline continues, even after they were again in Palestine. 


Ver. 37. “And I will cause you to pass under the rod’’,—The under- 
lying figure is that of a shepherd causing his sheep to pass under his rod for 
the purpose of inspection and numbering (F. K. Hit.). We think, how- 
ever, its application here is that of the royal sceptre of Jehovah, agreeably 
to the expression “rule over’ in verse 33. The prominent idea in the 
figure being not so much subjection to government (Hen.), nor Jehovah’s 
special care and guardianship (K.), but rather that of the closest inspection, 
with a view to purification and separation, as is distinctly expressed in 


verse 38. (Schr.) 


“the bond of the covenant’’,—This is no doubt said with an allusion 
to the giving of the covenant-law at Sinai after the passage of the Red Sea. 
Both the threats of the covenant and the promises are bonds by which God 
trains His people, and Israel is to be constrained to glad submission to it. 


Ver. 38. As applied to the future restoration the words, “‘they shall 
not enter into the land of Israel’, must be taken symbolically. ‘‘Even 
though they enter Palestine’, says Fausset, “‘it shall be to them an exile 
state; they shall not enter into the spiritual state of the restored favor of 
God to His covenant people, which shall be given only to the remnant to 
be saved.”’ 


Ver. 39. This is not a command, but is really a powerful appeal 
to repent. It is as if He said, If ye will not serve me, then go and serve 
your idols knowing now, as you do, the full consequence. 

“and hereafter also’’,—-This is hardly to be connected with “serve’’, 
as if God anticipated the same apostacy afterwards (F. D.), nor can it be 
closely connected with what follows, as if it meant ‘‘and hereafter also, if 
ye will hearken to me, profane ye my name no more’ (Ma. Ros.). It is 
much better to allow it to stand by itself and take the following particle 
in the sense of an oath, i: e., verily, and translate “‘but afterwards (i. e., in 
the future) ... verily, ye will hearken unto me, and my holy name ye 
shall no more profane’, etc. This is in virtual agreement with the mar- 
ginal rendering, and thus it is taken by the majority. 

Schroeder allows the expression to stand with a dash—yjoining it 
neither with what goes before or with what follows, and reads as follows, 
“Sf ye will not hearken unto me (in the present), then ye shall no more 
profane’, etc. [he meaning, however, in any case is the same: Jehovah 
will have no hypocrisy; if they will not give up their idols, they cannot 
serve Him, and if they will not serve Jehovah alone, they may serve their 
idols, but He will not permit His holy name to be thus profaned by hypo- 
critical worship. 


Ver. 40. “all the house of Israel, all of them’’,—This wording 
179 


BZEKIBE: 


seems to point to the healing of the breach between the house of Judah 
and that of Israel. Kausset says, “‘not merely individuals such as consti- 
tute the elect Church now; but the whole nation, to be followed by the. 
conversion of the Gentile nations.”’ 


Ver. 41. The people purified by judgment shall be acceptable to 
Jehovah as a sweet savour, and in them, as a holy people, the holiness 
of their God shall be exhibited to the heathen. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 


25 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: And they shall dwell securely’ therein; 


When I shall have gathered the house of 
Israel from the peoples among whom 
they are scattered, and shall be sancti- 
fied in them in the sight of the nations, 
then shall they dwell in their own land 


yea, they shall build houses, and plant 
vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when 
I have executed judgments upon all 
those that do them despite round about 
them; and they shall know that I am 


which I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 Jehovah their God. 


Vers. 25,26. RESTORATION TO THEIR OWN LAND PROMISED To 


ISRAEL. 


This, as Fausset would have us believe, was fulfilled in part only at 
the restoration from Babylon. ‘The full accomplishment is yet future 
when Israel under Christ shall be the center of Christendom; of which an 
earnest was given in the woman from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon who 


sought the Saviour. (Matt. 15.21,24.) 


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 


21 In that day will I cause a horn to 
bud forth unto the house of Israel, and 
I will give thee the opening of the 
mouth in the midst of them; and they 
shall know that I am Jehovah. 


Vero ih 


“In that day’’,—i. e., primarily in the day when the judgment upon 
Egypt is executed by Nebuchadnezzar. 

“T will cause a horn-to bud forth’’,—The horn is the symbol of 
might and power. ‘The very downfall of Egypt will be the signal for 
the rise of Israel because of God’s covenant with her. Her ancient glory 
will begin to revive, which, says Fausset, is an earnest of Israel’s full glory 
under the Messiah. : 

The horn which the Lord will then cause to bud forth unto the house 
of Israel is not the Messiah, but is the Messianic salvation, and the reason 
for thus connecting this salvation with the overthrow of Egypt is that 
Egypt, as Havernick says, presents itself to the prophet as the power in 
which the idea of heathenism was embodied and circumscribed; or as Keil 
says, ‘In the might of Egypt the world-power is shattered, and the over- 
throw of the world-power is the dawn of the unfolding of the might of 
the kingdom of God.” 


Schmieder has aptly observed that the annihilation of.every earthly 
power that set itself:against the Lord is to the prophet a type of the world’s 


180 


ISRAEL’S ANCIENT GLORY TO BE REVIVED. 


BYE RIB 


judgment. Thus “in that day’ looks as well to the future, to what 
Hengstenberg calls ‘‘an ideal day’, to the time of the Messiah, as Ewald 
has properly recognized, to the “day of the Lord’ of Chap. 30.3, as 
Schroeder puts it. 

“T will give thee the open mouth in the midst of them (Israel) ’’,— 
Fausset thinks this means, ‘““When thy (the prophet’s) predictions shall 
have come to pass, thy words henceforth shall be more heeded.”’ 


PrAawleR eT HIR EY, 


Alas for the day! 3 For the day is 
near, even the day of Jehovah is near; 
it shall be a day of clouds, a time of 
the nations. 


Ver. 3. THE DAY OF JEHOVAH DRAWING NIGH. 


The prophet here announces that the day of the Lord’s judgment 
upon the nations is near at hand, and that it is about to burst upon Egypt. 
To the prophet the judgment upon Egypt was the beginning of a world- 
wide judgment upon all the heathen enemies of God. 

“tt shall be a day of clouds’’,—The day of the Lord was always a day 
of judgment and of taking vengeance. When the clear light of day comes 
to be veiled it is because of a threatening storm, and the wrath of God is 
thus accordingly conceived as about to break forth. 


“a time of the nattons’,—i. e., for taking vengeance upon them. 


C.K. Schr. ) 


CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR 


11 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: and will strengthen that which was 
Behold, I myself, even I, will search for sick: but the fat and the strong I will 
my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 destroy: I will feed them in justice. 
As a shepherd secketh out his flock in_ 17 And as for you, O my flock, thus 
the day that he is among his sheep that saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I judge 
are scattered abroad, so will I seek out between sheep and sheep, the rams and 
my sheep; and I will deliver them out the he-goats.’ 18 Seemeth it a small 
of all places whither they have been thing unto you to have. fed upon the 
scattered in “the cloudy and dark day. good pasture, but ye must tread down 
13 And J will bring them out from the with your feet the residue of your pas- 
peoples, and gather them from the coun- ture? and to have drunk of the clear 
tries, and will bring them into their waters, but ye must foul the residue 
own land; and I will feed them upon with your feet? 19 And as for my 

' the mountains of Israel, by the water- sheep, they eat:that which ye have trod- 
- courses, and in all the inhabited places den with your feet, and they drink that 
of the country. 14.I will feed them which ye have fouled with your feet. 

with good pasture; and upon the moun- | 20, Therefore thus saith the Lord 
tains of the height of Israel shall their Jehovah unto them: Behold, I, even I, 
fold be: there shall they lie down in a will judge between the fat sheep and the 
good fold; and on fat. pasture shall lean sheep. ,21 Because ye thrust with 
they feed upon the mountains of Israel. side and with shoulder, and push all 
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my the diseased with your horns, till ye 
sheep, and I will cause them to lie have scattered them abroad: 22 there- 
down, saith the Lord Jehovah. 16 I fore will I save my flock; and they shall 
will seek that which was lost, and will no more be a prey; and I will judge 
‘bring back that which was driven away, between sheep and sheep. 23 And I 
and will bind up that which was broken, will set up one shepherd over them, and 


"Heb. the day of clouds and thick darkness. 
181 


EVA cL ih oy We 


he shall feed them, even my servant 
David; he shall feed them, and he shall 
be their shepherd. 24 And I, Jehovah, 
will be their God, and my servant David 
prince among them; I, Jehovah, have 
spoken it. 

25 And I will make with them a 
covenant of peace, and will cause evil 
beasts to cease out of the land; and 
they shall dwell securely in the wilder- 
ness, and sleep in the woods. 26 And 
I will make them and the places round 
about my hill a blessing; and I will 
cause the shower to come down in its 
season; there shall be showers of bless- 
ing. 27 And the tree of the field shall 
yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield 
its increase, and they shall be secure in 
their land; and they shall know that I 





am Jehovah, when I have broken the 
bars of their yoke, and have delivered 
them out of the hand of those that made 
bondmen of them. 28 And they shall 
no more be a prey to the nations, neither 
shall the beasts of the earth devour 
them; but they shall dwell securely, and 
none shall make them afraid. 29 And 
I will raise up unto them a “plantation 
for renown, and they shall be no more 
*consumed with famine in the land, 
neither bear the shame of the nations 
any more. 30 And they shall know 
that I, Jehovah their God, am with 
them, and that they, the house of Israel, 
are my people, saith the Lord Jehovah. 
31 And ye my sheep, the sheep of my 
pasture, are men, and I am your God, 
saith the Lord Jehovah. 


2Or, plant 
3Heb. taken away 


Vets dle. 


Ver. 12. “‘tn the cloudy and dark day’’,—Because these words are 
apparently taken from Joel 2.2, Hitzig, Klieforth, Fausset and others con- 
nect them with the principal clause and read, ‘‘I will deliver them in the 
dark and cloudy day out of all the places whither they have been scattered’’. 
But the reason given is entirely insufficient and it is much better with our 
text to connect them with the word “‘scattered’’. This is not then the day 
of God’s judgment upon all nations, the great day of the Lord, but it is, 
as Schroeder and Keil observe, the day of dispersion of the people of Israel, 
ee oes: which befell them through the instrumentality of the 

eathen. 


Ver. 16. “‘the fat and the strong I will destroy’’,— Another side of 
the pastoral fidelity of Jehovah. The image is from fat cattle that wax. 
refractory. The fat and strong sheep are characterized in verses 18 and 
19 and they refer to those rendered wanton by prosperity, the rich and 
strong, presumably the rulers and those occupying superior positions of 
the nation who oppress the humble and poor and treat them with severity. 


Ver. 17. The sheep are now themselves directly addressed. Jeho- 
vah judges between “sheep and sheep’, i. e., between one class of citizens 
and another, and will put an end to the oppressive conduct of the fat and 
strong ones. He then, by what Schroeder calls an “enlarging apposition’’, 
designates the class about to be punitively judged, “‘the rams and the he- 
goats’, the idea being not that of a separation of the sheep from the goats, 
but that the sheep will be separated from the sheep in such a manner that 
the ‘fat and strong’’ among the sheep will be placed with the “‘ranas and 
the he-goats’’ and kept apart from the others. In the next verse Jehovah 
proceeds to address the rams and the he-goats. 


Ver. 21. “‘scattered them abroad’’,—Grotius thinks, and perhaps 
rightly, that there is an allusion here to the carrying away to Babylon. 


Ver. 22. ‘‘they shall no more be a prey’’,—Says Fausset, ‘‘After the 
restoration from Babylon the Jews were delivered in some degree from 


182 


ISRAEL RESTORED AND THE DAVIDIC KINGDOM SET UP. 


EZERIBE 


the oppression, not only of foreigners but from their own great people 
~ (Neh. 5.1-19). The full and final fulfillment of this prophecy is future.’ 


Ver. 23. “And I will set up one shepherd’’,—The Messianic hope 
closes each prophetic vision of the future. Compare John 10.14, where 
Jesus, doubtless thinking of this prophecy, says, ‘‘J am the good shepherd’. 

‘That the verse points to the Messiah, who is called David in Isa. 55.4, 
there can be no doubt. In Chap. 37.24 (compare Jer. 23.6) it is ex- 
pressly said that the David to be raised up is to feed Israel and Judah, the 
two peoples that had before been divided. 


“my servant David’’,—He is called “servant’’ not alone with refer- 
ence to the obedience rendered (Hav.), but to the fact of His election 
as well. (Hen.) Says Klieforth, ‘“This shoot of David comprehends in 
His one person the whole shepherd-offices of Israel, and fulfills them; they 
are to be done away with Him, but no other king over the people of God 
shall relieve Him.” 


Ver. 25. “And I will make with them a covenant of peace’’,—1i. e., 
such as is the natural consequence of the covenant relationship of God. 
It is not to be restricted to a covenant which God will make with the beasts 
in favor of His people, but the thought is a more comprehensive one and 
accords with Lev. 26.4-6, which is to be realized for the first time only 
under the Messiah. 


Some think the evil beasts are the hostile human potencies and that 
the driving of the heathen world from its hitherto domineering position 
must be meant (Hav. Hen.); but this is not at all necessary nor a likely 
_ explanation. 


Klieforth thinks of a literal return to the paradisical state is the final 
fulfillment of this picture. 


Ver. 26. ‘the places round about my hill’’,—This is by no means 
to be interpreted with Hengstenberg as referring to the heathen nations, 
but means just what it says, i. e., the land of Palestine round about Jeru- 
salem. The thought is that God will make both the people and the land 
a blessing. (K. Kl. Hav.) 


“showers of blessing’ ,—i. e., the blessing brought by the fertilizing 
showers of their season. 


Ver. 28. “And they shall no more be a prey to the nations’ ,—'‘ The 
whole passage (11-31)’’; says Scofield, ‘‘speaks of a restoration yet future, 
for the remnant which returned after the seventy years and their posterity 
were continually under the Gentile yoke, until in A. D. 70 they were 
finally driven from the land into a dispersion which still continues.”’ 


Ver. 29. “‘a plantation for renown’’,—What they planted should 
grow and prosper so as to be a glory for them, and the nations instead of 
scoffing at the heretofore fallen and ruined condition of the people would 
be convinced from the blessing upon them that they were indeed the people 
of God. The reading of our text is much to be preferred to that of the 
margin, which Fausset adopts and accepts as pointing to the Messiah. (K. 
Wh. KI. Hit. Schr.) 

Hengstenberg thinks the reference is to “‘a renewal of the paradisical 
plantation’’, but not only is there nothing in the connection for this, but 


183 


EZEKIEL 





Chap. 36.99 shows that under these conditions there is to be “‘the rich 
distribution of harvest blessings’. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX 


In the fitst fifteen verses of this chapter a message is given to the moun- 
tains of Israel. The address is’ really to the land, the mountains being 
mentioned doubtless in antithesis to the mountains of Seir in the previous 
chapter. Because the heathen rejoice that the Holy Land has been laid 
waste and fallen to them for a possession, therefore the devastated land 
shall be sown again and become fruitful and be given once more to Jeho- 
vah’s own people. 


8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye 
shall shoot forth your branches, and 
yield your fruit to my people Israel; 
for they are at hand to come. 


Ver. 8. RESTORATION FORETOLD. 


“for they are at hand to come’’,—Some explain this in that the 
Israelites are about to return to their land, the primary reference being to 
the return from Babylon which was “‘at hand’’ or comparatively near. 
‘This, however, only in part fulfilled the prediction, the full and final bless- 
ing being yet future, the restoration from Babylon being but an earnest of 
the greater restoration yet to come. (F. Wh. KI. Hen. Schr.) 


However, most commentators say the Israelites are not the subject 
to be supplied and that the reference is to the blessings just promised, the 
branches and the fruits which the mountains are to bear. 


In the next section of this chapter (verses 16-23) the reason is given 
why the Lord-had scattered His people among the heathen. It was be- 
cause of their incorrigible wickedness and the defiling of their land by sin, 
and the necessity, as Fairbairn says, ‘‘of God’s vindicating the cause of His 
holiness by exercising upon them the severity of His displeasure’. 


In the last section of the chapter (verses 24-38) the purpose of the 
Lord for their future good is unfolded. There comes a promise first of 
restoration to their land, then of renewing their hearts to holiness and then 
of restoring them once more to a flourishing condition, after which is 
noticed the impression which the whole was to produce upon the minds 
of others. 


24 For I will take you from among shall dwell in the land that I gave to 
the nations, and gather you out of all your fathers; and ye shall be my people, 
the countries, and will bring you into and I will be your God. 29 And I will 
your own land. 25 And I will sprinkle save you from all your uncleannesses: 
clean water upon you, and ye shall be and I will call for the grain, and will: 
clean: from all your filthiness, and from multiply it, and lay no famine upon 
all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit 
A new heart also will I give you, and a of the tree, and the increase of the field, 
new spirit will I put within you; and that ye may receive no more the re- 
I will take away the stony heart out of proach of famine among the nations. 
your flesh, and I will give you a heart 31 Then shall ye remember your evil 
of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit ways, and your doings that were not 
within you, and cause you to walk in good; and ye shall loathe yourselves in 
my statutes, and ye shall keep mine your own sight for your iniquities and 
ordinances, and do them. 28 And ye for your abominations. 


184 


eS 


Vers. 24-38. 


from Babylon. 


EZEKIEL 


32 Not for your sake, *do I this, saith 
the Lord Jehovah, be it known unto 
you: be ashamed and confounded for 
your ways, O house of Israel. 33 Thus 
saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day that 
I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I 
will cause the cities to be inhabited, and 
the waste places shall be builded. 34 
And the land that was desolate shall be 
tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the 
sight of all that passed by. 35 And 
they shall say, This land that was deso- 
late is become like the garden of Eden; 
and the waste and desolate and ruined 

10r, dol work 


Ver. 24. 


cities are fortified and inhabited. 36 
Then the nations that are left round 
about you shall know that I, Jehovah, 
have builded the ruined places, and 
planted that which was desolate; I, Je- 
hovah, have spoken it, and I will do it. 
37 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: For 
this, moreover, will I be inquired of by 
the house of Israel, to do it for them: 
I will increase them with men like a 
flock. 38 As the *flock for sacrifice, as 
the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed 
feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled 
with flocks of men: and they shall 
know that I am Jehovah. 

2Heb. flock of holy things 


ISRAEL’S RESTORATION AND CONVERSION. 


This prediction was primarily fulfilled in the restoration 
It is, says Fausset, ‘‘ultimately to be fulfilled in the restor- 


ation from all countries whither the Jews are now dispersed’’. 


Vers. 25-38. (See comments under Chap. 11.17-19.) 


CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN 


This chapter contains two revelations from God. In the first the 
prophet is given a vision of the resurrection of Israel to new life (verses 
1-14), the latter verses of which (verses 11-14) being the explanation of 
the vision contained in the former. 


11 Then he said unto me, Son of 
man, these bones are the whole house 


I will bring you into the land of Israel. 
13 And ye’shall know that I am Jeho- 


of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones 
are dried up, and our hope is lost; we 
are clean cut off. 12 Therefore proph- 
esy, and say unto them, Thus saith the 
Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will open 
your graves, and cause you to come up 


vah, when I have opened your graves, 
and caused you to come up out of your 
graves, O my people. 14 And I will 
put my *Spirit in you, and ye shall live, 
and I will place you in your own land: 
and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, 
have spoken it and performed it, saith 


Jehovah. 
10r, breath 


THE VISION OF THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES EXPLAINED. 


out of your graves, O my people: and 


Vers. 11-14. 


Ver. 11. “‘the whole house of Israel’’,—i. e., both tribes, Judah and 
Israel united. 
Ver. 12. The vision of the preceding verses is in these verses 


(11-14) explained as setting forth the raising up of the nation of Israel 
that has been given up to death, although many (Ca. Kl. Jer.) think the 
vision was intended to symbolize the raising of all the dead in general, 
the resurrection. To the people, speaking as they did in verse 11 the 
prophet is told to announce that the Lord will open their graves and bring 


ay out, put His breath of life in them and lead them back into their own 
and. 


“T will open your graves’’,—1. e., the abodes of their exile, since the 
people in exile considered themselves like dead men. 


185 


EZERIEE 


The passage from verses 1 to 10 has been used by the Fathers and 
many orthodox commentators as a basis for the doctrine of the resurrec- 
tion from the dead. This may be quite appropriate, but what we are 
concerned about is whether it is to be taken as a direct and immediate 
prophecy of that great event which is still in the future, or merely as a type 
or figure of the waking up to new life of the Israel then dead in captivity. 
That it is the latter is seen not only from the fact that in the vision itself 
there are certain features to be found that do not apply to the literal resur- 
rection of the dead, but as well from the fact that no other explanation can 
exhaust the meaning of the words in the first clause of verse 11. 


Of course everybody acknowledges that verses 11-14 predict the rais- 
ing to life of the nation of Israel, and the question arises how this is to be 
brought into harmony with the explanation which takes the first ten verses 
as a direct prophecy of the resurrection of the dead at the last day. 


Jerome thought to resolve the matter by making the words, “‘these 
bones are the whole house of Israel’ refer to the first resurrection, the resur- 
rection of the saints. But this, as Keil has noted for us, ‘‘cannot be recon- 
ciled either with the words or with the context and has evidently originated 
in perplexity’”’. 

Klieforth would have us believe that verses 11-14 do not furnish an 
explanation of the vision at all, but simply make one application of it to 
the resusitating of the Israelitish nation. But certainly this does not do 
justice to the words, “these bones are the whale house of Israel’. ‘The 
bones in the valley therefore must represent the whole house of Israel alone 
and not the resurrection of all men in general. 


15 The word of Jehovah came again own land: 22 and I will make them 
unto me, saying, 16 And thou, son of one nation in the land, upon the moun- 
man, take thee one stick, and write tains of Israel; and one king shall be 
upon it, For Judah, and for the children king to them all; and they shall be no 
of Israel his companions: then take an- more two nations, neither shall they be 
other stick, and write upon it, For divided into two kingdoms any more at ~ 
Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and ‘for all; 23 neither shall they defile them- 
all the house of Israel his companions: selves any more with their idols, nor 
17 and join them for thee one to an- with their detestable things, nor with 
other into one stick, that they may be- any of their transgressions; but I will 
come one in thy hand. 18 And when save them “out of all their dwelling- 
the children of thy people shall speak places, wherein they have sinned, and 
unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show will cleanse them: so shall they be my 
us what thou meanest by these? 19 people, and I will be their God. 
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord 24 And my servant David shall be ° 


Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick king over them; and they all shall have - 
of Joseph, which is in the hand of one shepherd: they shall also walk in 


Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his mine ordinances, and observe my stat- 
companions; and I will put them *with utes, and do them. 25 And they shall 
it, even with the stick of Judah, and dwell in the land that I have given unto 
make them one stick, and they shall be Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers 
one in my hand. 20 And the sticks dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, 
whereon thou writest shall be in thy they, and their children, and their chil- 
hand before their eyes. 21 And say dren’s children, for ever: and David my 
unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jeho- servant shall be their prince for ever. 
vah: Behold, I will take the children of 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of 
Israel from among the nations, whither peace with them; it shall be an ever- 
they are gone, and will gather them on lasting covenant with them; and [ will 
every side, and bring them into their “place them, and multiply them, and will 
10r, of %Or, with'a slight change of text, from all 
Or, together with him unto (or, to be) the their backslidings : 
stick of Judah 4Or, give it them 


186 


EZoRIEL 


set my sanctuary in the midst of them And the nations sball know that *I am 
for evermore. 27 My tabernacle also Jehovah that sanctifieth Israel, when my 
shall be with them; and I will be their sanctuary shall be in the midst of them 
God, and they shall be my people. 28 for evermore. 

5Or, over ®Or, 1, Jehovah, do sanctify Israel 


Vers. 15-28. "THE REUNITED TRIBES RESTORED To THEIR LAND. 


In this section of the chapter we have a prophecy of the reuniting of 
the two and the ten tribes and the bringing of them again into their own 
land. 


“It is impossible,’ says Scofield, ‘“‘seriously to pretend that this 
prophecy has ever been fulfilled in any sense. We have here a promise that 
the ten and two tribes shall no longer be divided into two kingdoms, and 
that the earthly center of the worship of God shall be in Jerusalem.”’ 


Ver. 22. “and one king shall be king to them all’’,—The one king 
is the Shepherd David, whose reign is to be forever (verse 25). In this 
verse the promise first made in Chap. 11.17, and repeated many times, is 
made once more. 


Ver. 23. “but I will save them out of all their dwelling places’’,— 
This has been variously explained. 


Hitzig, Hengstenberg and others think the “dwelling places’ refer to 
their settlements in foreign lands, and that the meaning is that they will 
be removed from the scene of their idolatries during the exile in these 
lands. Most writers, however, think the “dwelling places’ must be those 
of Canaan. 


Hengstenberg takes the words in a spiritual rather than a local sense. 
Jehovah will first purify their hearts and then through their influence the 
land round about will be purified and made holy. But the “‘cleansing’’ in 
the clause before us takes place before the removal. 


Klieforth, following the usual application of the words to Canaan, 
says the idea is ‘‘a leading out of these dwelling places’, and therefore 
denotes the leading over of Israel from the present Canaan, or the Canaan 
of this life, to the glorified, new and eternal Canaan. But Keil has very 
properly said that such an interpretation is irreconcilable with the words 
themselves and the context, while verse 25 shows that it is not the glorified 
Canaan in which they are to dwell, but in the earthly Canaan in which 
their fathers dwelt. 

Redpath prefers the marginal rendering of our text, “I will save them 
from all their backslidings’’. But this calls for a change in the text, 
which is not only unnecessary but hardly justifiable. 

Keil, Whitby and others maintain that it means that God will remove 
from their dwelling places in Canaan everything that could offer them 
an inducement to sin. Jehovah will preserve them from the sinful influ- 
ences of their dwelling places, which in other days had offered them such 
inducements to sin through the idolatry and moral corruption of the 
Canaanites who were left in the land. This we are inclined to think is 
the simple explanation. 


Ver. 25. The David, who is Christ, will so rule over the reunited 
people that they will not be divided any more into two peoples and two 


187 


EZEKIEL 


kingdoms, and both the dwelling of Israel in Canaan and the government 
of David will be an everlasting one, as this verse together with verses “As 
and 28 declare. 


Ver. 26. “I will make a covenant of peace with them’’,—The un- 
changeable covenant of grace so far superior to the old covenant of the 
law. ‘This covenant, already expressed in Chap. 34.25, comprehends all 
the saving good which the Lord will bestow upon His people. 


“will set my sanctuary in the midst of them’’,—Whatever further 
future reference may be contained in these words, and in the words of this 
entire section, it is certain that they find the commencement of their ful- 
fillment in the days of Christ and during this present dispensation. 


Hengstenberg says, ‘“This promise has at all events come to be glor- 
iously fulfilled in the election which forms the stem of the Christian 
Church, 3 


Jerome says the sanctuary cannot be the temple built by Zerubbabel 
because this temple did not stand forever, and all these things are to be 
taken as referring to the Church in the time of the Saviour, when His 
tabernacle was placed 1 in the Church. 


Keil says, ‘“The sanctuary which God will place forever among His 
people is the sanctuary seen by Ezekiel in Chap. 40, and this is merely a 
figurative representation of the dwelling of God in the midst of His people 
through His Son and the Holy Spirit, which began to be. realized at the 
first coming of Christ, who ‘became flesh and tabernacled among men’ 
(John 1.14) and is continued in the spiritual dwelling of God in the 
hearts of believers (I Cor. 3.16).”’ 


As to any further fulfillment, Keil continues in the quotation by 
saying this dwelling of God with His people “‘will be completed at the 
second coming of our Lord in ‘the tabernacle of God with men’ of the 
new Jerusalem, of which the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the 
temple, since Israel will then first have become in truth the people of God 
(Reval 22g... 


“The prophecy’, says Whitby, ‘‘can never be fulfilled except by 
the ingathering of God’s spiritual Israel into their permanent inheritance, 
the Christian Church and the heavenly Canaan.” 


“The territory of the blessing’, says Fairbairn, “is no longer Canaan, 
but the region of which Christ is King and Lord.” 

“The prophecy is one of the future Church of salvation, the realized 
kingdom of priests’, says Schroeder, who, with Vitringa, agrees with Keil, 
and refers to John 1.14; I Cor. 3.16, and Rev. 21.3; 7.15. 


Ver. 27. “My tabernacle also shall be with them’’,—‘‘My taber- 
nacle’’ really means ‘“‘my dwelling’ and should perhaps be so read in the 
text. The change in form from the saying concerning His “‘sanctuary’’ 
is not unintentional, and the word used is in reality not “with them’’, as 
in our text, but “‘over them’’, as in the margin. (K. Hit. Hen. Schr.) 

Hitzig and Schroeder think the reference is to God’s dwelling place 
in heaven over the temple of Jerusalem. But this is rather gratuitous and 
takes from the text much of its richness of thought. 


Both Keil and Hengstenberg think the reference is to God’s “‘protect- 
ing power’, afforded, as Hengstenberg thinks, in the sanctuary of God, or 


188 


BZEKIED 


perhaps better, as Keil takes it, who says that the expression is drawn from 
‘the site of the temple, towering above the city, and transferred to the 
dwelling of God in the midst of His people, to give prominence to the 
protecting power and saving grace of the God who rules in Israel. 


“All this is the prelude’, says Redpath, ‘‘to the erection of the sanc- 
tuary and tabernacle in the ideal Holy Land in Chap. 43.7, the same idea 
being in Rev. 21.3.” 


Fairbairn says these prophecies are descriptions of the future under 
the form and image of the past—not as if the past were actually to return 
again, but that its general spirit and character were to revive. 


Hengstenberg says, ““The New Testament knows nothing of a future 
possession of the land of Canaan.”’ 


Perhaps this section of Old Testament Scriptures, as much as any, 
is important in helping to decide the question as to how we are to under- 
stand the promises which tell of the restoration of all Israel to Canaan, 
to the land given to their fathers and where they are to dwell forever; 
whether, in a literal manner, by restoring the Jews to Palestine, or in a 
spiritual way, by the gathering together of the Israelites converted to God 
and introduced into the kingdom founded by Christ, in which latter case, 
Canaan, as the site of the Old Testament kingdom of God, would be a 
typical or symbolical designation of the earth wherever the sway and rule 
of Christ extends. 


The exponents of the literal interpretation expect the Messiah to 
restore the Jewish nation to Palestine, re-establish the kingdom of David, 
rebuild the temple and once more institute the sacrificial worship of the 
-Levitical law. Many of the deepest students of Scripture today believe 
that this, with more or less variation, is the only consistent explanation 
of the prophecies under consideration. Others, perhaps the majority, give 
to these Scriptures the spiritualistic interpretation noted above. (See re- 
marks under the last section of Ezekiel’s prophecy, page 196.) 


CHAPTERS THIRTY-EIGHT AND THIRTY-NINE 


“Gog, in the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, 
will invade the restored land of Israel from the far distant northern land 
_ by the appointment of God in the last times, and with a powerful army 
of numerous nations (Chap. 38.1-9), with the intention of plundering 
Israel, now dwelling in security, that the Lord may sanctify Himself upon 
him before all the world (verses 10-16). But when Gog, of whom earlier 
prophets have already prophesied, shall fall upon Israel, he is to be 
destroyed by a wrathful judgment from the Lord, that the nations may 
know that the Lord is God (verses 17-23). On the mountains of Israel 
will Gog with all his hosts and nations succumb to the judgment of God 
(Chap. 39.1-8). The inhabitants of the cities of Israel will spend seven 
years in burning the weapons of the fallen foe, and seven months in bury- 
ing the corpses in a valley, which will receive its name from this, so as to 
purify the land (verses 9-16); whilst in the meantime all the birds and 
wild beasts will satiate themselves with the flesh and blood of the fallen 
(verses 17-20). By this judgment will all the nations as well as Israel 
know that it was on account of its sins that the Lord formerly gave up 


189 


EZERIBE 


Israel into the power of the heathen, but that now He will no more forsake 
His redeemed people, because He has poured out His Spirit upon it.”’ 
(Keil. ) 

The objections to a literal interpretation of the passage, as given by 
Fairbairn, are as follows: 

1. The ideal nature of the name God; 2. The selection of the 
nations most remote from Israel and therefore most unlikely to act in con- 
cert; 3. The whole spoil of Israel could not have maintained the myriads 
of invaders a single day or given a handful to a tithe of their number; 4. 
The wood of the invaders’ weapons was to serve for fuel to Israel for 
seven years; 5. All Israel were to take seven months to the burying of the 
dead. If a million Israelites were to bury each two corpses a day, the 
aggregate buried in the 180 working days of the seven months would be 
300,000,000 corpses; 6. ‘The smell from the unburied corpses, before 
they could be buried, would make it impossible to live in the pestilential 
stench; 7. The scene of the Lord’s controversy here is different from that 
in Isa. 34.6 where it is Edom, thus creating a discrepancy; 8. God’s deal- 
ings with His enemies is too grossly carnal for Messianic times. All of 
which, Fairbairn thinks, demands a non-literal interpretation, the final 
triumph of Messiah’s truth over the most distant and barbarous nations 
being represented as a literal conflict on a gigantic scale. 

Fausset, however, says that though the details are not literal, the 
distinctiveness in the picture gives probability to a more definite and gen- 
erally literal interpretation, and that what Ezekial stated more generally, 
Rev. 20.7-9 states more definitely as to the antichristian confederacy 
which is to assail the beloved city. 


CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT. 


1 And the word of Jehovah came years thou shalt come into the land that 
unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, set is *brought back from the sword, that 
thy face toward Gog, of the land of is gathered out of many peoples, upon 
Magog, the *prince of Rosh, Meshech, the mountains of Israel, which have 
and Tubal, and prophesy against him, been a continual waste; but it is 
3 and say, Thus saith the Lord Jeho- brought forth out of the peoples, and 
vah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, they shall dwell securely, all of them. 
*prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: 9 And thou shalt ascend, thou shalt 
4 and I will turn thee about, and put come like a storm, thou shalt be like a 
hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring cloud to cover the land, thou, and all 
thee forth, and all thine army, horses thy hordes, and many peoples with thee. 
and horsemen, all of them clothed in 10 Thus saith the Lord, Jehovah: It 
full armor, a great company with buck- shall come to pass in that day, that 
ler and shield, all of them handling things shall come into thy mind, and 
swords: 5 Persia, Cush. and Put with thou shalt devise an evil device: 11 and 
them, all of them with shield and hel- thou shalt say, I will go up to the ‘land 
met; .6 Gomer, and all his hordes; of unwalled villages; I will go to them 
the house of Togarmah in the utter- that are at rest, that dwell securaly, all 
most parts of the north, and all his of them dwelling without walls, and 
hordes; even many peoples with thee. having neither bars nor gates; 12 to 

7 Be thou prepared, yea, prepare take the spoil and to take the prey; 
thyself, thou, and all thy companies to turn thy hand against the waste 
that are assembled unto thee, and be places that are now inhabited, and 
thou a “guard unto them. 8 After many against the people that are gathered out 
days thou shalt be visited: in the latter of the nations, that have gotten cattle 

10r, chief prince of Meshech 3Or, restored : 

2Or, commander 4Or, an open country 


190 


EZEKIEL 


and goods, that dwell in the °middle 
of the earth. 13 Sheba, and Dedan, 


and the merchants of Tarshish, with all 
the young lions thereof, shall say unto 
thee, Art thou come to take the spoil? 
hast thou assembled thy company to 
take the prey? to carry away silver and 
gold, to take away cattle and goods, to 
take great spoil? 

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy, 
and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord 
Jehovah: In that day when my people 
Israel dwelleth securely, shalt thou not 
know it? 15 And thou shalt come 
from thy place out of the uttermost 
parts of the north, thou, and many peo- 
ples with thee, all of them riding upon 
horses, a great company and a mighty 
army; 16 and thou shalt come up 
against my people Israel, as a cloud to 
cover the land: it shall come to pass in 
the latter days, that I will bring thee 
against my land, that the nations may 
know me, when I shall be sanctified 
in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. 

17 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: 
Art thou he of whom I spake in old 
time by my servants the prophets of 
Israel, that prophesied in those days for 
many years that I would bring thee 


against them? 18 And it shall come 
to pass in that day, when God shall 
come against the land of Israel, saith the 
Lord Jehovah, that my wrath shall 
come up into my nostrils. 19 For in 
my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath 
have I spoken, Surely in that day there 
shall be a great shaking in the land of 
Israel; 20 so that the fishes of the sea, 
and the birds of the heavens, and the 
beasts of the field, and all creeping 
things that creep upon the earth, and 
all the men that are upon the face of the 
eatth, shall shake at my presence, and 
the mountains shall be thrown down, 
and the steep places shall fall, and every 
wall shall fall to the ground. 21 And 
I will call for a sword against him unto 
all my mountains, saith the Lord Jeho- 
vah: every man’s sword shall be against 
his brother. 22 And with pestilence 
and with blood will I enter into judg- 
ment with him; and I will rain upon 
him and upon his hordes, and upon the 
many peoples that are with him, an 
overflowing shower, and great hail- 
stones, fire, and brimstone. 23 And I 
will magnify myself, and sanctify my- 
self, and I will make myself known in 
the eyes of many nations; and they 
shall know that I am Jehovah. 


5Heb. zavel. See Judg. 9.37 


Vers. 1-23. THE DESTRUCTION OF GOG AND HIs GREAT ARMY OF 
NATIONS. 
Ver. 2. Gog is perhaps a name arbitrarily extracted from the coun- 


try, Magog, the latter being the name of a people mentioned in Gen. 10.2 
as descended from Japheth, being according to tradition the great Scythian 
people. The word is used with the definite article, “‘the’’, here and thus 
seems to designate the well known people from the time of Genesis. The 
title ““Gog*’ may have been a common one for the kings of that country 
as the title ‘“Pharaoh’’ was for the rulers of Egypt. 


“Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal’’,—These were all peoples dwelling 
doubtless in the country of Taurus, and reckoned among the Scythian 
tribes, thus belonging to the neighborhood of Magog. ‘These names 
might have been adopted by Ezekiel from the historical fact familiar to 
the men of his time, as ideal titles for the foes of the last great and ungodly 
confederacy against the people of Jehovah. 


“Ver. 5. “Cush’’ and “Put’’ refer to the Ethiopians and the Libyans, 
while Gomer of verse 6 refers to the Celtic Cimmerians, and Togarmah 
to the Armenians of the Caucasus south of Iberia. 

Thus peoples living at the extreme north and east and south, on the 

borders of the then known world, make up the army of Gog. Where are 
* their former foes, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Syrians, and the old im- 
perial powers of Egypt and Assyria and Babylon? ‘These will all have 
passed from the stage of history, and the people of God will have spread 


191 


EZERIBE 


so widely over the earth that its foes will, as Keil says, be found only on 
the borders of the civilized world. 


Ver. 7, “and be thou a guard unto them’’,—Spoken perhaps half 
ironically, i. e., if thou canst; for it will be seen immediately how the 
matter turns out. 


Ver. 8. “After many days thou shalt be visited’’,—These words 
remind one so vividly of Isa. 24.22 that it is impossible not to see here a 
play on the words of that passage. The words are used here as there in 
the sense of visited in wrath (K. F. Del. Schr.), “visited” being, as Keil 
Says, a more general idea than punishment. . 

Havernick renders the word ‘‘missed’’, or ‘““wanting’’, in the sense of 
their having perished as a result of the battle about to take place. But the 
word never has this meaning, and such meaning does not suit the context 
either here or in Isaiah. : 

Redpath, Hitzig, Klieforth and others translate, “‘thou shalt receive 
the command”. But neither is this in accord with the context nor sub- 
stantiated by the language. Gog has already, in verse 7, been appointed 
commander of the army and is not therefore to be placed in command 
“after many days’. 

Hitzig says it is not time to speak of the punishment yet; but 
Schroeder replies that the expression means that punishment will begin to 
be prepared. 

Both Keil and Schroeder explain the visitation as consisting in the 
fact of Gog’s being moved by Jehovah to invade the land, which was the 
initial step in the judgment that was coming upon him. , 

“After many days’’,—These words are defined by “tn the latter 
years’, and are the same as “the end of the days’, the last time—not the 
future generally, but the final future, the Messianic time for the coming 
of the kingdom of God. Says Whitby, ‘“The time referred to is the 
‘terrible day of the end’ of which the prophets so often speak.”’ 


Fausset gives the words a double reference by way of fulfillment, the 
times being those of “the latter years” just before the coming of Christ— 
fulfilled under Antiochus Epiphanes before His first coming, and to be 
fulfilled under the Antichrist before His second coming. 


“the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of 
many peoples’’,—The predicates in these clauses show that in the word 
“land’’ the idea of its inhabitants predominates, for these only could be 
“beought back”’ and “‘gathered out’ 


“gathered out of many peas *,—The word “many” Keil thinks 
points beyond the Babylonian captivity to the dispersion of Israel in all 
the world, which did not take place until the second destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, and which also shows that the ‘‘continual waste’ spoken of denotes 
a much longer devastation of the land than the Chaldean devastation was. 

“a continual waste’’,—Says Fausset, ‘““‘Waste during the long period 


of the captivity, the earnest of the much longer period of Judah’s present 
desolation, to which the words more fully apply.” 


Verii1 0: “and thou shalt devise an evil device’’,—What this ‘evil 


device’’ is is seen in verses 11 and 12; the attacking God’s. people in their 
defenseless state. 


192 


EZEKIEL 


Ver. 12. “that dwell in the middle of the earth’’,—This is a figura- 
‘tive expression to be explained by Chap. 5.5, “‘Jerusalem in the midst of 
the nations’. Palestine really was the center of the ancient civilized world. 
But the expression is hardly to be taken physically; it is rather to be taken 
morally, the land most glorious and richly blessed, so that its inhabitants 
occupy the most exalted position among the nations, and thus a central 
position for being a blessing to the world. 


Ver. 13. “the young lions thereof’’,—1i. e., the daring princes and 
leaders, 


Ver. 14. “‘shalt thou know it’’,—i. e., that Israel dwells securely, 
not expecting any hostile invasion (K.), to thy cost through the punish- 
ment inflicted upon thee (F.). The former explanation is the better, as 
the words which follow show. Schroeder thinks the knowing refers to 
what the questioners of the previous verse had said, i. e., thou shalt know 
that just that very thing is true; while Ewald and Hitzig, by a slight alter- 
ing of the text, read, “‘thou shalt set thyself in motion’. ; 


Ver. 17. “Art thou he of whom I spake tn old time’, etc.,—Gog 
and his hosts are here identified with the enemies spoken of in other prophe- 
cies. (F. Wh. K. Schr.) It means of course, Thou art really he, the 
affirmative reply to the question being contained in the last words of the 
verse, “I would bring thee against them’. 


Ver. 19. “‘there shall be a great shaking tn the land of Israel’’,— 
The reference is doubtless to physical agitations with accompanying social 
and moral revolutions, according to the customary figurative way of re- 
ferring to such things. (Compare verse 22 with Rev. 8.7,16,21.) 


CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE 


1 And thou, son of man, prophesy people Israel; neither will I suffer my 
against Gog, and say, Thus saith the holy name to be profaned any more: 
Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against and the nations shall know that I am 
thee, O Gog, “prince of Rosh, Meshech, Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. 8 
and Tubal; 2 and I will turn thee Behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, 
about, and will lead thee on, and will saith the Lord Jehovah: this is the day 
cause thee to come up from the utter- whereof I have spoken. 9 And they 
most parts of the north; and I will that dwell in the cities of Israel shall 
bring thee upon the mountains of Israel; go forth, and shall make fires of the 
3 and I will smite thv bow out of thy weapons and burn them, both the shields 
left hand, and will cause thine arrows and the bucklers, the bows and the ar- 
to fall out of thy right hand. 4 Thou rows, and the handstaves, and the spears, 
shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, and they shall make fires of them seven 
thou, and all thy hordes, and the peoples years; 10 so that they shall take no 
that are with thee: I will give thee unto wood out of the field, neither cut down 
the ravenous birds of every sort, and to any out of the forests; for they shall 
the beasts of the field to be devoured. make fires of the weapons; and they 
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field; shall plunder those that plundered them, 
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Je- and rob those that robbed them, saith 
hovah. 6 And I will send a fire on the Lord Jehovah. 

Magog, and on them that dwell securely 11 And it shall come to pass in that 

in the “isles; and they shall know that day, that I will give unto Gog, a place 

I am Jehovah. 7 And my holy name for burial in Israel, the valley of them 

will I make known in the midst of my that pass through *on the east of the 
10r, chief prince of Meshech 3Or, in front of 


2Or, coast-lands 


19D. 


EZEKIEL 


’ 


sea; and it shall stop them that pass 
through: and there shall they bury Gog 
and all his multitude; and they shall 
call it The valley of *Hamon-gog. 12 


And seven months shall the house of 
Israel be burying them, that they may 
cleanse the land. 13 Yea, all the people 
of the land shall bury them; and it 
shall be to them a renown in the day 
that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord 
Jehovah. 14 And they shall set apart 
men of continual employment, that shall 
pass through the land, and, with them 
that pass through, those that bury them 
that remain upon the face of the land, 
to cleanse it: after the end of seven 
months shall they search. 15 And they 
that pass through the land shall pass 
through; and when any seeth a man’s 
bone, then shall he ‘set up a sign by it, 
till the buriers have buried it in the 
valley of Hamon-gog. 16 And °Ham- 
onah shall also be the name of a city. 
Thus shall they cleanse the land. 

17 And thou, son of man, thus saith 
the Lord Jehovah: Speak unto the 
birds of every sort, and to every beast 
of the field, Assemble yourselves, and 
come; gather yourselves on every side to 
my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, 
even a great sacrifice upon the moun- 
tains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh 
and drink blood. 18 Ye shall eat the 
flesh of the mighty, and drink the 
blood of the princes of the earth, of 
rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bul- 
locks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, 
and drink blood till ye be drunken, of 
my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for 
you. 20 And ye shall be filled at my 


‘That is, the multitude of Gog 
5Heb. build 
®That is, multitude 





table with horses and chariots, with 
mighty men, and with all men of war, 
saith the Lord Jehovah. 

21 And I will set my glory among 
the nations; and all the nations shall see 
my judgment that I have executed, and 
my hand that I have laid upon them. 

22 So the house of Israel shall know 
that I am Jehovah their God, from that 
day and forward. 23 And the nations 
shall know that the house of Israel went 
into captivity for their iniquity; because 
they trespassed against me, and I hid 
my face from them: so I gave them in- 
to the hand of their adversaries, and 
they fell all of them by the sword. 24 
According to their uncleanness and ac- 
cording to their transgressions did I un- 
to them; and I hid my face from them. 

25 Therefore thus saith the Lord 
Jehovah: Now will I bring back the 
captivity of Jacob, and have mercy 
upon the whole house of Israel; and I 
will be jealous for my holy name. 26 
And they shall bear their shame, and all 
their trespasses whereby they have tres- 
passed against me, when they shall dwell 
securely in their land, and none shall 
make them afraid; 27 when I have 
brought them back from the peoples, 
and gathered them out of their enemies’ 
lands, and am sanctified in them in the 
sight of many nations. 28 And they 
shall know that I am Jehovah their 
God, in that I caused them to go into 
captivity among the’ nations, and have 
gathered them unto their own land; and 
I will leave none of them any more 
there; 29 neither will I hide my face 
any more from them; for I have poured 
out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, 
saith the Lord Jehovah. 


Vers. 1-29. “THE JUDGMENT UPON GOG AND His Hosts CONTINUED. 


Ver. 2. “and I will turn thee about’’,—1i. e., doubtless in the sense 
of misleading him. 


Ver. 6. “them that dwell securely tn the isles’’,—The judgment 
extends to all the heathen nations that are dwelling securely, carelessly and 


confidently in their distant homes, extending even to the land of Gog him- 
self. 


Ver. 9. “they shall make fires of them seven years’’,—Whitby says 
“‘seven years’ is symbolical of completeness. Thus also Redpath, Fausset 
(nothing must be left to pollute the land), Keil, Schroeder and prac- 
tically all. 


Says Keil, ‘““The number seven in the seven years as well as in the 
194 


EZEKIEL 


_seven months of burying is symbolical, stamping the overthrow as a pun- 
ishment inflicted by God, the completion of a divine judgment.”’ “Thus 
nearly all. 

‘The reason is not as Havernick says, that weapons of war are irrecon- 
cilable with the character of the Messianic times of peace, but it is the 
complete annihilation of the enemy, the removal of every trace of him. 


Ver. 11. “‘the valley of them that pass through on the east of the 
sea’’,—In place of this Cornill, Whitby, Redpath and others read, ‘“The 
valley of Abarim’’, which leads to the frontier mountains of Israel, over 
against Moab, with the great, horrible sulphurous valley of the Dead Sea 
at its foot, through which ran the ancient road most traveled by invaders 
from the east. But there is no satisfying reason for this interpretation; 
nor does it signify ‘‘the valley of the haughty ones’’ (Ew.), nor is there in 
it an allusion to the valley of Zech. 14.4 (Hit.), nor the valley of Jehosa- 
phat, as Klieforth says. It is doubtless the valley of the Jordan above 
the Dead Sea. 

We think Keil is right in reading with the margin of our text, ‘‘on 
the front of’’ instead of with the text, “‘on the east of’, for the word 
scarcely, if ever, carries with it the meaning of “‘east’’. “The burial place, 
therefore, as looked at from Jerusalem, the central point of the land, is 
probably the valley of the Jordan where is the principal crossing place 
from Gilead into Canaan proper, and which is the broadest part of the 
valley and therefore well adapted to be the burial place of the slaughtered 
multitude. 

“And it shall stop them that pass through’’,—The burial ground is 


__ to be so large that it will block the way for passengers, the number of 


graves, or the impurity and uncleanness of the place causing traffic through 
the valley to cease. 


Ver. 13. “and tt shall be to them a renown’’,—Not that it is a 
source of honor to assist in such work, nor that they possess the grave of 
Gog (Hit.), but because they thereby cleanse the land and manifest their 
zeal to show themselves a holy people by sweeping away uncleanness. (K.) 


Ver. 14. “with them that pass through’’,—The men employed in 
the burying were to be assisted by the passers through, by whom is doubt- 
less meant the ordinary Israelitish travelers. “These do not belong to the 
official burial party. 


Ver. 16. Hamonah;, the literal of which is ‘‘multitude’’, is the name 
of a city presumably built near the burial place, commemorating by its 
name the overthrow of the multitude of Israel’s foes. 


Ver. 18. “‘all of them fatlings of Bashan’’,—i. e., ungodly men of 
might, Bashan being famed for its fat cattle. Grotius has correctly re- 
marked that the names of all these animals, which were generally employed 
in the sacrifices, are to be understood as signifying different orders of men, 
chiefs, generals, soldiers, etc. (Compare these verses with Rev. 19.17,18.) 


Ver. 20. “‘at my table’’,—i. e., the field of battle on the mountains 
of Israel. ba 
Whitby and others think by “chariots’’ are meant riding beasts. 


Ver. 25. “the whole house of Israel’’,—(See Rom. 11.26.) ‘“‘The 
195 


BZERIED 


restoration of Israel heretofore has been partial. There must yet be one 
that shall be universal.’ (F.) 


Ver. 26. “And they shall bear theit shame’’,—This is not to be 
altered into ‘‘they shall forget their shame’ (Hit. Dat.), but they will be 
ashamed of their past sins, and of their unworthiness of God’s so great 
mercy. 

Says Keil, “In order to determine with greater precision what is the 
heathen power thus rising up in Gog against the kingdom of God, we 
must take into consideration the passage in the. Apocalypse (Rev. 20.8 
and 9), where our prophecy is resumed.” 

Plumptre asks, “‘Will this prophecy ever be realized on this earth, or 
must we only look for it in the heavenly city whose builder and maker is 
God?”’ 

Whitby says, ‘‘the conflict is to be on this earth, and the victory and 
peace which follows must be looked for here. It is not, however, a literal 
conflict between men armed with bows and arrows who shall be killed 
with bolts of lightning, but a spiritual battle between God's people and 
the powers of evil’. 


Scofield says, ‘“That the primary reference is to the northern European 
powers, headed up by Russia, all agree. “he whole passage should be 
read in connection with Zech. 12.1-4; 14.1-9; Matt. 24.14-30; Rev. 
14.14-20; 19.17-21. The reference to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow 
and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identification. Russia and the northern 
powers have been the latest persecutors of the dispersed Israel, and it is 
congruous both with divine justice and with the covenants that justice 
should fall at the climax of the last mad attempt to exterminate the rem- 
nant of Israel in Jerusalem. “The whole prophecy belongs to the yet future 
‘day of Jehovah’, and to the battle of Armageddon, but includes also the 
final revolt of the nations at the close of the kingdom age.”’ 


The time of this invasion is clearly set forth as “‘in the latter years”’ 
(verse 8), “‘tn the latter days’ (verse 16), and it is against the land “‘that 
ts brought back from the sword, that ts gathered out of many peoples’. 
‘““This,’’ says Gaebelein, ‘‘shows us that the invasion takes place at the time 
when the Lord has brought back His people and resumed His relationship 
with the remnant of Israel. It must not be identified with the final revolt 
at the close of the Millenium, when Satan is loosed for a little season 
(Rev. 20.7-9). The invasion which Ezekiel describes takes place at the 
beginning of the Millennium, whereas the invasion of Gog and Magog in 
Revelation is postmillennial. The judgment upon Gog and Magog as 
here described completes and ends the judgment of the living nations at 
the beginning of the Millennial period.” 


CHAPTERS FORTY TO FORTY-EIGHT 


Here in vision the prophet is carried back to the land of Israel and 
shown the new temple, the new order of service and the new division of the 
land among the tribes when they shall have returned. Jehovah had prom- 
ised in the latter part of Chap. 37 that He would place. His sanctuary, 
His temple, in the midst of them and dwell over them as their God forever. 


196 


EZERIBE 


The chapters before us now are the realization of that promise. “The 
magnificent picture begins with the measurement of the new sanctuary, into 
which the glory of the Lord enters; it closes with directions for the re- 
division of the land among the tribes and the building of the new Jerusa- 
lem; while between these two portions the form of the ceremonial services 
of the temple are set forth, in the keeping of which Israel is to show itself 
to be the holy people of Jehovah. 


As to whether the vision in these chapters is to be considered as one 
to be fulfilled literally, or in a figurative or symbolical way, commentators 
differ very widely from one another. 


The figurative interpretation has been the predominate one even from 
the earliest period of Church history, having been supported by Ephraem 
Syrus, Theodoret, Jerome and many others. So generally did it prevail 
that L. Cappellus said, ‘“That this is a setting forth of spiritual worship 
in types and figures, as portrayed in the picture and all the rites of this 
temple, which differ greatly from those of Moses, there is not a Christian 
who denies; nor any Jew, unless prejudiced and very obdurate, who ven- 
tures to deny, seeing that there are so many things in this description of 
Ezekiel’s which not even the most shameless Jew has dared to argue that 
we are to interpret according to the letter.”’ 


In more recent times, however, many of our most learned critical 
scholars have not hesitated to champion the literal explanation of this 
prophecy, and have not only seen in many of the other prophecies, predic- 
tions of the literal restoration of Israel to the land of Palestine, but in this 
one the directions for the rebuilding of a new temple of the future in Jeru- 
salem and the renewal of the Levitical worship in the Millennial age. (Ba. 
Au. Vo. Wh. Gab. Hof. Mor. Bro.) <A curious combination of spirits in 
the flesh! most of whom make the community of God at the Lord’s Second 
Coming to be an Israelitish one. Scofield would have us believe that the 
sacrificial offerings during the Millennium will doubtless be memorial, 
looking back to the cross, as the offerings of the Old Covenant were antici- 
patory, looking forward to the cross. 


The Jews were not permitted to read these chapters in public because 
of the sharp discrepancies between these directions of worship and those 
of Moses, and because of the difficulty in understanding them. 


That difficulties loom large when literal interpretation is attempted 
no serious minded student will deny. 


1. The description is imperfectly worked out. There is no mention 
of a high priest and there is no mention of the second of the great yearly 
Jewish feasts. No satisfactory explanation for these omissions can be 
presented. 


2. Every attempt to build a temple in the time of Zerubbabel or 
Herod utterly ignored these directions, and this, Farrar thinks, shows 
clearly that the Jews of those days did not take them literally. Some say 
the temple would have been thus literally made if the Jews had fulfilled 
literally the conditions set forth in Chap. 43.10,11. But Whitby reminds 
us that not one of Ezekiel’s successors ever seems to have supposed that it 
was Israel’s sin that caused the later temple to look more like Solomon’s 
than Ezekiel’s. 


3. It would seem impossible to build such a temple upon the summit 
197 


EBZPRIEE 


of a mountain. This “very high mountain’’ unquestionably refers to 
the old site of the temple, and this little hill could, it would seem, be aay 
thus designated in a moral or ideal sense. 


4. The stream that issued from the east threshold of the temple and 
flowed into the Dead Sea, in the rapidity of its increase and the quality 
of its waters is, as Fairbairn says, unlike anything ever known in Judea 
or elsewhere in the world. To reach the Dead Sea it would furthermore 
have to run up hill, and how could it sweeten the waters of this Sea when 
this Sea has no outlet? 


5. The distribution of the land is strangely supposed to be in equal 
portion among the twelve tribes without respect to their relative numbers, 
but the land cannot be equally divided by drawing lines east and west 
equi-distant between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea, for while 
these sections would be of the same dimensions north and south they 
would differ greatly as to their width east and west. Fairbairn thinks 
there is difficulty also in supposing the separate existence of the twelve 
tribes, such separate tribeship no longer existing, and it being hard to 
imagine how they could be restored as distinct tribes, mingled as they 
now are. 


6. The square of the temple (Chap. 42.20) is six times as large as 
was the circumference of the wall enclosing the old temple, and larger than 
the whole of the earthly Jerusalem, the boundary of Ezekiel’s temple square 
being over three and a half miles, while the boundaries of the whole ancient 
city were only about two and a half miles. 


7. The city of Ezekiel’s vision has an area of between three and 
four thousand square miles, including the holy ground set apart for the 
prince, the priests and the Levites. This dimension would thus reach 
beyond the Jordan river, although this river, in Chap. 47.17, is made the 
border line of the same. This is nearly as large as the whole of Judea. 
Now as Zion lay in the center of the ideal city, the one half of the sacred 
portion extended to nearly thirty miles south of Jerusalem, that is, prac- 
tically all of the southern territory. Yet five tribes were to have their in- 
heritance on the south side of Jerusalem beyond the sacred portion. Where 
was the land to be found for them? “It would have required miracle 
after miracle’, says Whitby, “to have made the land ready for such a 
ee God could have done it, but such has never been the divine 
method.”’ 


8. But altogether apart from these natural impossibilities is it not 
true that the assumption of a literal temple and the restoration of the 
bloody sacrifices of Levitical worship is contrary to the spirit and teaching 
of the New Testament as set forth by Christ and His Apostles? And are 
we not justified by this spirit and this teaching in saying, with Douglass, 
‘“‘a temple with sacrifices now or in the future would be the most daring 
denial of the all-sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, and of the efficacy 
of the blood of His atonement. He who sacrificed before, confessed the 
Messiah; he who should sacrifice now, would most solemnly and sacri- 
ligiously deny Him.”’ 

“The catholicity of the Christian dispensation’’, says Fairbairn, ‘‘and 
the spirituality of its worship seems incompatible with a return to the 


198 


BZERIEE 


_ local narrowness and ‘beggarly elements’ of the Jewish ritual and carnal 
ordinances, disannuled ‘because of the unprofitableness thereof’.’’ 

It is in consequence of arguments like the foregoing that from the 
Fathers down the prevailing view of the Christian Church has been that 
of an ideal, a symbolical, a spiritual understanding of the vision and that 
it presents in grand outline the good in store for God’s people during the 
times of the Gospel; in other words that it is a vision of spiritual realities 
pictorically presented, the historical presentation in temple-form merely 
supplying the mould into which it is cast, thus expressing under well- 
known symbols certain fundamental and eternal ideas with regard to the 
true worship of God. 


Even Fausset, a literalist of the pre-millennial school, says, ‘“There 
are things in the vision so improbable physically as to preclude a purely 
literal interpretation. The very fact that the whole is a vision, and not 
an oral, face-to-face communication such as that granted to Moses, implies 
that the directions are not to be understood so precisely literal as those 
given to the Jewish law-giver. Perhaps, as some think, the beau-ideal of 
a sacred commonwealth is given according to the then existing pattern 
of temple-service which would be the imagery most familiar to the prophet 
and his hearers at that time. The old temple embodied in visible forms 
and rites spiritual truths affecting the people when absent from it. So 
this deal temple is made, in the absence of the outward temple, to serve 
by description the same purpose of symbolical instruction as the old literal 
temple did by forms and acts. In Revelation no temple is seen, as in the 
perfection of the new dispensation the accidents of place and form are no 
longer needed to realize to Christians what Ezekiel imparts to Jewish 
minds by the imagery familiar to them. The ideal temple exhibits, under 
Old Testament forms, not the precise literal outline, but the essential char- 
acter of the worship of the Messiah as it shall be when He shall exercise 
sway in Jerusalem among His own people, the Jews, and thence to the ends 
of the earth.”’ 


Fausset certainly states the matter in a most finely discriminating 
way, especially from the standpoint of a believer in Jewish restoration to 
the land of their fathers. Yet in adopting a spiritual understanding of 
the temple-vision one quite naturally questions whether other Old Testa- 
ment prophecies, especially those concerned with the restoration of the 
Jews to Palestine, ought not also to be understood in a similar way. ‘This 
of course does not necessarily follow, as may be seen from the last para- 
graph of the quotation from Fausset just made. 


Volck thinks, “‘it is impossible, without introducing unbounded 
caprice into our exposition, to resist the conclusion that, in all such pas- 
sages as Joel 4.16-21, Micah 7.9-13, Isa. 24.1-23 as compared with Isa. 
13.9 and Zech. 14.8-11, together with many other similar references, a 
time is depicted, when, after the judgment of God upon the power of the 
world, Israel will dwell in the enjoyment of blissful peace within its own 
land, now transfigured into paradisiacal glory, and will rule over the 
nations round about.”’ 


Keil, on the other hand, insists that Joel 4.16-21 does not mean that 
Edom will become literally a desert, nor that Egypt will, nor that the 


199 


EZENIBL 


mountains will literally trickle with honey. Edom, he says, is a type of 
the world in its hostility to God, and so Judea is a type of the kingdom 
of God, and all that is taught is that the might and glory of the kingdoms 
of this world at enmity with God will be destroyed, and the glory of the 
kingdom of God established. 


Neither do the other passages prove his point, says Keil, and even if 
they did, they do not, he maintains, prove such glorification of Palestine 
as taking place before the final judgment; while in Isa. 24.21 it is plainly 
said first that the earth will fall and rise no more, after which it is said that 
Jehovah will visit it, etc., placing therefore this visiting and reigning in 
heaven after the end of all things. 


The vision of Ezekiel he understands not as depicting the rise and 
development of the new kingdom of God, the church of Christ, but as 
Ezekiel sees the temple as a finished building, so the vision sets forth the 
kingdom of God established by Christ in its perfect form. It is the Old 
‘Testament outline of the New Testament picture of the heavenly Jerusalem 
of the new earth as set forth in Rev. 21 and 22, namely the Father’s house 
of many mansions, heaven itself, the city of God coming down from 
heaven upon the new earth, built of gold, precious stones and pearls and 
illumined with the light of the glory of the Lord, all of which takes place 
after the final judgment has been consummated. The tribes of Israel, there- 
fore, which receive Canaan for a perpetual possession are not the Jews after 
their conversion to Christ, but the Israel of God, the people of Christ, 
gathered from among both Jews and Gentiles; and that Canaan is not the 
earthly Canaan between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, but the 
New Testament Canaan, the kingdom of Christ whose boundaries reach 
from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.’ And the temple 
upon a “‘very high mountain’’ in the midst of this Canaan, in which the 
Lord is enthroned and causes the river of the water of life to flow down 
from His throne over His kingdom, so that the earth produces the tree of 
life with leaves as medicine for men, and the Dead Sea is filled with fishes 
and living creatures, is a figurative representation and type of the gracious 
presence of the Lord in His Church, which is realized in this present period 
of the earthly development of the kingdom of heaven in the form of the 
Christian church in a spiritual and invisible manner in the indwelling of 
the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, 
and in a spiritual and invisible operation in the church, but which will 
eventually manifest itself when our Lord shall appear in the glory of the 
Father, to translate His church into the kingdom of glory, in such a manner 
that we shall see the Almighty God and the Lamb with the eyes of our 
glorified body, and worship before His throne, and it is this worship 
which is described ideally, and quite naturally so, in our vision (Chaps. 
43.13 and 46.24) as the offering of sacrifice according to the Israelitish 
form of divine worship under the Old Testament. 


The question is indeed a most perplexing one. For ourselves it is 
difficult to get away from the conviction that a literal restoration to the 
land of their fathers is promised to the Jews in the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures, although we find it equally difficult to accept the literal. interpretation 
of the temple vision. 


200 


DANIEL 





ite DOOKIE 


DANIEL 


(BeGe 507-8 Cr 534) 


CHAPTER TWO 


31 Thou. O king, sawest, and, be- 
hold, a great image. This image, which 
was mighty, and whose brightness was 
excellent, stood before thee; and the 
aspect thereof was terrible. 32 As for 
this image, its head was of fine gold, its 
breast and its arms of silver, its belly 
and its thighs of brass, 33 its legs of 
iron, its feet part of iron, and part of 
clay. 34 Thou sawest till that a stone 
was cut out without hands, which smote 
the image upon its feet that were of iron 
and clay, and brake them in pieces. 35 
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, 
the silver, and the gold, broken in 
pieces together, and became like the 
chaff of the summer threshing-floors; 
and the wind carried them away, so that 
no place was found for them: and the 
stone that smote the image became a 
great ‘mountain, and filled the whole 
earth. 

36 This is the dream; and we will 
tell the interpretation thereof before the 
king. 37 Thou, O king, art king of 
kings, unto whom the God of heaven 
hath given the kingdom, the power, and 
the strength, and the glory; 38 and 
wheresoever the children of men dwell, 
the beasts of the field and the birds of 
the heavens hath he given into thy 
hand, and hath made thee to rule over 
them all: thou art the head of gold. 39 
And after thee shall arise another king- 
dom inferior to thee; and another third 

10r, rock 


kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule 
over all the earth. 40 And the fourth 
kingdom shall be strong as iron, foras- 
much as iron breaketh in pieces and sub- 
dueth all things; and as iron that crush- 
eth all these, shall it break in pieces and 
crush. 41 And whereas thou sawest 
the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, 
and part of iron, it shall be a divided 
kingdom; but there shall be in it of the 
strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou 
sawest the iron mixed with *miry clay. 
42 And as the toes of the feet were part 
of iron, and part of clay, so the king- 
dom shall be partly strong, and partly 
*broken. 43 And whereas thou sawest 
the iron mixed with *miry clay, they 
shall mingle themselves ‘with the seed of 
men; but they shall not cleave one to 
another, even as iron doth not mingle 
with clay. 44 And in the days of those 
kings shall the God of heaven set up 
a kingdom which shall never be de- 
stroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof 
be left to another people; but it shall 
break in pieces-and consume all these 
kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that a 
stone was cut out of the mountain with- 
out hands, and that it brake in pieces 
the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, 
and the gold; the great God hath made 
known to the king what shall come to 
pass hereafter: and the dream is cer- 
tain, and the interpretation thereof sure. 
*Or, earthenware 


3Or, brittle 
4Or, by 


Vers. 31-45. THE DREAM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR AND ITS INTERPRE- 
TATION. 


The head of gold was the Babylonian Empire (verse 38). A “‘king”’ 
and his ‘‘kingdom’”’ are used interchangeably, as a rule, throughout the 
Scriptures. The dates of this Babylonian Empire were B. C. 606 to 
en 5 358, 

It is quite universally acknowledged that the breast and arms of the 
Image represent the Medo-Persian Empire (B. C. 538 to B. C. 371), and 
the belly and thighs the Grecian Empire (B. C. 371 to B. C. 167). 


What is the other kingdom, that represented by the legs of iron with 
feet and toes of mixed composition? 


201 


DANIEL 


Of some five or six different views of this matter there are but two 
which call for any really serious consideration: 

1. The Seleucid Empire, one of the four divisions of the Grecian 
Empire after the death of Alexander. (Zo. Ei. Po. St. Ju. Ma. Ber. Zel. 
Gro. Del. Wil. Len.) 


2; DTheRomaniEmpire.. (AEGON. Ke Ga Pow Zoi ee 
Au. Vo. Ze. Rob. Jer. Hen. Gab. Bla. Aug. Hav. Hof. Cas. Sta. Joa. The. 
Jos. Vel. Men. Gau. Gar. Prag., the majority of the Church Fathers, all the 
expositors of the Middle-age Church, Jewish expositors both before and 
after Christ’s time, the whole Christian Church for four hundred years 
without any contradiction, and, says Zoeckler, a majority of the moderns, 
although he himself holds the other view.) 

Personally we are convinced that the Roman Empire is the correct 
answer to the question before us; and for the following reasons: 


1. The arguments used in favor of the Seleucid Empire are far from 
convincing; 

(a) The ten toes of the image (and the ten horns of the beast 
in Chap. 7) represent the ten kings of the Seleucid Empire, 
three of whom Antiochus Epiphanes is said to have uprooted. 
ay ory the ten nor the three can be found. (See Chap.. 


(b) The distinction between the unadulterated metal of the 
legs and the crumbling mixture of the feet and toes have 
their exact counterpart in the Seleucid Empire, but not in the 
Roman. This may, however, with propriety be held of the 
one empire as well as of the other. 

(co) Chaps linis an acknowledged account of the Seleucia Empire 
and the “little horn’’ of Chap. 8 is acknowledged to be Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes, and it is therefore hard to resist the con- 
clusion that the “little horn’ of Chap. 7 refers to the same 
person, and the fourth division of the image in Chap. 2 to 
the same dynasty. 

This sounds plausible at first thought, but it is not neces- 
sarily the case since quite sufficient reasons for interpreting 
otherwise will be found as we proceed. 


2. One would expect the four big world-powers to be taken in order, 
and Rome would thus follow after Greece. The realm of the 
Seleucid Empire (the one of the four divisions of the Grecian 
Empire in which it is claimed the Antichrist, the “‘little horn’, 
Antiochus Epiphanes appeared) was territorially insignificant. 

3. ‘The description of the fourth kingdom (verse 40) seems to indi- 
cate a stronger kingdom than any of its predecessors, and this is 
especially true if, as all admit, this fourth kingdom corresponds 
to the fourth beast of Chap. 7, which with its great iron teeth 
was said to be “‘dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly’. In 
comparison with Rome this could hardly apply to the Seleucid 
Empire even under Antiochus Epiphanes. 

4. The description of what the fourth kingdom and the fourth beast 
are said to do (Chap. 2.40,—‘‘break—subdue—crush’’, and 
Chap. 7.23,—‘‘devour the whole earth, tread it down and break it 

202 


DANIEL 


into pieces’) apply most aptly to the Roman Empire, but in no 
sense to the Seleucid Empire even during the time of Antiochus 
Epiphanes. 

5. The division of the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Western 
kingdoms, as represented by the two legs of the image, favors this 
interpretation. 


6. The periods of time assigned in Daniel for the fulfillment of the 
various prophecies favor their application to Rome, but there is 
absolutely no satisfactory adjustment of them to the Seleucid 


Empire. (See especially the exposition of the “‘seventy weeks’’ in 
Chap. 9 


7. The vision of John in Revelation is markedly similar to these of 
Daniel, the same emblems and even the same phraseology being 
employed, and, if they do refer to the same thing, this points to a 
time at least far later than the Seleucid Empire. (See exposition 
under Chap. 7.) 


8. The objections to the view that Rome is intended are not formid- 
able: 


(a) The range of vision is too great because the greatness and 
the world-historical position of Rome was not known until 
400 years after the captivity. 

But this applies as well to Greece, and besides it takes no 
account of the prophetic character of the vision. 

(b) The “‘stone cut out of the mountain’ did not destroy the 

Roman Empire, but was rather assimilated with it for more 
than one thousand years. 
The principal part of this objection is just as true of the 
Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid,Empire was not destroyed 
in B. C. 167 when Antiochus Epiphanes was ruling, and 
when it was destroyed in B. C. 65, it was destroyed not by 
the “‘stone’’, but by the Roman Empire itself. So the argu- 
ment is even at this point. But if the smiting of the “‘stone”’ 
may be thought of as still future, the objection would then 
lose its force entirely. 


9. In addition to these reasons the reader is referred to those with 
regard to the “fourth beast’ in Chap. 7.7. 
Keil says, ‘““The opinion that Rome is the fourth Ginedor alone 
accords without any force or arbitrariness with the representation 
of these kingdoms in the visions both of Chap. 2 and Chap. 7, 
with each separately as well as with both together’’. 


Ver. 31. ‘“‘the aspect thereof was terrible’’,—1. e¢., terrible on account 
of its size and its brightness. 


Ver. 33. “‘legs of tron’’,—These represent no doubt the two divi- 
sions of the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Western kingdoms. ‘This 
Roman Empire conquered the four divisions of the Grecian Empire as 
ieiows:)-blvyricum and Epirus, .B..C.:167;"Pergamus, B. C. 132; the 
Seleucid Empire (Syria), B. C. 65, and Egypt, B. C. 29. Its beginning 
may therefore be said to have been in B. C. 167, and its end, as we know 
it, in A. D. 476. Some would date its beginning in B. C. 29, when it 
overthrew the kingdom of Ptolmey in Egypt. 


203 


DANIEL 





Ver. 39. “‘another kingdom inferior to thee’’,—This rapes to an 
ethical rather than to a physical or political inferiority. “This gradation 
runs throughout—-gold, silver, brass, iron and clay. . 


Ver. 40. “‘all these’’,—i. e., the materials already mentioned—-gold, 
silver, etc.; the reference is not to the former kingdoms as such, but to the 
materials of which they were composed wherever found. Of course the 
ultimate reference is to the kingdoms themselves. 


Ver. 41. “part of potters’ clay and part of iron’’,—Showing that 
it contains within itself the principle of an increasing disruption. 


Ver. 43. “‘they shall not cleave one to another’’,—The word “‘they”’ 
in each case refers to the people as well as to the kings, and the reference is, 
as Keil says, to the vain efforts of the hetrogeneous elements of the fourth 
kingdom to coalesce by juxtaposition or even by intermarriage among 
themselves. 


Ver. 44. “in the days of those kings’’,—This cannot refer to the 
kings of the four big successional monarchies because they are no longer in 
existence. Zoeckler, of course, refers it to the contemporaneous kings of 
the four divisions of the Grecian Empire. But if the “‘legs of iron’’, the 
fourth kingdom of the image, be the Roman Empire, as we have seen 
reasons for believing it to be, then these kings must in some way be related © 
to Rome. Some think it can hardly refer to Rome as a single kingdom 
because, as they contend, the plural, “those kings’, would then have been 
written in the singular. Many think therefore that the most consistent 
interpretation is that which refers these kings to the “‘ten toes’ of the 
image, representing as they do ten kingdoms with their kings, which must 
consequently arise some time in the future when the Roman Empite shall 
ina sense have been revived. (FP. Au: Gab..Sco.,) 


“nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people’ ',—There 
are to be no successors; it is to be an everlasting kingdom. 


_ “consume all these kingdoms’’,—Not only the fourth, but the pre- 
ceding three as having in a sense been incorporated in it, the whole image 
being, as it were, destroyed at once. 


Ver. 45. “stone cut out of the mountain’’,—This stone is the king- 
dom of Christ. In Matt. 21.44 and Luke 20.18 Christ clearly refers this 
Messianic prophecy to Himself and His kingdom. 


“without hands’’,—i. e., not by human, but by supernatural and 
divine means. In answer to the question as to why the “‘stone’’ might 
not have been the kingdom of Christ as ushered in at His first coming, and 
the kingdom it smote the Roman Empire of Christ’s time, Scofield remarks, 
“The smiting Stone destroys the Gentile world-system (in its final form) 
by a sudden and irremediable blow, not by the gradual process of conver- 
sion and assimilation; and then, and not before, does the Stone become a 
mountain which fills ‘the whole earth’. Such a destruction of the Gentile 
monarchy-system did not occur at the first advent of Christ. On the con- 
trary, He was put to death by the sentence of an officer of the fourth 
empire, which was then at the zenith of its power. Since the crucifixion 
the Roman Empire has followed the course marked out in the vision, but 
the Gentile world-dominion still continues, and the crushing blow is still 
suspended.”’ 


204 


DANIEL 


“Tt is important to note’, says Scofield, ‘‘that the Gentile world- 
power is immediately followed by the kingdom of heaven, and that the 
God of the heavens does not set up His kingdom till after the destruction 
of the Gentile world-system.”’ This same writer further remarks that 
“the days of those kings’ (verse 44), i. e., the ten kings symbolized by 
the ten toes of the image, could not have been the days of the first advent 
of the Messiah, because that condition did not then exist, nor was it even 
possible until the dissolution of the Roman Empire, and the rise of the 
present national world-system. 


Sin teah Rash EN 


1 In the first year of Belshazzar king 
of Babylon Daniel *had a dream and 
visions of his head upon his bed: then 
he wrote the dream and told the sum 
of the matters. 2 Daniel spake and said, 
I saw in my vision by night, and, be- 
hold, the four winds of heaven brake 
forth upon the great sea. 3 And four 
great beasts came up from the sea, di- 
verse one from another. 4 The first was 
like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I be- 
held till the wings thereof were plucked, 
and it was lifted up from the earth, 
and made to stand upon two feet as a 
man; and a man’s heart was given to it, 
5 And, behold, another beast, a second, 
like to a bear; and “it was raised up on 
one side, and three ribs were in its 
mouth between its teeth: and they said 
thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 
6 After this I beheld, and, lo, another, 
like a leopard, which had upon its back 
four wings of a bird; the beast had also 
four heads; and dominion was given to 
it. 7 After this I saw in the night- 
visions, and, behold, a fourth beast, ter- 
rible and *powerful, and strong exceed- 
ingly; and it had great iron teeth; it 
devoured and brake in pieces, and 
stamped the residue with its feet: and 
it was diverse from all the beasts that 
were before it; and it had ten horns. 
8 I considered the horns, and, behold, 
there came up among them another 
horn, a little one, before which three 
of the horns were plucked up by the 
roots: and, behold, in this horn were 
eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth 
speaking great things. 

9 I beheld till thrones were ‘placed, 
and one that was ancient of days did sit: 
his raiment was white as snow, and the 
hair of his head like pure wool; his 
throne was fiery flames, and the wheels 

1Aram. saw 

°Or, as otherwise read, zt raised up one do- 
Winton 

8Or, dreadul 

4Or, cast down 


205 


thereof burning fire. 10 A fiery stream 
issued and came forth from before him: 
thousands of thousands ministered unto 
him, and ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand stood before him: the judgment 
was set, and the books were opened. 
11 I beheld at that time because of the 
voice of the great words which the 
horn spake; I beheld even till the beast 
was slain, and its body destroyed, and it 
was given *to be burned with fire. 12 
And as for the rest of the beasts, their 
dominion was taken away: yet their 
lives were prolonged for a season and a 
time. 

13 I saw in the night-visions, and, 
behold, there came with the clouds of 
heaven one like unto a son of man, and 
he came even to the ancient of days, 
and they brought him near before him. 
14 And there was given him dominion, 
and glory, and a kingdom, that all the 
peoples, nations, and languages should 
serve him: his dominion is an ever- 
lasting dominion, which shall not pass 
away, and his kingdom that which shall 
not be destroyed. 

15 As for me, Daniel, my spirit was 
grieved in the midst of “my body, and 
the visions of my head troubled me. 16 
I came near unto one of them that stood 
by, and asked him the truth concerning 
all this. So he told me, and made me 
know the interpretation of the things. 
17 These great beasts, which were four, 
are four kings, that shall arise out of the 
earth. 18 But the saints of the Most 
High shall receive the kingdom, and 
possess the kingdom for ever, even for 
ever and ever. 19. Then I desired to 
know the truth concerning the fourth 
beast, which was diverse from all of 
them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth 
were of iron, and its nails of brass; 


5Aram. to the burning of fire 
6Aram. the sheath 


DANIEL 


which devoured, brake in pieces, and 
stamped the residue with its feet; 20 
and concerning the ten horns that were 
on its head, and the other horn which 


came up, and before which three fell, 
even that horn that had. eyes, and a 
mouth that spake great things, whose 
look was more stout than its fellows. 
21 I beheld, and the same horn made 
war with the saints, and _ prevailed 
against them, 22 until the ancient of 
days came, and judgment was given ‘to 
the saints of the Most High, and the 
time came that the saints possessed the 
kingdom. 

23 Thus he said, The fourth beast 
shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, 
which shall be diverse from all the king- 
doms, and shall devour the whole earth, 
and shall ‘tread it down, and break it 
in pieces. 24 And as for the ten horns, 
out of this kingdom shall ten kings 





arise: and another shall arise after them; 
and he shall be diverse from the former, 
and he shall put down three kings. 
25 And he shall speak words against 
the Most High, and shall wear out the 
saints of the Most High; and he shall 
think to change the times and the law; 
and they shall be given into his hand 
until a time and times and half a time. 
26 But the judgment shall be set, and 
they shall take away his dominion, to 
consume and to destroy it unto the end. 
27 And the kingdom and the dominion, 
and the greatness of the kingdoms under 
the whole heaven, shall be given to the 
people of the saints of the Most High: 
his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
and all dominions shall serve and obey 
him. 28 °Here is the end of the mat- 
ter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts 
much troubled me, and my *countenance 
was changed in me: but I kept the mat- 
ter in my heart. 


7Or, for 9Aram. Hitherto 
8Or, thresh it WAram. brightness 
Vers. 1-28. THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS AND ITS INTERPRE-- 


TATION. 


This vision of Daniel’s without doubt refers to the same thing as 
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in Chap 2. (See Hos. 13.7,8.) 


Ver. 2. “the great sea’’,—The Mediterranean, as typifying the sea 
of heathen nations, the mere unorganized mass of mankind, the political 
sea. 

_ “the four winds’”’,— Used. in keeping with the four beasts and refer- 
ring to actual winds as representing the heavenly powers and forces by 
which God sets the nations of the world in motion. 


Ver. 3. “four great beasts’’,—These great beasts are four kings 
(verse 17) used interchangeably with the four kingdoms represented by 
their zee 

“came up from the sea’’,—Verses 6 and 7 show that they came BP 
successively and were not therefore simultaneous kingdoms. 


Ver. 4. “The fitst was ltke a lion”’,—This refers to the Babylonian 
Empire with Nebuchadnezzar as king. Elsewhere Nebuchadnezzar is 
likened to a lion in strength (Jer. 4.7; 5.6; 49.19; 50.17) and to an 
eagle for swiftness (Jer. 48.40; 49.22; Lam. 4.19; Hab. 1.8; Ezk. 17.3, 
P23827.2) 

“the wings thereof were plucked’’,—Its power of unrestrained motion 
was taken from it. 

“lifted up from the earth’’,—To which it had been confined after 
having been stripped of its power. 

“made to stand upon two feet as aman.... anda man’s heart was 
given to it’’,—This is a reference no doubt to Nebuchadnezzar’s derange- 
ment and restoration from the same, and emphasizing the greater 


206 


DANIEL 


_ moderation and hymanity of the Babylonian Empire after the king’s 
restoration. (K. F. Zo. Rob.) 


Ver. 5. “a second ltke to a bear’’,—This is to be taken by common 
consent as referring to the Medo-Persian Empire. j 

“tt was raised up on one side’’,—1i. e., ready to spring, the reference 
being doubtless to its rapacious and warlike attitude, as Zoeckler says. It 
may also be taken as meaning that the brute was leaning sideways, with a 
reference to its weak and tottering condition (Kr. Ew. Hit.), or it may be 
taken, with Keil and Delitzsch, as meaning that the feet and shoulders of 
one side were raised as if going forward, representing the double sidedness 
of the empire, the weak and resting Median and the strong and aggressive 
Persian. 7 

“three ribs were in tts mouth’’,—These refer no doubt to Babylon, 
Egypt and Lydia, which kingdoms were conquered by the Medo-Persian 
power. (N. K. Zo. Eb. Hof.) 

“and they said’’,—Doubtless the angel powers. 

“devour much flesh’’,—i. e., subdue many nations. 


Ver. 6. “another like a leopard’’,—This likewise by common con- 
sent is to be taken as referring to the Grecian (Macedonian) Empire. 

“four wings of a bird’’,—Pointing to the rapidity of the Grecian 
conquests. | 

“the beast had also four heads’’,—Referring to the four divisions 
which were embraced in the Grecian kingdom and into which it was divided 
upon the death of its king, Alexander. (Chap. 8.21,22.) 


Ver. 7. “a fourth beast’’,—This beast is acknowleged by all to 
refer to the same kingdom as that represented by the “‘legs of tron’ in the 
vision of Chap. 2.40. 

“stamped with its feet’’,—1. e., with its legs of iron. 

“the residue’ ,—i. e., what it could not devour and break. 

“and it had ten horns’’,—These horns and the ten toes of the image 
of Chap. 2 refer to the same thing. 

This “‘fourth beast’’ is said to be either the Seleucid Empire or the 
Roman Empire, according to the interpretation given to “the legs of iron’’ 
of the image in Chap. 2. (See authorities quoted there. ) 

The following arguments in favor of the Roman Empire seem rather 
conclusive: | 

1. One would naturally expect the four big world-powers to be 
taken in order and Rome would follow after Greece. 

2. This beast was the most terrible of all and subdued the whole 
earth, and no one king of the Seleucid Empire or of any of the four divi- 
sions of the Grecian Empire answers either of these descriptions. 

3. Greece did not have ten horns. In Chap. 8 it had four horns 
and in this chapter it has four heads, and to make the fourth beast the 
Seleucid Empire means to make it the tenth horn of the fourth head, which 
head this beast is not represented as having. [his beast with its one head 
had itself ten horns. 

4. Those who make Antiochus Epiphanes the “‘little horn’ and the 


207 


DANIEL 


eleventh king, cannot find the first ten. You can find seven, and then the 
three he is said to have unrooted would have to be Demetrius, the twelve- 
year-old heir who never was on the throne; Heliodorus, the usurper, who 
was on the throne but the briefest while, and Philometer, who also never 
was on the throne. 

5. It is simply impossible to refer verses 9-14 and 22-28 to anything 
that occurred in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (B. C. 164), or even at 
the close of the Seleucid Empire in B. C. 68. 

6. If the vision refers to the same thing as the image of Chap. 2, 
then, as pointed out there, the “‘legs of iron’”’ representing the eastern and 
western divisions favor the interpretation that points to the Roman Empire. 

7, Pusey, who favors the Roman Empire, says, “The ten horns are 
ten kingdoms which shall issue out of it and must therefore be kingdoms 
which should arise at some later stage of its existence and not those first 
kings without which it could not be a kingdom at all’’. | 

eel he beast in Revelation 13 is generally believed to be identical 
with this one, and if it is, we must note the fact that Rev. 17.12 says the 
kings “have as yet recetved no kingdom’, and therefore the reference here 
cannot be to any kingdom prior to the Revelation date. 

_9. ‘The ten horns or kingdoms are to be contemporaneous and are to 
continue on together until the eleventh, or “little horn’’ shall have risen up 
among them. 

10. See also the arguments under “‘the legs of iron’’ of Chap. 2. 

“ten horns’’,—Ten kings, as interpreted in verse 24. 

1. To those who say the ten kings of the Seleucid Empire are here 
meant it is enough to refer the fourth of the preceding arguments. 

2. To those who contend that ten is a round, symbolic number indi- 
cating a multiplicity of kings and that it is useless to attempt a specific 
interpretation, it is enough to reply that if the other figures are to be taken 
literally, this one, ten, ought also to be so taken. 

3. Hengstenberg and many others (Lut. Ger.) say they are the ten 
kingdoms that resulted from the invasion of the Roman Empire from the 
north, namely, Syria, Asia, Egypt, Africa, Greece, Italy, Germany, France, 
Spain and England. 

4. It seems, however, best to consider them as ten kingdoms yet to 
come—the Roman Empire in a sense still existing and to be revived. (F. 


K. Jer. Ira. Rob. Treg. Sco. Gab. Bla. Tor.) 


Ver. 8. “Another horn, a little one’’,—Literally “the horn of Iittle- 
sat oa in its beginning but becoming greater than them all (verse 
20)% 

By some this “little horn’’ is referred historically to Antiochus Epi- 
phanes and typically to the Antichrist of the New Testament (Zo. Po. 
Ju. Wil.). But if the “fourth beast’’ refers to Rome, as we are inclined to 
think it does, then the “little horn’’ must refer directly to the eschatological 
Antichrist of the New Testament (II Thess. 2.3,4). (E. K. Eb. Pu. Au. 
Zu. Ew. Hav. Hen. Rob. Jer. Sco. Bla. Tor. and nearly all the Church 
Fathers as well as nearly all Roman Catholic writers. ) 

By those who refer the “‘little horn’’ to Antiochus Epiphanes the 
“fourth beast’’ is said to be the Seleucid Empire with its ten kings, the last 


208 


DANIEL 


three of which were uprooted by Antiochus Epiphanes. Then Daniel sees 

-God on His throne preparing judgment and sending it down upon Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes because of his great and blasphemous words (verse 11). 
Then in verse 13 the Son of man comes to God, the Ancient of days, and 
gets an everlasting kingdom, the reference being to the kingdom received by 
Christ at His first coming which is the same as the “‘saints possessing the 
kingdom’ (verses 18 and 23). Then Daniel asks for more information 
about the fourth beast and was given a vision of this beast making war 
against the saints until Messiah came (His first coming) and gave justice 
to the saints, who then came into possession of the kingdom, as above 
stated. [he angel then reveals to Daniel how the “‘little horn’’ “‘shall 
subdue three kings’, speak blasphemous words against God, wear out the 
saints, change times and laws and persecute the saints three and a half 
years until judgment is meted out to him, as it was in his death. 


We have already mentioned reasons which seem sufficiently strong to 
invalidate this scheme of interpretation. 


“three of the first horns plucked up by the roots’’,—Those accepting 
Antiochus Epiphanes as the historical fulfillment of the prophecy concern- 
ing the “little horn’’ must of course refer the horns “plucked up’’ to De- 
metrius, Heliodorus and Philometer, but we have already seen why this 
reference is scarcely to be admitted. 


Calvin and some few others think that “‘three’’ should be taken as 
an indefinite number meaning many, but there is no sufficient reason for 
this, and it is best therefore to take it as a definite number meaning precisely 


three. (Bi. Me. Os. Pf. Jer. Mel. Bul. Rule.) 


“eyes like the eyes of a man’’,—Showing that he was not some celes- 
tial being. 


“a mouth speaking great things’,—i. e., magnifying himself and 
“speaking words against the most high’’ (verse 25). 


Ver. 9. ‘“‘ancitent of days’’,—This expression is by many referred 
to Christ. (Oe. Gab. Cum. Rob. and others.) But the great majority 
rightly refer it to God, the everlasting Father. (K.F. Zo. Kr.) It thus 
harmonizes with the same expression in verse 13 where it refers without 


doubt to God. 

Fausset says, ““The Son would not judge in His own case, this cause 
being the one at issue with the Antichrist’’, while Irving says, “‘It is God 
judging the arch-enemy of His Son and preparing the way for the coming 
of His Son in the clouds of heaven.” 


“thrones were placed’’,—1. e., set up. Note the plural. Inasmuch 
as “‘the ancient of days’’ seems here the rather to indicate God than Christ, 
these thrones, it would appear, were not for the glorified saints, as Light- 
foot and others take them, but for the angels of God, as Keil and Zoeckler 
would have us believe. (See Ps. 89.8.) 


“His throne was fiery fames’’,—God’s judgments are swift like rapid 
flames. 


“the wheels thereof’’,—Oriental thrones moved on wheels. 


Ver. 10. The thousands mentioned are His angels who stood before 
him to serve. 


209 


DANIEL 


Ver. 11. The execution on earth of the judgment pronounced in 
the heavenly court. 


“because of the voice of the great words’’,—Thus it is seen that it is 
the insolent rebellion of the little horn which is the cause and the occasion 
of the judgment. 


“till the beast was slain’’,—Jerome and expositors in general, both 
Catholic and Protestant, interpret this as the destruction of the Antichrist 
at the second coming of Christ. Calvin indeed says, “All Christian expos- 
itors agree in treating the prophecy as relating to the final day of Christ’s 
advent’’. 

Others, of course, consistent with their former interpretations, adnan 
this reference as pointing on typically to the Antichrist of the end of the 
age and to his kingdom, and see in its main reference that which points to 
Antiochus Epiphanes and the Seleucid Empire. 


Ver. 12. This verse does not mean that “the rest of the beasts’’ 
continued to exist after the destruction of the fourth one, but that although 
deprived of their dominion they had continued to exist in certain fragmen- 
tary form along side of the fourth and were involved in a common ruin 
by the Messianic judgment just as the image of Chap. 2 was all destroyed 
atvonce., awe INe Zon kre) 


Ver. 13. “one like unto a son of man’’,—Jesus persistently called 
Himself the Son of man. Fausset calls attention .to the fact that it is a 
title always associated with the second coming of Christ. 


“with the clouds of heaven’’,—This is referred by most commenta- 
tors to the second coming of Jesus to judgment. 


Ver. 18. “the saints of the most High’’,—These are not the angels 
of verses 10 and 16, but the people of God. But what people of God? 


1. The glorified saints. (Oc. Rob.) But this cannot be, for verses 
21 and 25 say that the “little horn’’ makes war on them and wears them 
out. They must therefore be God’s people on earth. Verse 27 says the 
kingdom is “under the whole heaven’’. 

2. The people of Christ, the Church, the members of the house of 
Israel in its ideal, spiritual significance. (C. F. Zo. Ew. Lee, Bush.) If 
it is found that the Church is to pass through the Great Tribulation this 
explanation is quite plausible and probably the correct one. 

3. Daniel’s own people, the converted and God-fearing portion of 
them who are supposed to be on the earth after the Church has been caught 
away. (Au. Gab. Hof. Hit. Ber. Len.) If the Church does not go 
through the Great Tribulation, this explanation is without doubt the 
true one. 


Ver. 21. “made war with the saints’’,—A special feature connected 
with the devouring, breaking, stamping. : 
“prevailed against them’’,—Not ultimately, but only until the ancient 


of days came, which expression in the next verse refers without question 
to Christ Himself. 


Ver.22. “‘judgment was given to the saints of the Most High’’,— 
The word “judgment’’ here includes the idea not only of. justice but of 
rule as well. . 


210 


___ DANIEL 


Ver. 23. It is exceedingly difficult to refer the latter clauses of this 
verse to Antiochus Epiphanes because it cannot very appropriately be said 
to have been true of him. 


Ver. 24. “‘out of this kingdom shall ten kings arise’’,—Scofield says, 
“In the beast vision of Daniel 7 the fourth beast is declared to be ‘the 
fourth kingdom’, i. e., the Roman Empire, the ‘iron’ kingdom of Daniel 2. 
‘The ‘ten horns’ upon the fourth beast (Roman Empire), verse 7, are de- 
clared to be ‘ten kings that shall arise’ (verse 24) answering to the ten 
toes of the image vision of Daniel 2. The ten kingdoms, covering the 
regions formerly ruled by Rome, will constitute, therefore, the form in 
which the fourth or Roman Empire will exist when the whole fabric of 
mane ccmminicn is smitten by the ‘stone cut out without hands’, 
fee brist.. 


“put down three kings’’,— (See the remarks on verse 8.) 


Ver. 25. “change the times and the law’’,—The prerogative of 
God alone, blasphemously assumed by this individual. The “times and 
the law’’ refer to the legally appointed religious celebrations or ordinances 
in general, as determined by God; the great annual feasts, the monthly 
and also the weekly, Sabbaths, new-moons, etc. “The ultimate realization 
of this must be looked for in the last times according to II Thess. 2.4; 
Rev. 18.8,11, even though its immediate historical fulfillment be found in 
Antiochus Epiphanes, to which latter, however, as we have seen, the 
prophecy can hardly with consistency be made to refer. 


“they shall be given into his hand’’,—i. e., the saints of the Most 
_ High given into his hand to be persecuted. 


“until a time and times and half a time’’,—According to frequent 
Chaldee usage the plural is put for the dual, and “‘trmes’’ means ‘‘two 
times’, and the whole is equivalent to three and one-half. 


Zoeckler says, “It must remain an open question whether ordinary 
calendar years are intended, or, what is scarcely less probable in itself, 
whether mystical periods are referred to, which are measured by a standard 
not known to men, but only to God.’ Zoeckler explains the symbolical 
reference of this time period by saying it is half of seven, seven standing for 
the whole. And just as the seven years passed in lycanthropy by Nebu- 
chadnezzar were to be taken symbolically as representing an extended 
period, so this expression means a period of suffering shortened by one- 
half, and carries in it the same idea as that expressed by the Saviour when 
He said the season of tribulation would be shortened for the elect’s sake. 
But we can hardly be satisfied with the inadequate explanation by this 
puzzled expositor of these sharply defined and often reiterated statements 
of time with reference to the events which are here predicted. 


Keil likewise has contended against a literal interpretation of these 
chronological data, but he has of course been driven to this by his theory 
that this whole prophecy applies to the duration of the Roman Empire. 

The only satisfactory explanation of the expression is to take it in a literal 
sense, as meaning three years and a half, whether it be applied to Antt- 
ochus Epiphanes, as Zoeckler applies it (and even here the difficulty of 
reconciling the statement with events connected with the suffering of Israel 
under this Syrian despot are not so formidable as Zoeckler supposes), or 
whether it be applied, as we think it should be, to the suffering under the 


211 


DANIEL 


Antichrist of the end-time. The reference is to be explained in harmony 
with the same expression in the twelfth chapter. The modern interpre- 
ters who hold to the “‘year-for-a-day”’ theory refer this “‘little horn’ of 
this chapter, some to the papacy and others to Mohammedanism. There 
is, however, no really good and convincing evidence anywhere in Daniel 
of such a symbolical use of the word ‘‘day’’. 


Zoeckler says, ‘“This prophecy of the affliction of Israel during three 
and one-half years prior to its deliverance had a typical fulfillment in the 
history of Antiochus Epiphanes, but its final realization is reserved for the 
eschatological future.”’ 


Ver. 26. “unto the end’’,—1. e., unto the end of the God-opposed 
world-power, which is to mark the end of the heathen world-power as a 
whole, and coincides with the erection of the kingdom of God. 


Ver. 27. ‘“‘the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the 
kingdoms’ ,—The dominion, power and greatness possessed by all the 
heathen kingdoms is intended, and these are to be conferred on Messiah’s 
kingdom. 

“ander the whole heaven’’,—This, says Fausset, shows it to be a 
kingdom on earth, and not in heaven. 


“his kingdom ts an everlasting kingdom’’,—Says Fausset, “If ever- 
lasting, how can the kingdom here refer to the Millennial one? Answer. 
Daniel saw the whole time of future blessedness as one period, the Millen- 
nium and the time of the new heavens and new earth. Christ’s kingdom 
is everlasting. Not even the last judgment shall end it, but only give it a 
more glorious appearance, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out 
of heaven, with the throne of God and the Lamb in it.” 


Ver. 28. “Here ts the end of the matter’’,—1. e., here is the end of 
the remarks of the interpreter, the conclusion of which coincides with the 
end a the dream. 


“my thought troubled me’’,—1i. e., after waking from his dream- 
vision. It shows perhaps that the Holy Spirit intended much more to be 
understood by Daniel’s words than Daniel himself perhaps understood. 
“We are not’, says Fausset, “‘to limit the significance of prophecies to what 
the prophets themselves understood.’’ Many a seer has spoken wiser 
than he knew. 


CHAD LERCEIOrEE 


1 In the third year of the reign of high; but one was higher than the other, 


king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto and the higher came up last. 4 I saw 
me, even unto me, Daniel, after that the ram pushing westward, and north- 
which appeared unto me at the first. 2 ward, and southward; and no beasts 
And I saw in the vision; now it was could stand before him, neither was 
so, that when I saw, I was in Shushan there any that could deliver out of his 
the *palace, which is in the province of hand; but he did according to his will, 
Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I and magnified himself. 

was by the river Ulai. 3 Then I lifted 5 And as I was considering, behold, 
up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, a he-goat came from the west over the 
there stood before the river a ram which face of the whole earth, and “touched 
had two horns: and the two horns were not the ground: and the goat had a 

1Or, castle "Heb. none touched the ground 


212 


DANIEL 


notable horn between his eyes. 6 And 
he came to the ram that had the two 
horns, which I saw standing before the 
river, and ran upon him in the fury of 
his power. 7 And I saw him come 
close unto the ram, and he was moved 
with anger against him, and smote the 
ram, and brake his two horns; and there 
Was no power in the ram to stand be- 
fore him; but he cast him down to the 
ground, and trampled upon him, and 
there was none that could deliver the 
ram out of his hand. 8 And the he- 
goat magnified himself exceedingly: and 
when he was strong, the great horn was 
broken; and instead of it there came up 
four notable horns toward the four 
winds of heaven. 

9 And out of one of them came forth 
a little horn, which waxed exceeding 
great, toward the south, and toward the 
east, and toward the glorious land. 10 
And it waxed great, even to the host of 
heaven; and some of the host and of the 
stars it cast down to the ground, and 
trampled upon them. 11 Yea, it mag- 
nified itself, even to the prince of the 
host; and “it took away from him the 
continual burnt-offering, and the place 
of his sanctuary was cast down. 12 
And ‘the host was given over to it to- 
gether with the continual burnt-offering 
through transgression; and it cast down 
truth to the ground, and it did its pleas- 
ure and prospered. 13 Then I heard a 
holy one speaking; and another holy 
one said unto that certain one who 
spake, How long shall be the vision 
concerning the continual burnt-offering, 
and the transgression that maketh deso- 
late, to give both the sanctuary and the 
host to be trodden under foot? 14 And 
he said unto me, Unto two thousand 
and three hundred evenings and morn- 
ings; then shall the sanctuary be 
‘cleansed. 

15 And it came to pass, when I, even 
Daniel, had seen the vision, that I 


3Another reading is, the continual burnt-offer- 
ing was taken away from him 

*Or, a host was given to it against the &c., 
Or, @ host was set over the &c. 

SHeb. justified 





sought °to understand it; and, behold, 
there stood before me as the appearance 
of a man. 16 And I heard a man’s 
voice between the banks of the Ulai, 
which called, and said, Gabriel, make 
this man to understand the vision. 17 
So he came near where I stood; and 
when he came, I was affrighted, and fell 
upon my face: but he said unto me, 
Understand, O son of man; for the 
vision belongeth to the time of the end. 
18 Now as he was speaking with me, 
I fell into a deed sleep with my face 
toward the ground; but he touched me, 
and set me ‘upright. 19 And he said, 
Behold, I will make thee know what 
shall be in the latter time of the indig- 
nation; for it belongeth to the appointed 
time of the end. 20 The ram which 
thou sawest, that had the two horns, 
they are the kings of Media and Persia. 
21 And the rough he-goat is the king of 
Greece: and the great horn that is be- 
tween his eyes is the first king. 22 And 
as for that which was broken, in the 
place whereof four stood up, four king- 
doms shall stand up out of the nation, 
but not with his power. 23 And in the 
latter time of their kingdom, when the 
transgressors are come to the full, a 
king of fierce countenance, and under- 
standing dark sentences, shall stand up. 
24 And his power shall be mighty, but 
not “by his own power; and he shall 
®*destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper 
and do his pleasure; and he shall 
*destroy the mighty ones and *the holy 
people. 25 And through his policy he 
shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; 
and he shall magnify himself in his 
heart, and in their security shall he °de- 
stroy many: he shall also stand up 
against the prince of princes; but he 
shall be broken without hand. 26 And 
the vision of the evenings and mornings 
which hath been told is true: but shut 
thou up the vision; for it belongeth to 
many days to come. 


SHeb. understanding 

1Or, where I had stood 

8Or, with his power. See ver. 22. 
Or, corrupt 

Heb. people of the saints 


Vers. 1-26. VISION OF THE DESECRATING HORN AND ITs INTER- 
PRETATION. 
Ver. 3. “a ram which had two horns’’,—-The ram stands for the 


kingdom of Media-Persia, the short horn referring to Media and the long 
one to Persia. (See verse 20.) 


Ver. 4. The ram did not push eastward, not because Media-Persia 
came from the east (F. Kr. Len.), nor because the east already belonged to 
Media-Persia (Zo.), nor because their conquests did not extend in that 


213 


DANIEL 


direction (Hav.), but perhaps because their conquests in the east being 
very subordinate ones it was not essential to mention them in the tintold- 
ing of this ine as a world-power. 


Ver. 5. ‘“‘a he-goat came from the west’’,—The reference here is 
to the kingdom of Greece. 

“the goat had a notable horn’’,—By this horn is meant without 
doubt Alexander the Great. (See verse 21.) 


Ver. 8. “there came up four notable horns’’,—These Daniel later 
says were the four kingdoms, the divisions into which the Grecian Empire 
fell upon the death of Alexander. (See verse 22.) 


Ver. 9. “out of one of them’,—i. e., out of the Seleucid Empire 
(the Syrian kingdom) as is universally acknowledged. 

“came forth a little horn’’,——-This by common consent is taken as a 
reference to Antiochus Epiphanes, 

“the glorious land’’,—1i. e., Palestine. 

The little horn of this chapter is not to be confounded with the little 
horn of Chap: 72. (PF) Aue Zue Ebs Hav Hen..Seofs Gab?) 

Says Scofield, ‘‘The little horn here is a prophecy fulfilled in Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes, B. C. 175, who profaned the temple and terribly perse- 
cuted the Jews. He is not to be confounded with the ‘little horn’ of 
Chap. 7 who is yet to come and who will dominate the earth during the 
Great Tribulation. But Antiochus Epiphanes is a remarkable type of the 
Beast, the terrible ‘little horn’ of the last days. That the ‘little horn’ of 
Chap. 7 cannot be the ‘little horn’ of this chapter is evident. [he former 
comes up among the ‘ten horns’ into which the ‘fourth’ empire (Roman) 
is to be divided; the ‘little horn’ of this chapter comes out of one of the 
‘four kingdoms’ into which the third empire (Grecian) was divided 
(verse 23), and in ‘the latter times’ of the four kingdoms (verses 22 and 
23). This was historically true of Antiochus Epiphanes. They are 
alike in hatred of the Jews and of God, and in profaning the temple.”’ 


Ver. 10. ‘“‘This passage’, says Scofield, “‘(verses 10-14) is con- 
fessedly the most difficult in prophecy, a difficulty increased by the present 
state of the text. Historically this was fulfilled in and by Antiochus 
Epiphanes, but in a more intense and final sense Antiochus Epiphanes but 
adumbrates the awful blasphemy of the ‘little horn’ of Chap. 7.” 

“the host of heaven’ and “‘the stars’’,—By these expressions are 
meant the people of Israel, especially those who held positions of responsi- 
bility as did the princes, priests and rabbis. 


Ver. 11. “the prince of the host’’,—i. e., God Himself. (F. Zo. 
Gab. ) 
— “him’’,—i. e., the prince of the host. 
“took away the continual burnt-offering’’,—i. e., stopped the daily 
sacrifice. 


Ver. 12. “the host was given over to it’’,—The “‘host’’ here refers 
to the host of the Jews, and the pronoun “‘it’’ patie the verse refers 
to the “little horn.” 


“through transgression’’,—This refers without donna to the apostacy 
214 


DANIEL 


of Israel because of which the host, i. e., the Jewish nation, was given over 
to the persecutions of the “little horn’’, Antiochus Epiphanes. (K. F. D. 
Kr. Hav.) The construction of the verse is exceedingly difficult. There 
are some who render it, ‘‘and war is raised against the daily sacrifice with 
wickedness’. (St. Eb. Wi. Hit. Hof. Gro.) See the margin for other 
translations, but the rendering of our text adheres more nearly to the origi- 
nal than any of the various other renderings and is much to be preferred. 
“it cast down truth’’,—He forbade the worship of the true God. 


Ver. 13. ‘‘a holy one speaking’’,—1i. e., a saint; here, an angel. 
“How long shall be the vision’, etc.,—How long shall the sacrifice 
be suspended and the profanation of the temple and the trodding under 


foot of the host of the Jewish people be continued, i. e., how long shall 
it last? 


Ver. 14. “Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and 
mornings’ ,—By no kind of impartial exegesis can this expression be taken 
to indicate two thousand and three hundred years. It must refer to days 
SeEiortoell U0, daysii lw. 20, Ka,.tul, Hit.) ‘but.to. 2300. days, (C.F. 
K. St. Ber. Len. Hav. Hof. Der.) Antiochus Epiphanes took Jerusalem 
in B. C. 170. ‘Three years later, B. C. 167, in June he sent Appolonius 
against the city who at that time caused all sacrifices to cease. On Decem- 
ber of this same year Appolonius set up the heathen altar in the temple and 
on December 25 the heathen sacrifices began. ‘Three years later on this 
same date, December 25, B. C. 164, Judas Maccabeus restored the true 
sacrifice and this was just three and one-half years after Appolonius stopped 
the sacrifice. The three years and a half dating from June, B. C. 167, 
was a period of severe oppression and sacrilege against the temple. Stuart 
and some others fix the first date mentioned above in B. C. 171 and accord- 
ingly ae all the following dates back a year earlier, i. e., B. C. 171, 168 
ands LO: 

These three and one-half years had their typical fulfillment in Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes, but it is generally conceded that its final realization is 
reserved for the last times, according to the New Testament writings, in 
the eschatological Antichrist. 


Ver. 17. “the time of the end’’,—This is the prophetic phrase for 
the time of fulfillment seen always at the end of the prophetic horizon. 
(Gen. 49.1; Num. 24.14.) 


This refers of course primarily to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, 
his overthrow and the judgment of the world-kingdom with the ushering 
in of the Messianic kingdom at Christ’s first coming, but antitypically the 
reference is to the final period of the world’s history, the close of the Chris- 
tian era at the second coming of Christ. (K. F. St.) 


Ver. 19. “‘the latter time of the indignation’’,—i. e., of God’s 
indignation. 

“the appointed time of the end’’,—Says Scofield, ‘“T'wo ‘ends’ are in 
view here; (1) historically, the end of the third, or Grecian Empire of 
Alexander out of one of the divisions of which the ‘little horn’ of verse 
9 (Antiochus Epiphanes) arose; (2) prophetically, the end of the times 
of the Gentiles, when the ‘little horn’ of Chap. 7, the Beast, will arise— 
Daniel’s final time of the end.” 


215 


DANIEL 


Ver. 22. “not with his power’’,—Neither singly nor all taken 
together did the power of the four divisions of the Grecian Empire equal 
that of his, i. e., of Alexander’s. : 


Ver. 23. “‘when the transgressors are come to the full’’,—The 
“transgressors” are the apostate Jews whose sins have ripened them for 
judgment. (K. F. St. Rob. Gab.) Thhe typical reference is of course to 
the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and the antitypical to the close of the 
Christian era. 


“understanding dark sentences’’,—Literally ‘‘verses in riddle’, i. e., 
crafty, clever and cunning. 


Ver. 24. “‘not by his own power’’,—It is by divine permission that 
he accomplishes his destructive work. 


“the mighty ones and the holy people’,—The leaders among the 
Jews and the Jewish people in general, the people of God. 


Ver. 25. “‘the prince of princes’’,—1i. e., God Himself. 


“he shall be broken without hand’’,—His destruction was to be due 
to the intervention of God. 

We can hardly see wherein Scofield is warranted in thinking that 
verses 24 and 25 go beyond Antiochus Epiphanes and refer, as he says, 
“evidently to the ‘little horn’ of Chap. 7, in fact pre-eminently so’, 
although he does not exclude a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes. Cer- 
tainly the “‘king of fierce countenance’ of verse 23 is the same individual 
as the one referred to by the pronouns of verses 24 and 25. 


Ver. 26. “shut thou up the vision’’,—Daniel was told not to be 
too anxious about spreading the vision abroad, but to eure ey it carefully 
for later times when it would be better understood. 


CHAPTER NINE 


20 And while I was speaking, and consider the matter, and understand the 
praying, and confessing my sin and the vision. 
sin of my people Israel, and presenting 24 Seventy weeks are decreed upon 
my supplication before Jehovah my God thy people and upon thy holy city, ° 
for the holy mountain of my God; 21 finish “transgression, and ‘to make an 
yea, while I was speaking in prayer, end of sins, and to *make reconciliation 
the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting 
the vision at the beginning, *being caused righteousness, and to seal up vision and 
to fly swiftly, *touched me about the ‘prophecy, and to anoint “the most 
time of the evening oblation. 22 And holy. 25 Know therefore and discern, 
he “instructed me, and talked with me, that from the going forth of the com- 
and said, O Daniel, I am now come mandment to restore and to build Jeru- 
forth to give thee wisdom and under- salem unto “the anointed one, the prince 
standing. 23 At the beginning of thy shall be “seven weeks, and threescore and 
supplications the commandment went two weeks: it shall be built again, with 
forth, and J am come to tell thee: street and moat, even in troublous times. 
for thou art ‘greatly beloved: therefore 26 And after the threescore and two ~ 

1Or, being sore wearied 5Or, to restrain 

"Or, came near unto me 6Or, the transgression 

3Or, made me to understand TAnother reading is, to seal up 

4Or, very precious Heb. precious things SOr, purge away 


®Heb. prophet 

WOr,a most holy place 

UHeb. Messiah 4 

Or, seven weeks: and threescore and two 
weeks, it shall be &c. 


216 


DANIEL 


weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, 
and “shall have nothing: and the people 
of the prince that shall come shall de- 
stroy the city and the sanctuary; and 


the end thereof shall be with a flood, 

and even unto the end shall be war; 

desolations are determined. 27 And he 
Or, there shall be none belonging to him 





shall make a firm covenant with many 
for one week: and in the midst of the 
week he shall cause the sacrifice and the 
“oblation to cease; and “upon the wing 
of abominations shall come one that 
maketh desolate; and even unto the full 
end, and that determined, shall wrath 
be poured out upon the desolate. 
WOr, meal offering 


Or, upon the pinnacle of abominations shall 
be &e. 


‘THE VISION OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF YEARS AND ITS 
INTERPRETATION. 


Vers. 20-27. 


The “‘books’’ in verse 2 refer to a collection of prophetic writings 
which Daniel had at hand including the writings of Jeremiah. 

Daniel reckons in verse 2 the captivity, “even seventy years’’ from 
the fourth year of Jehoiakim, B. C. 606, when he himself was taken away 
by Nebuchadnezzar. (Dan. 1.1.) The vision of this chapter occurs B. C. 
538 when the period was almost at its close. 


Ver. 21. “the man Gabriel’’,—i. e., the angel Gabriel in human 
form. 

“the time of evening oblation’’,—i. e., three o’clock in the afternoon. 

Ver. 24. ‘“‘Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people’’,—It is 


conceded by all that these are weeks of years; more accurately “‘sevens of 
years’, i. e., seventy weeks of seven years each, or 490 years. If they 
were taken to mean literal weeks the passage would have no sense or mean- 
ing whatever. Four hundred and ninety years are to elapse before any 
perfect deliverance is to come, before the national chastisement is to be 
ended and the nation re-established in everlasting righteousness. This is 
an amplification of the seventy actual years of Jeremiah which had made 
only an initial and imperfect fulfillment. 


“to finish transgression’ ,—1. e., to complete transgression. ‘‘Restrain’’, 
as in the margin, seems better suited to the context, i. e., to hem in, to 
hinder it, so that it can no longer spread about. (K. F.) 


“to make an end of stns’’,—The literal of this is “‘to seal up’, i. e., 
to conceal. ‘“‘Removing them out of God’s sight’’ (Hen.); “‘so as never 
more to be declared against us’’ (Pol. Wil.) ; ‘‘so as no more to be active 


mor increase’. (K. Ki. Hof.). 


“reconciliation for intquity’’,—The expression means to atone for by 
sacrifice. There is no word in the Old Testament properly rendered 
reconcile; atonement is invariably the meaning, the doctrine of reconcilia- 
tion belonging to the New Testament. 


“everlasting righteousness’’,—This refers to both the normal state 
between God and man through the righteousness of Christ imputed to 
man and the moral aspect of it, the righteousness practiced by the believer. 
TD) 

“to seal up’’,—i. e., to conceal (as elsewhere), in the sense of causing 
it to cease in consequence of its fulfillment. 


“vision and prophecy’’,—Not so much Jeremiah’s prophecy concern- 


ing the seventy years, but the prophetic institution as a whole and its 
Visions. 


Zhe 


DANIEL 





“to anoint the most holy’’,—This expression is not once used of a 
person anywhere, unless it be in I Chron. 23.13, and even here the refer- 
ence is doubtful. It can hardly be taken therefore as referring to Christ. 
(C. Hen. Hav.), nor to Christ as the sacrificial altar of the New Testament 
Church (Zo.). Gaebelein maintains that the reference is to the Holy of 
Holies in the temple to be built during the time of Tribulation, while 
others (K. Pu. KI. Hof. Rob.) take it as the new spiritual ie the New 
Testament Church, as the dwelling place of God. 


Ver. 25. “from the going forth of the commandment’’ ,—Four com- 
mandments or decrees were issued from one of which it seems the “‘seventy 
weeks’ ought to be dated, and each is supported by a number of com- 
mentators. They are: 

1. The decree of Cyrus in the first year of his reign, B. C. 536 (Ez. 

6.14 and Isa. 44.28). (C. U. Oe. Heg. Coc.) ) 

2. The decree of Darius Hystapis in the second year of his reign, con- 

tinuing: that of Cyrus, Be G) 5 19\(EZ" 6712) J? (Ba Preeur) 

3. The decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in the seventh year of his 

reign, B.C, 457. (Bz. 7.1;-8:1 1) (DosPrras Gale brig sere 

4. The decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in the twentieth year of 

his reign, his second edict, B. C. 445 (Neh. 2.1,7). (Of. Re. 
Af. Sta. Hav. Hen. Gab. Der.) 


There were also two prophecies given for the restoration of the city 
by Jeremiah from which some date the “‘seventy weeks’: 

1. The first prophecy given B. C. 605 (Jer. 25.11). (Bl. Zo.) 

2. The second prophecy given B. C. 598. (Jer. 29.10.) 


Besides the above six starting points there are five others, each one 
of which has some advocates: 
1. The first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, B. C. 539, the 
time of Daniel’s prophecy itself. (Koc. Mic.) 
2. The second year of the reign of Darius Nothus, B. C. 423. (Sca.) 
3. The second year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, B. C. 
462. (Lut. Mel.) 


4. The tenth year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, or the 
earlier date of his second edict on the ground of his co-regency 
with his father, Xerxes, B. C. 454. (V.-Pet.) 


5. The second year of the reign of Xerxes, B. C. 483. (Faber.) , 


Besides these eleven starting points others have been conceived, but 
are hardly to be taken seriously. 
The expositors of this remarkable passage introduced by verse 25 fall, 
generally speaking, into three classes: 
1. Those who refer the whole passage to the time of Antiochus 
Epiphanes. (Ei. Ma. Ew. Bl. Kr. Zu. Ber. Len. Hit. Ros. Wie. 
Luc. Hil. Hof. Del. and others of the rationalistic school, to- 
gether with a majority of the moderns.) Many of these give the 
passage also a typical eschatological meaning. It will be later 
seen why this view is an exceedingly difficult one to accept. 
2. Those who make the passage a direct prophecy of Christ and the 


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aS 


DANIEL 


destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. (Au. Pu. Rei. Hav. and 
the majority of the older orthodox school. ) 


3. Those who give it an eschatological meaning directly, the periods 
of time being taken symbolically,—seven weeks till Christ; sixty- 
two weeks till the apostacy of the times of the Antichrist, and one 
week (divided into two times three and one-half), the rise and fall 
of Antichrist, (K. Kl. Ley.) 


“Seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks’,—With very few 
exceptions expositors take these two periods together, making sixty-nine 
weeks or 483 years. If you separate them you leave the last clause with- 
out any governing preposition. The fact that the sixty-two weeks are 
repeated in the next verse with the article “‘the’’ does not make them any 
more of an independent period than they otherwise would be, coming 
after the seven weeks. [he abrupt pause before “it shall be built’, etc., is 
just what you would expect, being a resumption of the former statement 
that Jerusalem should be rebuilt. Neither is there sufficient evidence, as 
Zoeckler claims, for believing that the writer wants to make the building 
commence at the beginning of the sixty-two weeks. But we would expect 
the building to begin at once, at the beginning of the seven weeks (forty- 
nine years) for this was the very terminus a quo of the entire prophecy. 
Then the forty-nine years were after all historically the building period. 


The expositors are conveniently divided into Messianic and anti- 
Messianic. 


I. THE ANTI-MESSIANIC. 


1. The destructive rationalistic class: 
(a) Daniel made a prediction never fulfilled. (Eckermann.) 
(b) Verses 25-27 are a gloss of some later rabbi. (Lowenheim. ) 


(c) The weeks are ordinary weeks (490 days) and extend from 
the time of the vision to the time of Cyrus. 


2. The more considerate class, who as a rule refer the fulfillment of 
the prophecy to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. Of a score 
of interpretations we give a few, all of which break down his- 
torically. 


(a) Zoeckler and Farrar start with Jeremiah’s prophecy and 
make the “‘anointed one’ to be Cyrus at the end of seven 
weeks. But Cyrus became king and issued his edict B. C. 
536. They make the “anointed one cut off’ in verse 26 to 
be Onias III, who was murdered B. C. 171. Count back 
from B. C, 171 and the Cyrus date is missed sixty-nine 
years and the Jeremiah prophecy date as many. 
It misses the dates of the four decrees on an average of 150 
years, 
Keil, arguing against starting with the prophecy of Jeremiah, 
well says, ‘All such references to Jeremiah are excluded by 
the fact that the angel names the commandment for the res- 
toration of Jerusalem as the terminus a quo (the starting 
point) for the seventy weeks and could thus only mean a 
word of God, the going forth of which was somewhere deter- 
mined or could be determined just as the appearance of the 


PM 


(b) 


DANIEL 


anointed prince is named as the termination of the seventy 
weeks.” 


Bleek and Maurice start with the prophecy of Jeremiah but 
refer the “‘anointed one cut off’’ to Philopator (Seleucis IV). 
But heathen kings can scarcely be said to be anointed. How- 
ever Philapator was murdered B. C. 176 and counting back 
483 years (seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks), we have 
B. C. 659, missing the Jeremiah dates by sixty years. 


(c) Bertholdt makes the “anointed one cut off’’ refer to Alexan- 


(d) 


der the Great. But he died B. C. 323 and no count can even 
approximate the Cyrus date (B. C. 536) or the Destruction 
of Jerusalem date (B. C. 588) with which he begins. 
Ewald starts with destruction of Jerusalem (B. C. 588) and 
makes the ‘‘anointed one cut off’’ to be Philopator, B. C. 175. 
But there is a shortage here of seventy years. Ewald says it 
was formerly in the text but has been lost. 


(e) Hitzig and Lengerke start with the B. C. 588 date for both 


the forty-nine years and the 434 years (seven weeks and 
sixty-two weeks), paralleling the periods. Hitzig makes 
the “cutting off’’ refer to Onias III, B. C. 171, but counting 
back 434 years brings us to B. C. 605. Lengerke makes the 
“cutting off’ refer to Philopator, B. C. 175, but counting 
back 434 years we have B. C. 609, thus missing the B. C. 
588 date in both cases. It would seem that historically the 
reference of this vision to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes ts 
hardly justifiable. 


II. “THE MESSIANIC. é 
1. Those who hold the vision to be only typically Messianic: 


(b) 


(a) Kranichfeld reckons the forty-nine years from the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, B. C. 588, which brings him to 
Cyrus, the anointed prince, which he takes to be B. C. 539, 
and from here he reckons 434 years to Christ, missing it 100 
years, which period he says was unnoticed by the prophet 
in harmony with the law of perspective vision. 


Some make the “‘anointed one cut off’’ to be Onias III (typi- 
cal of Christ) from whose death, B. C. 171, they count back 
434 years (sixty-two weeks) to B. C. 605. They then add 
one week (seven years) to B. C. 171, bringing it to B. C. 
164, and then they transpose the seven weeks (forty-nine 
years) and add them to B. C. 164, or rather leave a hiatus 
between B. C. 164 and the first preaching of the Gospel in 
the time of Christ and the Apostles, from which latter time 
the seven weeks, a mystical period, begins and lasts until the 
second coming and judgment of the world. (Fu. Del. Hof. 
and Wies. ) 


2. Those who hold that the vision is directly Messianic: 


(1) 


Christian expositors of older times, 


(a) Africanus reckons from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes 
(B. C. 445) to the death of Christ. (He reckoned on 


220 


DANIEL 


Jewish lunar years, making only 465 solar years. ) 


(Jer. Chr. Aug. Isi. Bed. Theo.) 


(b) Hippolytus reckons from the decree of Cyrus, B. C. 
536, sixty-nine weeks (483 years) to the birth of 
Christ, making the periods mystical, and refers the last 
mystical week to the time of the Antichrist in the finai 
end. 


(2) Christian expositors of recent times. 


(a) The majority reckon from the decree of Artaxerxes in 
the twentieth year of his reign, B. C. 445 (Neh. 1.1; 
2.1) and count 483 years to Christ’s baptism, A. D. 28. 
To get this latter date they make the twentieth year of 
Uxita ker kess oe Ge -P>) instead or. 6, ©.n440., .. (Llav. 
Hen. Der. Less. Scholl.) 


(b) Klieforth reckons from the edict of Cyrus, B. C. 536, 
and counts sixty-nine mystical weeks to the birth of 


Christ. 


(c) Some reckon from the decree given by Artaxerxes in the 
seventh year of his reign, B. C. 457 (Ez. 7.8) and 
count 483 years to Christ’s baptism in A. D. 26. (Pu. 
Au. Bla.) 


(d) Some take the reckoning of Africanus as above. B. C. 
445 to A. D. 32 is 476 years, or 173,740 days. This 
plus 116 days for leap years makes 173,856 days. The 
exact date of the crucifixion was April 6 (A. D. 32), 
and the exact date of the edict was March 14 (B. C. 
445), giving twenty-four days more, which added to 

- 173,856 makes 173,880 days. This is exactly 483 
times 360 days (a prophetic year). (Gab. Sir Robert 
Anderson.) 


In harmony with the direct Messianic interpretation of the prophecy 
“the anointed one’ of verses 25 and 26 are the same person, i. e., Christ. 


(hea enue KisHav. Hen. Hof. Del.) 


Of those who make the baptism of Christ the terminus ad quem of 
the sixty-nine weeks, most of the older and many of the later expositors 
make the ‘‘one week’’ (the last week—-seven years) follow immediately, 
the crucifixion (the “cutting off’’) taking place at the end of three and 
one-half years (in the midst of the week) which put an end to O. T. 
sacrifices. The rest of the last week they leave indefinitely with no precise 
chronological determination, referring it to the founding of Christianity 
through the preaching of the Apostles. 

Of those who make the crucifixion the terminus ad quem, some add 
next a hiatus of 2000 years and make the last week the period of the final 
Antichrist. (Gab. Sco. Mor. Tor. Mack.) 

Klieforth, who holds the mystical theory, reckons the seven weeks 
from the edict of Cyrus to the advent of Christ, the sixty-two weeks from 
the advent of Christ to the Antichrist week which is the last week, the 
“one week’’. 

“built again even tn troublous times’’—This occurs under Nehemiah 


pag | 


DANIEL 


and Ezra, the enemies of God’s people causing them much trouble. His- 
torically the reconstruction period cannot be extended throughout the 


entire sixty-nine weeks, as some (F. Zo.) have interpreted. The temple | 


was built as early as B.C. 515. (See Neh. 6.15 and Ez. 6.15.) 


‘The seventy weeks are divided into seven (forty-nine years) ; sixty- 
two (434 years), and one (seven years). In the seven weeks (forty-nine 
years) Jerusalem was to be rebuilt ‘in troublous times’. “This was ful- 
filled as Ezra and Nehemiah record. Sixty-two weeks (434 years) there- 
after Messiah was to come. ‘This was fulfilled in the birth of Christ.” 
(Scofield. ) 


Ver. 26. “and shall have nothing’’,—All Hebrew scholars agree 
with this reading. The meaning is that He shall then possess nothing; 
He shall not possess the kingdom or be the acknowledged King; He shall 
be deprived of everything. (C. Eb. Kr. Kl. Ju. Gab. Mor. Sco.) 


The following are some of the numerous other renderings: 


1. “‘not for himself’, 1. e., not for His own sake will Christ die, but 
for humanity. (V. Ros. Wil. Hav. Bul) 


“shall have no adherents’. (Au. Gro. Marginal reading.) 
“there shall be none to help him’’. (Vat.) 


“there shall be nothing to Him’’, i. e., the city, the sanctuary and 
the Jewish people shall be His no more. (Pu.) 


5. “it shall not be to him”’, i. e., His place as Messiah—He has lost it. 
(K. 
Hengstenberg adopts the fourth reading but makes it mean that the 
earthly kingdom for which the Jews had hoped shall come to nought. 


All of the above five renderings together with that of our text refer 
“the anointed one’’ to Christ. Those who refer ‘‘the anointed one’ to 
Onias or Philopator or Alexander translate, ‘‘he shall have no successor’. 
“the prince that shall come’’,—To whom does this refer? (See ex- 
planation under verse 27.) 


“and the end thereof’, etc..—According to our text this must be 
taken as the end of the city and the sanctuary (F. Au. Del. Hav. Hit. Gei. 
Len.), but it may quite as properly be rendered “‘and his end’’ and refer to 
the prince that shall come, the final Antichrist. (K. Kl. Kr. Zo. Hof. Wie. 
Gab. Sco. Mor. Tor. Treg.) 


“and even unto the end shall be war’’,—-Unto what end? 

. The end of the city and the sanctuary. (Au. Hav.) 

. The end of the prince, 1. e., until he is destroyed. (Wie. as well 

as all who take the prince to be Antiochus Epiphanes. ) 

The end of all things. (KI.) 

. The end generally, i. e., the end of the last week, sehr it be 
viewed as then in progress or as a week yet to come in the future. 
(K. Hen. Len. Hit.) This last is without doubt correct. 

Scofield says, ““The crucifixion is the first event of verse 26. The 
second event is the destruction of the city, fulfilled A. D. 70. Then “unto 
the end’’, a period not fixed, but which has already lasted 2000 years. “To 
Daniel was revealed only that wars and desolations should continue (Matt. 
24.6-14). The New Testament reveals that which was hidden from 
the Old Testament prophets (Eph. 3.1-10) that during this period should 


222 


coe 


- 


DANIEL 


be accomplished the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13.1-50), 
‘and the outcalling of the Church (Rom. 11.25). When the Church age 
will end and the ‘seventieth week’ begin, is nowhere revealed. Its dura- 
tion can be but seven years; to make it more violates the principle of inter- 
pretation already confirmed by fulfillment.” 


“desolations ate determined’’,—According to our text these words 
are to be joined to the preceding clause with a semicolon and are to be 
taken as an explanatory clause. (KI. Kr.) 


Many prefer the reading of the Authorized Version, ‘‘and unto the 
end of the war desolations are determined’. (So. Fu. Ew. Hof. Ros. 
Vul. Sept.) 


Another reading and one which we prefer is, “and even unto the end 
shall be war, the determined desolations’. ‘The ‘‘determined desolations”’ 
are by this rendering taken in apposition with the word “‘war’’. (Au. Hit. 
Wie. Mau. Len. Hav. ) 


“determined”’,—i. e., decreed by God. 


Ver. 27. “‘make a firm covenant’’,—Many authorities take the word 
““week’’ to be the subject of this sentence, and explain the expression as 
follows: 


1. The one week shall make the Old Testament covenant (adher- 
ence to the faith in Jehovah and to the theocratic law) hard 
(grievous) for many. (Hit.) 


2. The one week shall confirm many in the covenant through tribu- 
lation and the trial of their faith. (Hof. Ros.) 


3. The one week shall confirm a covenant to many through the seduc- 
tive arts of Antiochus Epiphanes. (Len.) 


4. The one week (especially by the death of the Messiah) shall lead 
to the conclusion of a new, strong and firm covenant with many. 


(Au. Hen. Hav.) 
We prefer with our text to make “‘he’’ the subject of the sentence. 


It would seem that “‘he’’ here must refer to the same person as does 
“the prince that shall come’”’ in verse 26, and the reference in verse 26 must 
therefore be determined by the content of this verse 27 as well as by its own 
content. 


It would seem evident therefore that “‘the prince that shall come’ and 
the ““he’’ cannot refer to Antiochus Epiphanes (Zo. Fa.) , because, as Strong 
remarks, “‘the language was not fulfilled in any sense by Antiochus who 
aimed at the suppression of Jehovah’s worship and virtually left the city 
and the sanctuary untouched’’; nor can it refer to Christ, the Messiah (F. 
C. Rob. Wil. Str.) because it was not His people (verse 26) that destroyed 
the city and the sanctuary, nor is it without extreme difficulty that we can 
think of Him making a covenant for a week (seven years). His was an 
“everlasting covenant’. Once more, it can hardly refer to Titus (F. Bl. 
Ew. Len. Jos. Str.), because while verse 26 might be true of him, verse 
27 can in no sense be said to be so. It would seem therefore that the refer- 
ence in both verses must be to the Antichrist who is yet to come. (K. KI. 
Kr. Sco. Mor. Gab. Wie. Hof.) 


“many’’,—lIn the original the article “‘the’’ is found. Zoeckler and 
his class of interpreters make these to be the apostatizing Jews in the time 


Poh, 


DANIEL 


of Antiochus Epiphanes, but Keil well remarks that the mass of the Jews 
did not apostatize in his time, which this expression, by the use of the 
definite article “‘the’’ seems to make clear was the case. The reference, of 
course, consistent with our former explanation must refer to the Jews of 
the times of the final Antichrist. As Keil says, ‘“That ungodly prince 
shall impose upon the mass of the people a strong covenant that they should 
follow him and give themselves to him as their God.” 


It must be noticed that, if “‘the prince that shall come’’ be taken as 
the Antichrist, it is not the Antichrist who destroys “‘the city and the sanc- 
tuary’’, but the people of the Antichrist; that is, as Morgan says, “‘the 
people who are guided by the same principle of government that eventually 
characterizes the rule of the Antichrist’’. 


Now, according to our explanation thus far, two distinct periods of 
time are referred to in the passages immediately before us. If we trans- 
late with our text, “the end thereof’ in verse 26, and refer this to the end 
of the city and the sanctuary, then the end time in which the final Anti- 
christ appears begins with verse 27, but if with Morgan and others we 
translate “‘his end’ in verse 26, and refer this to the Antichrist himself, 
then the prophecy passes immediately after the semicolon on to events at 
the close of this age, when the Prince himself, the final Antichrist, shall be 
manifested. “Then, as Morgan says, ‘““The semicolon of Daniel is the 


£ ESF: 


coma which follows Isaiah’s ‘acceptable year of the Lord’. 


“and in the midst of the week he’’, etc..—The subject is of course 
the same throughout the verse. Says Scofield, “‘He will covenant with the 
Jews to restore their temple sacrifices for one week (seven years), but in 
the middle of that time, after three and one-half years, he will break the 
covenant and fulfill Dan. 12.11; II Thess. 2.3,4. Between the sixty- 
ninth week, after which the Messiah was cut off, and the. seventieth week, 
within which the ‘little horn’ of Dan. 7 will run his awful course, inter- 
venes this entire Church-age. Verse 27 deals with the last three and one- 
half years of the seven, which are identical with the ‘great Tribulation’, 
ae erepe elie the hour of temptation; Matt. 24.15-28; Dan. 12.1; 

ev. 3.10. 


Those who refer the subject of this verse to Christ, the Messiah, 
maintain that the reference is to His perfect expiatory sacrifice on the Cross 
whereby He did forever away with the Levitical sacrifices. (F. Au. Str. 
Hav. Hen.) These authorities maintain, therefore, that half of Daniel’s 
missing week has already gone in the three and one-half years of our Lord’s 
earthly ministry. But the clear and distinct division of ‘““weeks’’ in verses 
26 and 27 rather argue against this view and lead us to believe that the 
whole of the missing week is still in the future. 


“upon the wing of abominations shall one come that maketh deso- 
late’’,—‘‘abominations”’ mean “‘horrible things’’ and from the religious 
standpoint, “‘abominable idolatries’’. 


“wing’’ is a literal translation. The word is equivalent to “‘screen, 
protection, covering, roof’, It carries in it the idea of extension and so 
may be applied to the wing of a building. Some render it “‘pinnacle’’, but 
Bleek and Keil argue rather conclusively that the idea of extension which 
inheres in the word is always extension horizontally and never vertically. 
The idea of “‘pinnacle’’ may be gotten from one of its primal meanings. 


Zan 


DANIEL 


i. e., “roof’’, and so by the rule of Synecdoche (a part being taken for the 
whole) the “wing’’ (extension) or the ‘‘roof’’ (pinnacle) may be applied 
to the entire building and so read ‘‘temple’. ‘The ancient versions all 
agreed in this. “Ihe Maccabean book, the most ancient translation of the 
words, so renders, as do also the most ancient translations, the Septuagint 
and the Vulgate. The literal reading would then be, ‘“‘Upon the temple 
shall come the abominations of the one that maketh desolate’, or ‘‘Upon 
the temple shall come the abominations of desolation’, according as we 
translate ‘“‘desolator’’ or ‘‘desolation’”’. If the rendering ‘‘desolation’’ be 
adopted, this word would be considered as an apposition to ‘‘abomina- 
tions’, it being really a genitive of description. 


Others translate, ‘Under the pinnacle of abominations comes the one 
temple where abominable idols were placed.’’ (D. Oe. Os. Bul. Ges.) 
The last of these authorities translates with the margin of the Authorized 
Version, ‘‘On the pinnacle (of the temple) are the abominations of the 
one that maketh desolate’. Jesus said, ‘‘When you see the abomination of 
desolation spoken of by Daniel’’. He quoted from the Vulgate and He 
also knew Hebrew and this lends pretty good evidence that the Vulgate 
translation is a good one. It would appear, however, that the only gram- 
matically possible translation is that of our text. 


Others translate, “‘Upon the pinnacle of abominations comes the one 
that maketh desolate’. (K. KI. Kr. Mau. Rei. Hen. Len.) The first 
three of these authorities makes the desolator to be the future Antichrist 
coming on the wings of idolatry, the power that moves and carries him 
over the earth. Still others translate, “‘On account of the pinnacle, or 
frightful height of abominations there shall come one that maketh deso- 
late’, thus giving the moral ground why in God’s providence the desolator 
came. (F. Pu. Au. Eu. Gab.) Gaebelein translates, ““On account of the 
protection of abominations there shall come one who maketh desolate’. 

Hitzig renders it, ‘“Upon the extreme point of the abominations deso- 
lation shall come’. ‘This translation is much like that of our text, but by 
the “‘extreme point’? he means the idol altar put up by Antiochus Epi- 
phanes. 

These different translations practically come to the same thing in 
their meaning; it was because of the idolatrous abominations that the deso- 
lator, or desolation, was to come upon the city and the sanctuary. 


“even unto the full end’’,—Zoeckler says the expression for “full end”’ 
is an exact reproduction of Isa. 10.23; 28.22, and means ‘‘consumption”’, 
utter extinction, and he translates the last word of the verse “‘desolator’’, 
referring it to Antiochus Epiphanes. Fausset and Tregellius translate with 
Zoeckler but while Fausset refers the word to Titus as a type of the final 
Antichrist, Tregellius refers it to the final Antichrist directly. The word 
in question, however, is passive and so means ‘“‘desolate’’, and means, we 
presume, the people who are made desolate. 


SARE R LEN 


14 Now I am come to make thee 
understand what shall befall thy people 
in the latter days; for the vision is yet 
for many days. 


225 


DANIEL 


Ver. 14. THE PROPHECY OF THE END-TIME ANNOUNCED. 


“the vision ts yet for many days’’,—The idea here may be either: 

1. The vision to be imparted to thee shall extend to these days. (Kr. 
Hav.) 

2. Yet a vision of those days Iam now to reveal. (Zo.) According 
to this latter explanation the word “‘yet’’ seems to have a backward 
reference to the other visions given to Daniel. Either view gives 

-good sense and one has about as much in its favor as the other. 


“many days’’,—These days refer to the days just mentioned, i. e., 
the latter days. No content of this vision is given unless we refer it to 
the following chapter. 


CHAPTERS ELEVEN 


31 And forces shall stand on his 
part, and they shall profane the sanctu- 
ary, even the fortress, and shall take 
away the continual burnt-offering, and 


they shall set up the abomination that 
maketh desolate. 

32 And such as do wickedly against 
the covenant shall he *pervert by flat- 
teries; but the people that know their 
God shall be strong, and do exploits. 

33 And *they that are wise among the 


people shall instruct many; yet they 
shall fall by the sword and by flame, by 
captivity and by spoil many days. 

34 Now when they shall fall, they 
shall be helped with a little help; but 
many shall join themselves unto them 
with flatteries. 

35 And some of *them that are wise 
shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, 
and to make them white, even to the 
time of the end; because it is yet for the 
time appointed. 


1Heb. make profane 
"Or, the teachers of the people 


3Or, the teachers 


THE ‘“‘LITTLE HORN’’ OF DANIEL 8, ANTIOCHUS EPI- 
PHANES, IN THE ‘“‘GLORIOUS LAND’’ (PALESTINE). 


Vers. 31-35. 


In Chap. 11 the prophet first traces through prophetic vision the 
history of the two parts of the Grecian empire which had to do with 
Palestine and the Jews, viz., Syria and Egypt. He brings this down to the 
time of Antiochus Epiphanes (verse 21), after which the vision concerns 
itself with the two expeditions of this king into Egypt, from the second of 
which he returns in verse 30 and on his way back to his own land (Syria) 
he takes out his revenge on the Jews, while at the same time he makes an 
affliation with the apostate Jews, “‘such as do wickedly against the 
covenant’. 


Ver. 31. “forces shall stand on his part’’,—He shall maintain an 
armed host in the Holy Land. 
“profane the sanctuary, even the fortress’’,-The sanctuary was a 


stronghold not only in a physical sense but especially in a spiritual sense. 
Jehovah is called a “‘strong tower’. 


“set up the abomination’”’,—‘‘Abomination”’ is the common name for 
an idol in the Old Testament. Appolonius, by direction of Antiochus 
Epiphanes, had an altar to Jupiter Olympius built on the altar of God in 
the temple; he also sacrificed a sow and sprinkled its broth about the temple. 


“that maketh desolate’’,—1i. e., that pollutes the temple. 
226 


DANIEL 


Ver. 32. “such as do wickedly against the covenant’’,—i. e., the 
apostate Jews. 

“the people who know God’’,—This is said perhaps with special ref- 
erence to the Maccabees and their followers. (See also Hebrews 11.34.) 


Ver. 33. “they that are wise’’,—Not special teachers (Hit.),. but 
the understanding ones who know and keep the truth of God; men like 
Mattathias and his five sons and Eleazar. 


Ver. 34. “they shall be helped with a little help’’,—i. e., perhaps 
by the efforts and partial victories of Mattathias and his five sons. They 
however soon fell under the Romans and the Herodians. 

“many shall join themselves unto them with flatteries’’,—The refer- 
ence here is to the hypocritical Jewish adherents who joined Mattathias and 
his sons while fortune favored them, but who before had been deserters. 


Ver. 35. Here is set forth some of the divine purpose in permitting 
the sufferings, namely, to refine, to purify and to make them “‘white’’. 

“the time of the end’’,—Here, says Scofield, Daniel ‘‘overleaps the 
centuries to the time when he of whom Antiochus Epiphanes was a type, 
the ‘little horn’ of Dan. 7.8, the Antichrist of the final end time, shall 
appear’. Others of course will have us think here of the end of Antiochus 
Epiphanes himself. 

“a time appointed’ ,—This expression wherever found in this book 
of Daniel refers to a time of divine appointment, whatever may be the 
particular period of time in question. (See verses 27,29 also of this 
chapter. ) 


Vers. 31-35 are referred by some (Bi. Os. Pf. Cox. Rob) to the 
Papal power, with explanations as follows: 


Ver. 31. “forces shall stand on his part’’,—By various ways the 
Roman arms stood up over the Grecian power. 

“profane the sanctuary’’,—This took place first on the siege of Jeru- 
salem by Pompey when, says Josephus, ‘“‘no small enormities were com- 
mitted”. It was polluted under Crassus and again when Sosius took 
the city. 

“take away the continual burnt-offering’,—This was done during 
the siege of the city by ‘Titus. ; 

“they shall set up the abomination’’,—This took place first when the 
Romans under Cestius assailed the temple; again under Titus when ensigns 
were brought into the temple and sacrifice offered to them, and again when 
a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was built on the very site of the sanctuary 


of God. 


Ver. 32. ‘“‘pervert by flatteries’’,—This refers to the alluring prom- 
ises of the Roman magistrates. 


Ver. 33. “shall instruct many’’,—The primitive Christians, as they 
were dispersed everywhere, truly did so. 


“yet they shall fall’, etc..—This was all fulfilled in ten general per- 
secutions. 


22F 


DANIEL 


Ver. 34. “they shall be helped with a Itttle help’’,—1. e., under 
Constantine. ; 


“Many shall join themselves unto them with flattertes’”,—Many did 
so because Christianity was made the religion of the empire. 


Ver. 35. “‘to refine and to purify and to make them white’’,—Many 
of the followers of Jesus became victims of Papal intolerance; a trying, 
purifying process. But the God-appointed end shall come. 


Apart, however, from the impression which forces itself upon one 
that such reference to the Papal power is quite too arbitrary as well as 
lacking in appropriateness, it is not at all clear by what law of exegesis 
the subject of verse 31 can be made to differ from that of the preceding 
verse with which it is intimately connected. Certainly such a change of 
subject must be in some degree at least grammatically possible. 


36 And the king shall do according ‘place shall he honor the god of for- 


to his will; and he shall exalt himself, tresses; and a god whom his fathers 
and magnify himself above every god, knew not shall he honor with gold, and 
and shall speak marvelous things against silver, and with precious stones and 
the God of gods; and he shall prosper pleasant things. 39 And he shall deal 
till the indignation be accomplished; for with the strongest fortresses by the help 
that which is determined shall be done. of a foreign god: *whosoever acknow- 
37 Neither shall he regard the gods of ledgeth him *he will increase with glory; 
his fathers, nor the desire of women, and he shall cause them to rule over 
nor regard any god; for he shall magni- many, and shall divide the land for a 
fy himself above all. 38 But in his price. 
10Or, office 


"Or, whom he shall acknowledge and tn- 
crease with glory 
3Or, shall increase glory 


Vers. 36-39. THE WILFUL KING DESCRIBED. 


It is difficult to determine to whom this section refers: It is referred 
by some (Zo. Wil.) to Antiochus Epiphanes with explanation as follows: 


Ver. 36. “magnify himself above every god’’,—-i. e., in his proud 
imagination. 

“speak marvelous things against the God of gods’’,—He forbade ay 
a decree the worship of Jehovah. 


“till the indignation be accomplished’’,—The reference here is to 
God's anger against the Jews in the execution of which He erin able 
ochus Epiphanes. 


Ver. 37. “‘Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers’’,—His 
Grecian fathers had adopted the gods of Syria, but he established the wor- 
ship of Jupiter Olympius (Grecian) at Jerusalem and of Xenias (Roman) 


at siererte 
“nor the desire of women’’,— 
. No respect for his marriage vows. (Gei. Cal. Lut.) 


. No regard for the supplication of women and especially of his 
wives that he cease from his attacks on Jehovah’s religion. (Pol. ) 


3. No love for women. (Gro.) 


4. Not allow his wives to worship any god but Jupiter Olympius 
(Pis. ) 


Noe 


228 


DANIEL 


5. No regard for woman’s love, the type of human affection for 
which even the worst man has some regard. (K.) 


6. No pity for the sex. (Mal.) 


7. No regard for the desire .of women to be the mother of the coming 


Messiah. 


8. No respect for the worship of the goddess Venus whose temple he 
plundered at Elymais and which goddess the women worshipped 
as their favorite deity. (Zo. Mau. Der. Hav. Ges. Mic.) We 
rather prefer this last explanation, if the passage is to be referred 
to Antiochus Epiphanes, in as much as the reference placed between 
two expressions referring to gods leads to the thought that a deity 
may have been in the mind of the speaker. “[he choice lies be- 
tween this and the third explanation. But all is vague and 
uncertain. 


“nor regard any god’’,—1i. e., have no reverence for God or things 
divine. (K. KI.) 
. “he shall magnify himself above all’’,—i. e., above all that is divine 
or human. 


Ver. 38. “But in his place’’,—i. e., on his pedestal, the pedestal of 
his statue. (F. Zo. Ber. Hit. Hav. Len. Mau.) 

“the god of fortresses’’,—Jupiter Capitolinus to whom he began to 
erect a temple in Antioch and which god, it is claimed by the authorities 
just mentioned, was unknown to his fathers. 

Keil renders, “‘In the place of every god he will make war to be his 
god, that is, the taking of fortresses.’’ “The former view, however, is 
preferable. 


Ver. 39. “‘And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses,” etc.,— 
Out of a dozen different interpretations that of Keil seems the best, ‘He 
will deal with (proceed against) the strong fortresses with the help of this 
foreign god’’, 

“whosoever acknowledgeth him’’,—i. e., Antiochus Epiphanes. 


“and he shall cause them’’ ,—1. e., those who like him worship the god 
of fortresses. The reference is of course to the apostatizing Jews. 


“and shall divide the land’’,—i. e., give them land for a reward. 

There are some objections to referring these verses (36-39) to Anti- 

ochus Epiphanes: 

1. The expressions “‘magnify himself above every god’ and “‘nor 
regard any god’’ hardly apply to a man who sought to establish 
the worship of Jupiter; although it is true that he did identify 
himself with Jupiter and so claimed divine honors. 

2. History knows nothing of his not regarding the desire of women, 
nor of his speaking marvelous things against God. 

3. The worship of Jupiter Olympius, the Grecian god, can hardly 
be said to be “unknown to his fathers’. 

Pusey observes that of the many specified characteristics of this willful 

king only one agrees with the character of Antiochus Epiphanes. 

Those who find in verses 31-35 a reference to the Papal power find 

here in these verses 36-39 a reference of course to the Pope. 


Pa jue) 


DANIEL 


Ver. 36. ‘do according to his will’’,—The Pope claimed absolute 
sway over earthly rulers, 

“magnify himself above every god’’,—Civil rulers claimed divine 
honors and were sometimes called ‘‘gods’’, and the Pope claimed to be above 
them. 


“speak marvelous things against the God of gods’’,—1i. e., by claiming 
equality with God. | He is called, ‘‘“Our Lord God, the Pope’. The 
words of the 95th Psalm are applied to him on the day of his consecration 
in St. Peter’s. 


Ver. 37. “‘Netther shall he regard the gods of his fathers’’,——He puts 
the Church above the word of God, imports paganism into worship (holy 
water), and takes his title, Pontifex, from the high-priest of ancient 
Roman idolatry. 

“not regard the desire of women’’,—The Pope doesn’t marry and 
claims it to be unlawful for ministers to do so. (I Tim. 4.3.) 


“nor regatd any god’’,—This is true whether “‘god’’ denotes the civil 
ruler or Jehovah. ; 


_— Ver, 38. “he shall honor the god of fortresses’’,—The word, it is 
said, denotes “‘god-protectors’’, and as such they worship Mary and _ the 
saints. “They impose trust in relics of the saints and claim they afford 
them divine protection. 

“honor with gold and silver’, etc.—The shrines of the tutelary 
saints and the images of the Virgin are adorned with costly offerings. 

“divide the land for a price’’,—The choicest lands have been appro- 
priated for the Church and the priests and their ministers have been given 
glory and honor. 

Inasmuch as verses 31-35 cannot very properly, as we have seen, be 
applied to the Papal power, it follows that these verses, 36-39, can with 
no more propriety be referred to the Pope. At any rate the impartial 
scholar cannot but feel that any explanation which endeavors to apply 
them to the Pope must be necessarily somewhat warped and exaggerated, 
and as between the Pope and Antiochus Epiphanes the words are far more 
applicable to the latter than to the former. 

By others again (Gab. Sco. Mor.) the verses (36-39) are referred 
to the final Antichrist, with explanation as follows: 

He is self-willed; he will exalt himself “above every god”, and “‘speak 
marvelous things against the God of gods’. (II Thess. 2.) 

“Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers’’,—This is the read- 
ing of our text and would seem to imply that his fathers were heathen and 
Gentile, which Scofield seems to think accords with Dan. 9.26 which 
prophecy was fulfilled by the Gentile armies of Rome. 

According to the reading of the Authorized Version, ““God of his 
fathers’, the reference would be to Jehovah the God of the Jews, the 
Antichrist being as many think a Jew. 

He will not regard Jesus Christ who is the desire of every Jewish 
woman. 

He will honor a “‘foreign god’. “To whom this foreign god refers 
is unknown. Gaebelein thinks it refers to the first beast of Rev. 13. 


230 


DANIEL 


“The Antichrist’, says Scofield, “is an apostate from Christianity, 
not from Judaism. Verses 38-45 describe his career. He substitutes the 
“god of forces’ (i. e., the forces of nature) for the true god, and soon 
presents himself as that god (II Thess. 2.3,4).” 


40 And at the time of the end shall 
the king of the south ‘contend with 
him; and the king of the north shall 
come against him like a whirlwind, 
with chariots, and with horsemen, and 
with many ships; and he shall enter 
into the countries, and shall overflow 
and pass through. 41 He shall enter 
also into the glorious land, and many 
countries shall be overthrown; but these 
shall be delivered out of his hand: 
Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the 
children of Ammon. 42 He shall 
stretch forth his hand also upon the 


countries; and the land of Egypt shall 
not escape. 43 But he shall have power 
over the treasures of gold and of silver, 
and over all the precious things of 
Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiop- 
ians shall be at his steps. 44 But tid- 
ings out of the east and out of the 
north shall trouble him; and he shall go 
forth with great fury to destroy and 
"utterly to sweep away many. 45 And 
he shall plant the tents of his palace 
“between the sea and the glorious holy 
mountain; yet he shall come to his end, 
and none shall help him. 


Heb. push at "Heb. to devote many 


3Or, between the seas at 


Vers. 40-45. 


i It is equally difficult and even more so to know to whom these verses 
apply. 
1. Some refer them to Antiochus Epiphanes and make them a resume 
of verses 22-30. (F. Ew. Der. Len. Mau. Hit. Kam.) 
(a) Verse 40 a resume of the first expedition in verses 22-25. 
(b) Verse 41 a resume of the former invasion of Judea in verse 28. 


(c) Verses 42, 43 a resume of the second and third expeditions 
in verses 23, 24, 29 and 30. ; 
If only two expeditions into Egypt are admitted the refer- 
ence would be to the first one in verses 22-25, and the second 
one in verses 29 and 30. 


2. Others refer them also to Antiochus Epiphanes but make them an 


THE MARTIAL CAREER OF THE WILFUL KING. 


account of another and separate expedition into Egypt. (St. Zo. 
Ju. Wil.) 
Ver. 40. “the time of the end’’,—This, it would seem, must refer 


to the same time as that mentioned in verse 35. 

“the king of the south’’,—If the third expedition into Egypt just 
mentioned be admitted the king here mentioned is Euergetes, called Phys- 
con, but if we have here a resume of the first expedition the king in ques- 
tion is Philometor. 

“contend with him’’,—The Hebrew is “‘push at him’’, the king of 
the south being the aggressor. 

“the king of the north’’,—1i. e., Antiochus Epiphanes. 

“he shall enter into the countties’’,—1i.*e., the countries adjoining 
Egypt through which his march would lead him, Coele-Syria, Palestine. 


Ver. 41. “‘the glorious land’ ,—1. e., Palestine. 


“Edom and Moab and Ammon’’,—The allies of Antiochus Epiph- 
anes against the Jews and the leading representatives of tribal hostility 
to the theocracy. 


Zoi 


DANIEL 


Ver. 43. “‘the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps’’,— 
i. e., as enforced auxiliaries. 


Ver. 44. This verse refers to the insurrection probably of the Par- 
thians in Persia and the Armenians against whom, returning, he directed an 
expedition shortly before he died. 


Ver. 45. “the tents of his palace’’,—1. e., his palatial tents. 
“the sea’’,—1. e., the Mediterranean. 
“the glorious, holy mountain’’,—1i. e., Mount Zion. 


“he shall come to his end’’,—He died in the Persian town. of Tabae 
a year or so after his campaign against the Parthians and the Armenians. 


Keil says these verses cannot refer to a resume because of the expres- 
sion, ‘‘at the end of the time’’, and because some new features are intro- 
duced. Whether this last expedition (if made) was a fourth or a third 
depends on whether verses 22-25 compose two or one expedition. If a 
last expedition be admitted it is preferably a third. Wiessler in Schaff- 
Hertzog says he made four expeditions, in the last of which he was stopped 
by the Romans, and on returning from which he stopped the worship of 
Jehovah and built the idol altar in the temple. Then came the victories 
of Mattathias and the Maccabees and his death in Tabae. 


History, neither Livy, Polybius, Appian, Justyn, Maccabean books, 
nor Josephus, knows nothing about such a last expedition. Porphry 
alone mentions it and on the strength of his statement alone it is accepted 
by a goodly number of commentators. (K. St. Au. Fu. Jer. Wie.) 


Stuart says that all histories of Antiochus Epiphanes are mere scraps 
(and this is true) and that since Daniel’s accuracy is admitted elsewhere, 
why not accept him here and take this as a true account of another expe- 
dition. With Stuart we are inclined to agree, if the passage is to be referred 
to Antiochus Epiphanes. 

Those who refer verses 31-39 to the Papal power and the Pope refer 
these verses 40-45 to the Saracens and the Turks in their crusade against 


the Roman empire. (Me. Br. Bul. Rob.) 


Ver. 40. ‘“‘the time of the end’’,—1i. e., the last times of the Roman 
empire. 


The “king of the south’’ refers to the Saracens, and the “king of the 
north” refers to the Turks, both of whom ‘“‘pushed against’’ the Romans, 


the first in A. D. 630 and the second in A. D. 1300, the “‘him’’ in both 


cases being the Roman empire. 
After Rome had conquered Egypt and Syria, the Saracens took Egypt 
and the Turks took Syria. 


Ver. 41. “He shall enter tnto the glorious land’’,—“He’’ refers to 
the king of the north, mentioned in the preceding verse, i. e., the Turks, 
who entered Palestine in 1517. 


Ver. 42. ‘“‘the land of Egypt shall not escape’’,—Sultan Selim took 
Egypt and established the government of the Turks. 


Ver. 44. “‘tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble 
him’’,—The uprisings of subdued nations or invasions from other quarters 


2 


=_ 


DANIEL 


draw him from Egypt to Palestine. Robinson thinks that this part of the 
prophecy is not yet fulfilled. 


Ver. 45. “‘he shall come to his end’’,—The end of the hostile power 
under its last form is to come with the destruction of all the world powers 
that have set themselves in opposition to God’s people and is still future. 


Those who refer verses 36-39 to the final Antichrist refer of course 
these verses 40-45 likewise to this Antichrist, and by way of explanation 
say that the two kings push at him. First, the king of the south and with 
little success. No one knows who this king is to be. Then the king of 
the north will come against him, who also pushes down into Egypt, when 
tidings reach him out of the north and east and he returns in fury to encamp 
against the Holy City. Then Christ comes and this king of the north 
shall come to his end together with the overthrow of the Antichrist. 

Gaebelein says the wilful king is the personal Antichrist, the little 
horn of Chap. 7 is the head of the revived Roman Empire, the first Beast 
of Rev. 13, and the little horn of Chap. 8 is the king of the north spoken 
of in this Chap. 11, verse 40. ‘The personal Antichrist, he says, is the 
second Beast of Rev. 13. 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


1 And at that time shall Michael stand was above the waters of the river, when 
up, the great prince who standeth for he held up his right hand and his left 
the children of thy people; and there hand unto heaven, and sware by him 
shall be a time of trouble, such as never that liveth for ever that it shall be for a 
was since there was a nation even to that time, times, and a half; and when they 
same time: and at that time thy people have made an end of breaking in pieces 


shall be delivered, every one that shall the power of the holy people, all these 
be found written in the book. 2 And things shall be finished. 8 And I heard, 


many of them that sleep in the dust of but I understood not: then said I, O 
the earth shall awake, some to everlast- my Lord, what shall be the “issue of 
ing life, and some to shame and ever- these things? 9 And he said, Go thy 
lasting *contempt. 3 And “they that are way, Daniel; for the words are shut 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the up and sealed till the time of the end. 
firmament; and they that turn many to 10 Many shall purify themselves and 
righteousness as the stars for ever and make themselves white, and be refined; 
ever. 4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up but the wicked shall do wickedly; and 
the words, and seal the book, even to none of the wicked shall understand; 
the time of the end: many shall run to but *they that are wise shall understand. 
and fro, and knowledge shall be in- 11 And from the time that the con- 
creased. tinual burnt-offering shall be taken 

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and, be- away, and the abomination that maketh 
hold, there stood other two, the one on desolate set up, there shall be a thou- 
the brink of the river on this side, and sand two hundred and ninety days. 12 
the other on the brink of the river on Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh 
that side. 6 And one said to the man to the thousand three hundred and five 
clothed in linen, who was above the and thirty days. 13 But go thou thy 
waters of the river, How long shall it way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, 
be to the end of these wonders? 7 And and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of 
I heard the man clothed in linen, who the days. 

1Or, abhorrence 3Or, latter end 


*Or, the teachers 


Vers. 1-13. “TRIBULATION AND RESURRECTION. 


Ver. 1. “And at that time’’,—If somewhere in the preceding chap- 
ter the transition has been made to the times of the final Antichrist, whether 


Zoe 


DANIEL 





it be at verse 35 (Gab.) or at verse 40 (K.), then the reference in our 
expression here refers to the time just indicated in the preceding verse, i. e., 


insChap. el 349, 


Zoeckler, who refers all of Chap. 11.21-45 to Antiochus Epiphanes, 
makes of course the same connection, referring it to the time (Chap. 11.45) 
when judgment shall overtake the impious oppressor, Antiochus Epiph- 
anes, and when he shall come to his end “without a helper’. He says 
that nearly all recent expositors have so contended, and for three reasons: 

(1) The conjunction “‘and”’ connects this new designation of time 
intimately with the preceding. 

(2) It is impossible to regard the words “at that time’’ otherwise 
than as a reference to the time indicated in the context immediately pre- 
ceding. 

(3) ‘The time referred to is immediately afterwards characterized as a 
time of trouble, which shows with sufficient clearness that the reference is 


to the period of persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes as heretofore 
described. 


But while Zoeckler is right as to the connection, he must be wrong 
as to the content and reference of one or the other of these sections. While . 
the words of that section may with propriety be referred to Antiochus 
Epiphanes, those of this chapter surely cannot be so referred. (K. Hav.) 
The statement regarding the time of trouble is far too strong for such a 
period, while the promised deliverance of Daniel’s people does not accord 
with the facts of the Syrian oppression. 


Now there is no doubt whatever that the first three verses of Chap. 
12 refer to “‘the time of the end” in the sense of the final end-time. This 
being so, the transition from the narrative concerning Antiochus Epiphanes 
must be made somewhere, because there is likewise no doubt that verse 21 
of Chap. 11 the narrative takes up the history of this king of Syria. 


Gaebelein says the transition is at Chap. 11.35. He says verse 35 
calls our attention to “the time of the end’’ and verse 36 transports us into 
it, and between them is the long unreckoned period of time. 


Keil admits that the close connection made by the conjunction “‘and”’ 
will not admit of any break between the chapters, and he makes the tran- 
sition at Chap. 11.40, which he says introduces “‘the time of the end” 
when the final hostile power, the final Antichrist, rises up to subdue the 
whole world, sets up his camp in the Holy Land, to destroy many in great 
anger and to utterly uproot them. 

Most expositors maintain that from Chap. 11.21 on to the end of 
the chapter the reference is primarily to Antiochus Epiphanes, but that the 
final Antichrist is the antitypical reference, while of course, in a sense, it 
points to whatever other antichrists there may have been along the way, 
inasmuch as John says there are many antichrists. [his is doubtless true, 
if the entire section (verses 21-45) be referred to this Syrian ruler, and it 
would be accordingly true of whatever portion of this section precedes 
the point of transition (if one is to be made) to the direct and primary 
reference to the final Antichrist. 

Zoeckler escapes, as he thinks, the difficulty suggested above, by his 
close connection of the two chapters, by making the transition between the 
chapters. [his might be allowable if he did not find in the first verses 


234 


DANIEL 


of Chap. 12 a direct reference to the troubles under Antiochus Epiphanes. 
What we contend is that these verses can in no way refer to the time of 
this king, and Fausset must likewise be wrong when he explains the words, 
“at that time’ as ‘‘typically, towards the close of the reign of Antiochus 
Epiphanes; antitypically, the time when Antichrist is to be destroyed at 
Christ’s second coming’’. 


We are inclined to think there is little difference as to where the tran- 
sition is made, although perhaps the one at Chap. 11.35 is to be preferred. 
But wherever it is put it must be something analogous to that found in the 
eschatological discourse of Christ in Matt. 24.29 and Mk. 13.24, and the 
transition here, as there, seems to stand as a connecting link between the 
near and the far distant application of the prediction. 


“shall Michael stand up’’,—Michael is the prince of the angels, 
Israel’s protector. The reference here is not to Christ, as Calvin and later 
Havernick, in accord with some of the older commentators suppose; 
the latter insisting that the reference is to the first appearance of Christ. 
He is, however, an archangel, and not the Lord Jesus, from whom he is 
distinguished in Jude 9. 


In what particular way Michael executes the judgment committed to 
him on this particular occasion is not for us to inquire. An angel smote 
in one night 185,000 Assyrians that lay encamped about Jerusalem. 


“a time of trouble’’,—Zoeckler, as we have seen, with Grotius, 
Chrysostom and others understand these troubles of the persecutions of 
Antiochus Epiphanes. 

Calvin, Junius and others apply them to the troubles of the Church 
in the times of the Gospel. 

Havernick understands them of the afflictions which the people of 
Israel endured at the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, and which will 
be more fully realized at the second coming of Christ. 


Most expositors rightly find in them the final time of the great tribula- 
tion at the termination of the present course of the world. (K. F. Ca. Hof. 
Gab. Sco. Tor. Mor.) 


“at that time thy people shall be delivered’ ,—This certainly has not 
been true of any period of persecution which the Jewish people (Daniel’s 
people) thus far have gone through. 

Says Fausset, ‘‘the same deliverance of Israel as in Zech. 13.8,9, ‘the 
third part... brought through fire. . . refined as silver’. The remnant in 
Israel spared as not having joined in the antichristian blasphemy. This 
is not to be confounded with those who shall have confessed Christ before 
His second coming, ‘the remnant according to the election of grace’ com- 
posed of both Jews and Gentiles and being part of the Church of the first- 
born, who will share Christ’s Millennial reign in their glorified bodies. 
The delivered remnant will only know the Lord Jesus when they see Him, 
and when the Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon them.”’ 


“every one that shall be found written in the book of ltfe’’,—This is 
by most expositors thought to have reference to the holy remnant of 
Daniel’s people. (F. Au. Lee.) 

Says Gaebelein, ‘“These are the godly Jews, the believing remnant of 
the time of the end. For their sakes the days will be shortened’’. 


22> 


DANIEL 


Keil and Hitzig say the reference is to the “‘book of life’’ (Phil. 4.3). 
containing the list of the citizens of the Messianie kingdom, and that in 
Isa. 4.3 it contains the names of those who reach it while living, but here 
in Daniel it contains the names also of those who must first be raised 
from the dead. 

Zoeckler says, ‘‘The book is the same as that mentioned in the similar 
passage, Isa. 4.3, and hence the book of life. It is of course not to be 
regarded as containing a list of living Israelites; nor, probably as a ‘record 
of those who shall be delivered in the decisive hour and be permitted to 
live’. It is rather a record of those who shall inherit eternal life, a ‘list of 
the subjects of Messiah’s kingdom’, of those who shall stand approved in 
the judgment, whether they live until it transpires, or are raised from the 
dead to meet it, according to verse 2.” With this view Zoeckler says Hof- 
man substantially agrees, when he says, ‘A divine register of Israel, upon 
which are entered all who truly belong to Israel’’. 


Ver. 2. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall 
awake’’,—-Gaebelein says physical resurrection is not taught in this verse, 
because if it were it would teach a general resurrection and this would clash 
with the New Testament teaching concerning the resurrection. He says, 
“The passage has nothing to do with physical resurrection. Physical 
resurrection is here used merely as a type or figure of the national revival 
of Israel in the last day at the end of this age. They have been sleeping 
nationally in the dust of the earth, buried among the Gentiles. But at 
that time there will take place a national restoration, a bringing back from 
dispersion and a bringing together of the house of Judah and of Israel. 
It is the same figure as used in the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, 
and it concerns not the Gentiles but the Jewish people and is a national 
restoration and revival of these.’”’ 


However, it is practicaly unanimous that the reference is to physical 
resurrection. Robinson says, “‘If a resurrection of the body is not here 
declared, it will be difficult to find where it is, or to imagine words in which 
it can be.’’ But even so, Gaebelein’s fears are none too well grounded, as 
may be seen in quotations, from many commentators, somewhat like the 
following from W. J. Erdman: ‘These words do not teach a general 
resurrection. The more literal translation, following Tregelles, would 
read, ‘And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; 
these to everlasting life, and those to shame and everlasting contempt’. 
In the light of the context it is clear that the angel is speaking of Daniel’s 
own people only. He is bringing together events of ‘the time of the end’, 
‘the great tribulation’ and ‘deliverance of every one that shall be found 
written in the book’, ‘even the remnant in Mount Zion and Jerusalem’; 
and the other event, the resurrection of the ‘many’ from out of the totality 
of the dead of Israel, the resurrection of the unraised belonging to some 
distant and undefined day.” 

Now if the reference is to a resurrection of the physically dead, then, 
if the last part of the preceding chapter and these words as well are to be 
referred to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, Daniel either, 


(1) thought it was going to take place right after the trouble under 
Antiochus Epiphanes, and missed tt, as Hitzig, Bertholdt and 
other rationalistic interpreters say he did; or, 


236 


DANIEL 





(2) he projected his vision onward to the period of resurrection 
which is still future. This latter view is of course the only 
acceptable one and the transition is to be found after the manner 
already noted. 

Now if the resurrection is a shee future one, to what resurrection 

does it refer? 


I. To the general resurrection at the end of all things. (C. Zo. Au. 
KI. Zu. St. Hav. Hof. Aug.) 


But the connection between the two verses is so close that it would 
seem they must go together, and then, according to the view now under 
scrutiny, the time of trouble, at the end of which all whose names are in 
the book are to be delivered, would be at the same time with this general 
resurrection, 1. e., just before the end of all time. But this will hardly do. 
It would mean that Daniel’s people were to continue in bad straits as 
long as the world lasts and that the last years were to be the worst, and 
that they would only be delivered at the last moment of all time. This 
objection is met by some by putting a hiatus between the two verses, thus 
making the deliverance of verse 1 something entirely different from the 
rising to everlasting life in verse 2. 

An objection is registered against this hiatus, but to us it does not 
seem formidable. 

The objection is that it takes away from the deliverance of verse 1 
its real significance. But may that deliverance not consist in the deliver- 
ance of the believing living remnant from the oppression of their furious 
foes and from the severe judgments which are to come down on unbeliev- 
ing Gentiles and apostate Jews as well, in which case the “book’’ would 
be a register of the living and not of the dead. “To those who say the 
deliverance of verse 1 is the being raised to everlasting life of verse 2, it is 
sufficient to reply that this is not, as we have seen, necessarily so. At least 
this deliverance must not be limited to the dead. As between the living 
and the dead, it would more naturally refer to the former. 


II. Toa partial resurrection immediately after the tribulation, and 
prior to the last and general resurrection, and one confined to Israel, Daniel’s 
own nation. (Fu. Kr. Ko. Hit. Bertholdt and the majority of writers 
since him.) [here would then be a hiatus, unnoticed by the angel, be- 
tween the rising of the good and the bad; or the content of the passage 
may be construed according to the translation of Tregelles, ““And many 
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise; these (who arise) 
shall be unto everlasting life; but those (who do not arise at this time) to 
shame and everlasting contempt.’ 


Zoeckler argues for the first explanation and against the second as 
follows: 

(1) The expression, “‘many of them that sleep tn the dust of the 
earth’ is far too general in its character to admit of its being limited to the 
deceased of Israel. 

(2) The mention of the eternal punishment of the wicked in the 
closing words of the verse would be incomprehensible, and serve no purpose, 
if they refer only to Israelites who are to be punished eternally. 

(3) The “many”, which primarily implies the immeasurable extent 


DES, . 


DANIEL 


of the multitude of the resurrected dead (Hofmann translates ‘‘in multi- 
tudes’) may as well designate the entire world of the dead arising from 
their graves as a large fraction of it, in the same way as “many’’ in the - 
New Testament is frequently employed as synonymous with “‘all’”’. (Matt. 
20:285:26-28: Wdohn 22s (§Gor 15372 SRore obese, EGP) 


(4) Even if the earlier prophetic parallels (Isa. 26.19; 66.24; Ezek. 
37.1-15), actually do foretell a partial resurrection which is confined to 
Israel (which can by no means be proven), this will not involve that the 
passage before us has a similar meaning. 

(5) If this passage refers exclusively to a particular resurrection of 
the Israelites, then there is no place in the Old Testament where any sub- 
stantiation of the doctrine of a general resurrection may be found, and in- 
asmuch as the expectation of such a general resurrection of the dead is 
abundantly confirmed in the Apocryphal books (II Mac. 7.14), and in the 
New Testament (see especially John 5.28 and Acts 25.15) it ought also 
to be confirmed by some Scripture of the Old Testament. 


(6) The intimate connection between these verses and the closing 
ones of the preceding chapter where the troubles under Antiochus Epiphanes 
are set forth does not militate against the universal character of the resur- 
rection in question. It is evident that in the mind of the prophet that 
period of trial was the immediate precursor of the end of the world (!?). 
As he viewed it, the end of the persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes and 
the advent of the Messiah to introduce a new and eternal period of bless- 
ing were substantially coincident. He saw nothing at all of the long 
series of years that were to intervene between these Old Testament “woes of 
the Messiah’ and His actual birth and incarnation, nor did he observe the 
many centuries between His first and second advent, between the beginning 
of the end and the ultimate end of all things, because it was inconsistent 
with the nature of prophetic vision. 


This last statement not only has little if any strength in it, but it 
certainly places the prophet in a false light. Daniel does not explicitly 
say that these events are simultaneous. He may not have clearly appre- 
hended the length of the interval, but this is no evidence that he did not 
know there was any. 


Zoeckler says that in the prophet’s mind the universal judgment upon 
all flesh at the end time and the judgment that came upon Antiochus 
Epiphanes (the first antitypical and the second typical) were identical 
and it is therefore arbitrary to refer the judgment here under consideration 
to a special judgment over the good and bad of Israel alone, and thus 
deprive it of its universal character. 


Zoeckler also says it is quite as arbitrary to refer verse 1 to the troubles 
under Antiochus Epiphanes and then refer verse 2 to the final time resur- 
rection with an immense chasm between them, of which there is no indica- 
tion in the text. This, however, is not unusual, after the manner of both 
Old and New Testament writers or speakers. Besides, Zoeckler must 
remember that not every one agrees with him in referring verse 1 to the 
times under Antiochus Epiphanes. 


Keil remarks that “‘the angel has it not in view to give a general 
statement regarding the general resurrection of the dead, but only discloses 
on this point that the final salvation of the people shall not be limited to 


238 


DANIEL 


those still living at the end of the great tribulation, but shall include also 
those who have lost their lives during the period of this tribulation.” 

Puller remarks that ‘‘the resurrection to shame is merely a passing 
observation, which might be omitted from the passage without damaging 
its meaning.” 

Certainly if the first class raised refers to the godly Israelites who 
were killed during the great tribulation, the second class can just as readily 
refer to the wicked of Daniel’s nation whenever raised. The only objec- 
tion of much force among those advanced by Zoeckler is the seemingly 
unnecessary limitation of the word “‘many’’. Keil, however, says that 
the word does not mean “‘all’’ and that the partitive interpretation ‘‘of”’ 
or “from among’ is the only simple and natural one, and therefore, with 
most interpreters, he prefers it. Keil, however, does not limit the resurrec- 
tion in question to the Jews, but thinks that the Israel here referred to con- 
sists not merely of Jews or of Jewish Christians, but embraces all the 
peoples who belong to God’s kingdom of the New Covenant. 


III. To a resurrection of the righteous just before Christ’s second 
coming, and of the wicked at the end of all time, no notice being taken by 
the angel of the hiatus between them. (F.) 


This places the resurrection of the righteous before the great tribula- 
tion. This is possible, of course, in as much as chronological sequence is 
not always necessarily observed in relating the details of an event. How- 
ever, it is best not to make such transpositions unless absolutely demanded, 
and the resurrection in question here certainly is placed by the text after 
the time of great trouble. 


Then, too, this interpretation takes the reference pretty largely away 
from Daniel’s own people, inasmuch as many of them will have believed 
by that time. The Jews do not seem to be converted until after the time 
of trouble or during it and their experience with the Antichrist. 


IV. Toa resurrection of all that sleep in the dust after the time of 
great tribulation; the good, at that very time (immediately after) and the 
wicked later at the end of all time, with no notice taken by the angel of the 
hiatus or intervening time. (Au. Rob. New. Chal.) 

According to this view the righteous, the Church, goes through the 
tribulation. This seemingly has more in its favor, and less against it 
than any of the other views, so far as the context is concerned, unless it is 
the first one, and this has other Scriptures which in the minds of many 
militate against it. 


Ver. 3. “they that are wise’’,—1i. e., the understanding ones of 
Ghapels3 373): 
“shall shine’, etc..—1. e., in the resurrection. 


“they that turn many to righteousness’’,—1i. e., convert many to 
justification through Christ. 


Ver. 4. “‘shut up the words and seal the book’’,—1. e., the whole 
book (K. Au. KI. Hit. Ber.), and not just the final vision of Chap. 11.2 to 
ape ctoe 2OaKr Fu. HaviiLen,). 


“shut . . . seal’’,—The reference here is to guarding it carefully; not 
that any one may not read it, but that it will be better studied and under- 
stood later. 


239 


DANIEL 





“many shall run to and fro’’",—The word means to run’ about in 
order to search out and investigate. It cannot therefore mean mere in- 
crease of travel. It might mean travel for a purpose, the result of which. 
is the increase of knowledge, but we prefer rather the meaning of to and 
fro in the sense of searching, scrutinizing the prophecy as a result of which 
knowledge of it will be increased. 


Ver. 5. “other two’’,—This refers to two angels and it is useless 
to conjecture who they were. 


Ver. 6. “‘the man clothed in linen’’,—The mighty angelic prince, 
who thus far had been the speaker addressing Daniel; perhaps Christ Him- 
self, as Keil, Willet, Gaebelein and others think. 


“How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?’’—1. e., how long 
shall the time of great trouble last? 


Ver. 7. “a time, times and a half’’,—i. e., after a time and two 
times and a half time, or briefly, after three and one-half years. (Chap. 
7125) Bul a OWL 2) 


“when they have made an end of breaking in pteces the power of the 
holy people’’,—This is a second answer to the question, which substan- 
tially coincides with it as to the time involved. 


The literal of “breaking tn pieces the power’’ is ‘‘shattering the hand”, 
the hand being the emblem of active power. The reading of our text is 
supported by many strong authorities. (K. Au. Ma. Kr. Kl. Fu. Ew. Hen. 
Hof.) It is to be preferred to that of Zoeckler, ‘‘and when the scattering 
of a part of the holy people shall have ceased’’, which rendering is, however, 
supported by a number of strong authorities. (Zu. Len. Der. Ber. Ges. 
Hav. Lut. Vul. Theo.) It is true the word rendered ‘“‘shatter’’ by our 
text is often in prophetic usage rendered “‘scatter’’, but the former is its 
more literal meaning; while the metaphorical significance of ‘‘hand’’, i. e., 
power, seems preferable as far more natural and usual than “‘part’’. The 
sense is not, however, materially different in either case; the reference being 
to the pouring out of the last dregs of the curse on the desolated, holy 
people, Israel’s lowest humiliation being the precursor of her exaltation. 
The “they”’ of the text refers to Antichrist and his powers. 


Ver. 8. “‘what shall be the tssue of these things’ ,—i. e., by what 
event will it be possible to know that the last end has been reached? Daniel 
understood the main features of the vision, but not as to the times, and 
perhaps especially the reference with which the preceding verse closed. 


Ver. 9. The desire of Daniel for knowing more is thus deferred to 
“the time of the end’. Zoeckler thinks this was to encourage and to 
lead to humble submission to the Divine guidance, whose purposes cannot 
at first be understood. Fausset says that John’s Revelation in part reveals 
what here is veiled. 


Ver. 10. “‘many shall purify themselves . .. white . . refined’’,— 
i. e., by persecution and sufferings. 


“they that are wise shall understand’’,—Says Fausset, ‘“There is no 
need for fuller explanation of the time, for when the predictions so far 
given shall have come to pass, the godly shall be purified by the foretold 


240 


DANIEL 


trials, and shall understand that the end is at hand; but the wicked shall 
‘not understand and so shall rush on to their own ruin.”* 


Vers. 11,12. The first two clauses refer to one and the same 
point of time, the three and one-half years beginning with the taking away 
of the continual burnt offering and the setting up of the abomination that 
maketh desolate. 


The difference in the figures has been variously explained. One 
thousand two hundred and sixty plus 30 equals 1290 plus 45 equals 1335. 


1. If the figures are applied to the persecution under Antiochus 
Epiphanes, the best explanation is that of Stuart. He says the 1290 days 
are an exact account of the period of time stated in round numbers as three 
and one half years during which the abomination continued. Antiochus 
Epiphanes, he says, ordered the sacrifice removed June 1, B. C. 168, and 
Maccabaeus restored it Dec. 25, B. C. 165, 1290 days, or approximately 
three and one half years, and the 1335 days, that is forty-five days more, 
marks the death of Antiochus Epiphanes as reckoned by Klieforth and 
others (F. Ju. Ma. Ber. Hav. Len. Wie.) Zoeckler says the tribulation 
shall end in 1290, but not completely until 1335 days. 


Bleek. and Delitzsch say that some fact not now known in history 
marks the 1335 days. 


Zoeckler, who has contended all along that the whole prophecy should 
be applied to Antiochus Epiphanes, says, ““We are accordingly compelled to 
abandon every attempt to demonstrate an exact correspondence between 
the time indicated in the text and the period of Maccabean persecution.” 
He therefore falls back with Keil upon a symbolical interpretation of the 
time element. But if the time element is symbolical only, then why the 
changes in the figures and why the exact figures that are given? Since the 
exact date of the death of Antiochus Epiphanes is not known, it is difficult 
to be certain about this matter if the contents be referred to him. 


If the dates be referred to the Antichrist, as they doubtless must be, 
if not directly and primarily as we believe, then at least typically, the true 
explanation may perhaps be seen in some of the following: 


(a) 1260 days marks the fall of the Antichrist; 1290 days, the 

Noe ee of the Jews, and 1335 days, the beginning a the Millennium. 
ew 

(b) 1260 days marks the fall of the Antichrist Bet the deliverance 
of the Jews; 1920 days makes thirty days more during which the con- 
‘sciences of these Jews are awakened to faith in Christ, and 1335 days gives 
forty- five more for the gathering in of the outcast Jews and the full bless- 
in’.e 1 tC, ) 

(c) 1260 days marks the fall of the Antichrist; 1290 days gives an 
extra month for certain judgment events as mentioned in Matt. 25, and 
forty-five days later (1335) the Millennium begins. (Gab.) 


Ver. 13. “thou shalt rest’’,—1. e., in the grave. 


“fat the end of the days’’,—i. e., at the end of the days just under 
discussion. Daniel was to go on to the end of his life, was to rest in his 
grave and was to rise again, to stand in his own lot, i. e., to enjoy his share 
of the promised inheritance. 


zai 


HOSEA 





bt BOOKLOF 


HOSEA 


(B. C. 785—B. C. 725) 


—EE 


CHAPTER ONE 


10 Yet the number of the children of . 11 And the children of Judah and the 
dere HAE - Rg ees She eae children of Israel shall be gathered to- 
bered; and it shall come to pass that, *in gether, and they shall appoint them- 
the place where it was said unto them, selves one head, and shall go up from 


Ye are not my people, it shall be said the land; for great shall be the day of 
unto them, Ye are the sons of the living ; 
God. 


Or, instead of that which was said 

Vers. 10, 11. “THE FUTURE BLESSING AND RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 

The prophecy of these two verses may be considered, as to its fulfill- 
ment, in any one or all of the following three ways: 

1. A literal fulfillment, though in a very small degree, at the return 
from Babylonish captivity when some of Israel joined with Judah. 

2. A spiritual fulfillment through God’s people, Jews and Gentiles, 
in Christ, as it is still being fulfilled today. (Romans 9.26.) 

3. A complete literal fulfillment at the time of the restoration of the 
Jews which is still to come. (Romans 11.26.) 


Jezreel, 


Ver. 10. “children of Israel’’,—Keil refers this to the ten tribes 
(Israel) as distinct from the two tribes (Judah) as in verse 7; but it seems 
preferable with Schmoller to take the expression here as inclusive of both, 
scRatane them again as the passage does in verse 11. 


“in the place’’,—In whatever place—no place in particular. 


Ver. 11. “one head’’,—Interpreting this and other expressions of 
this verse in harmony with the three views expressed above, the reference 
would be as follows: under (1) Zerubbabel; under (2) Christ, the 
Head of His Church; under (3) Christ, under Whom the hereafter united 
kingdoms of Judah and Israel will be realized at their restoration in Pales- 
tine. 


“up from the land’’,—Under (1) from the land of exile, Babylon; 
back to Palestine; though Simcox and others make it mean up to Jerusalem 
from the Land of Palestine after they have come back; under (2) out of the 
sinful life into the Church of Christ marching on to Zion; under (3) 
out of the land of strangers, where they are sojourners at this time, back to 
ee their own land. 

“great shall be the day of Jezreel’’,—This is one of those obscure 
expressions where exact interpretation is impossible. It points back to 
verse 5 which has to do with a time of defeat for Israel. 

Under views (1) and (3) as above the day of Jezreel is called great 
perhaps because in that place (the valley of Jezreel) where Israel’s bow 
was broken, victory shall yet be achieved; and not, as Keil says, ‘‘because 


242 


HOSEA 





that defeat formed the critical occasion by which the return of the recreant 
Israel and their reunion with Judah was made possible’’. 


Under view (2), on this interpretation, the case is more difficult 
since there can be no local reference in the spiritual fulfillment of the words. 
The word “‘Jezreel’’ literally means, ‘““God sows’’, and some prefer the 
appellative meaning, namely, that the valley of Jezreel where Israel’s bow 
was broken is to become the place where God sows the seed of their renova- 
tion, the people being planted again in theirown land. (F.) This would 
of course be true, though’in a secondary sense, even though the other 
interpretation be accepted. Under (2) the appellative meaning would be 
found in the greatness of God’s sowing as He through Christ is planting 
the kingdom of God today. 

One thing is certain, the prophecy received very little, if any, fulfill- 
ment before the time of Christ, that is, according to (1), the first interpre- 
tation. The children of Israel did not go back with the children of Judah 
except the merest handful; they were not united under one head, the day 
of Jezreel, as explained, was not realized, and they did not become like the 
sands of the sea. 

Another certain thing is that the prophecy was and is being spiritually 
realized in Christ. “The fact, too, that Paul understood this prophecy as 
pointing to a spiritual fulfillment, as is clearly proven by Romans 9.26, is 
pretty good warrant for taking other and all similar predictions in the same 
way, although it will have to be admitted that many of the details of such 
prophecies, in many cases at least, utterly defy any reasonable interpretation 
when explanation is attempted in this way. 

It remains yet to be said that we can see no prohibitive reason for not 
believing that the literal fulfillment of this prophecy may not yet take 
place as indicated under (3), the third explanation. 


CHAPTER TWO 


14 Therefore, behold, I will allure battle out of the land, and will make 


her, and bring her into the wilderness, them to lie down safely. 19 And I will 
and speak *comfortably unto her. 15 betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, 
And I will give her her vineyards from I will betroth thee unto me in right- 
thence, and the valley of *Achor for a eousness, and in justice, and in loving- 
door of hope; and she shall *make an- kindness, and in mercies. 201 will even 
swer there, as in the days of her youth, betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; 
and as in the day when she came up out and thou shalt know Jehovah. 

of the land of Egypt. 16 And it shall 21 And it shall come to pass in that 
be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will 
shalt call me “Ishi, and shalt call me no answer the heavens, and they shall 
more “Baali. 17 For I will take away answer the earth; 22 and the earth shall 
the names of the Baalim out of her answer the grain, and the new wine, and 
mouth, and they shall no more be °men- the oil; and they shall answer “Jezreel. 
tioned by their name. 18 And in that 23 And I will sow her unto me in the 
day will I make a covenant for them ‘earth; and I will have mercy upon “her 
with the beasts of the field, and with the that had not obtained mercy; and I will 
birds of the heavens, and with the creep- say to “them that were not my people, 


ing things of the ground: and | will Thou art my people; and they shall say, 
break the bow and the sword and the Thou art my God. 


LET aero ber jeare oe pa is, Whom God soweth 
“That is, Troubling SOr, lan 

3Or, sing "Heb, Lo-ruhamah. See Chap. 1.6 
4That is, My husband WHeb. Lo-ammi. See Chap. 1.9,10 


5That is, My master 
6Or, remembered 


243 


HOSEA 


Vers. 14-23. ISRAEL’S CONVERSION AND THE RENEWAL OF THE 
COVENANT. 


_ Ver. 14. “Therefore’’,—A conclusion drawn from the. whole pre- 
ceding section, 1. e., because the punishment of Israel for her sins has effected 
its designed end and caused her to long for God. 


““Ture’’,—i. e., in a friendly sense. 


“Into the wilderness’’,—The land of their captivity was to be to them 
a wilderness for a disciplinary test (Deut. 8.2,3,15,16) where under 
humbling providences they were made to be humble, where in poverty they 
were made to be poor in spirit, etc. 


Ver. 15. “vineyards from thence’’,—1i. e., as soon as they arrive 
within the borders of Canaan, returning from the wilderness. 


“valley of Achor’’,—It was in this valley on the edge of Canaan 
returning from Egypt that Israel was deprived of the favor of God by the 
sin of Achan, and where this favor was restored when the camp was purged, 
and thus what seemed to be the valley of destruction became the door of 
hope. And so the very trouble of Israel’s wilderness state will be the door 
of hope opening to better days. 


“make answer there’’,—Israel will cry out in answer toward the place 
where the Lord comes to meet her (verse 14), thankfully acknowledging 
the tokens of His love and answering to them by suitable conduct. 


Wolfendale and all English expositors interpret the word “‘sing’’ in- 
stead of ‘‘make answer’, with special allusion to the song of Miriam and 
the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea. In this they interpret with the 
Authorized Version, but we prefer with Hengstenberg and all German 
expositors the rendering of the Revised Version, “‘make answer’’, which 
both adheres to the more literal meaning of the words and corresponds 
better to the changed character of the people. 


Ver. 16. ‘“‘Isht’’,—meaning literally, ‘““my husband’. She will 
recognize Jehovah as her true spouse. 


“no more Baalt’’,—meaning literally “‘my master’. She will use 
this expression no more because it had been perverted (verse 17) to express 
the images of Baal whose name ought not to be taken upon their lips. It 
would be possible thus to outwardly call upon Jehovah but at the same 
time to have Baal in their minds. 


Ver. 18. “in that day’’,—In the day of their conversion when they 
have done forever with their idols. 

“for them’’,—1. e., for their benefit. 

“covenant with the beasts’’,—Therefore the beasts are not to injure 
them. Said perhaps by way of contrast with verse 12. It would seem 
that this is a promise to be fully realized only in the Millennium. 

“Tite down safely’’,—1i. e., cause them to be at rest, war having ceased. 


Ver. 20. “shall know Jehovah’’,—i. e., experimentally, and thus 
be saved. 


Ver. 21. Wehave here the grain, the new wine and the oil, the earth 
and the heavens personified. 


244 


HOSEA 





| Ver. 22. The grain appeals to the earth, the earth (verse 21) 

appeals to the heavens and the heavens to God, and thus the grain, the new 
wine and the oil can answer Jezreel, i. e., Israel, ‘‘the sown of God’, 
planted anew by divine grace. It is to be recalled here that the appellative 
meaning of the word “‘Jezreel’’ is ‘‘God soweth’’. 


Of this prophecy we have to say like that of Chap. 1 (a) that 
it received only the smallest and feeblest fulfillment in the return of the 
Jews from exile, (b) that it was spiritually realized in fullness in Christ, 
the Messiah, and (c) that we see no insurmountable reason why its literal 
fulfillment may not yet be looked for in the promised land. 


CHAPTER THREE 


5 afterward shall the children of Israel 
return, and seek Jehovah their God, and 
David their king, and shall come with 
fear unto Jehovah and to His goodness 
in the latter days. 


Ver. 5. “THE FUTURE DAVIDIC KINGDOM. 


“afterward’’,—i. e., after the ““many days’’ of verse 4. 


“David their king’’,—The Messiah of course is meant, a king of the 
family of David. 


“the latter days’’,.-The Messianic days. 


This has not. as yet taken place, save as we look upon Israel in a 
spiritual way as the children of God of this dispensation, but may it not be 
that the Jewish nation will yet return and seek Jehovah their God. 


CHAPTER SIX 


2 After two days will he revive us; 
on the third day he will raise us up, 
and we shall live before him. 


Ver. 2. “THE CERTAINTY OF ISRAEL’S RESTORATION. 


The linking of days in this way is a method of expressing the cer- 
tainty of an event within the period named, and it is used here only in 
the sense of a formula expressing what shall certainly take place at a 
future day. ‘4 


“raise up’’,—This can appropriately be thought of as an expression 
of physical resurrection used to illustrate Israel’s restoration, and it is not 
impossible therefore to find here a reference to the resurrection of Christ, 
the ideal Israel, Israel’s restoration being taken as a type of our resurrection 
of which Christ is the firstfruits. (F. Ho. Wo. Pu.) ‘This reference is, 
however, a very doubtful one and is opposed by Schmoller and the ma- 
jority of the best students of this text. 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 


8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? I set thee as Zeboiim? my heart is 
how shall I cast thee off, Israel? how turned within me, my compassions are 
shall I make thee as Admah? how shall kindled together. 9 I will not execute 


245 


HOSEA 


the fierceness of mine anger, I will not 
return to destroy Ephraim: for I am 
God, and not man; the Holy One in 
the midst of thee; and I will not ‘come 
in wrath. 10 They shall walk after 
Jehovah, who will roar like a lion; for 


he will roar, and the children shall come 
trembling from the west. 1! They 
shall come trembling as a bird out of 
Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of 
Assyria; and I will make them to dwell 
in their houses, saith Jehovah. 


1Or, exter into the city 


Vers. 8-11. 


These verses refer to God’s longing for Ephraim, the ten tribes, and 
His intention to bring them back from their dispersion. 

He will “not give them up”’ (verse 8) ; He will “not come in meee 
(the best translation of the last clause of verse 9); He will “‘roar like a 
lion’’ against their enemies (verse 10), and He will ““make them to dwell 
in their houses’ (verse 11). 

The same thing must be said as to the fulfillment of this prophecy as 
was said of those of the chapters which have gone before. 


JEHOVAH’S PURPOSE TO RESTORE ISRAEL. 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


9 But I am Jehovah thy God from 
the land of Egypt; I will yet again 
make thee to dwell in tents, as in the 
days of the solemn feast. 


Ver. 9. KUTURE BLESSING AND RESTORATION AGAIN PROMISED. 


When this promise is fulfilled it will be in remembrance (dwell in 
tents) of this their new deliverance out of bondage. 


This prophecy had its primary, but only partial fulfillment, in the 
return from Babylon. (Neh. 8.17.) Those, however, who look beyond 
the spiritual fulfillment of this day, and see in all such passages a prophecy 
of literal fulfillment, refer the fulfillment of this prophecy to the time of 
final restoration from the present dispersion. (Lev. 23.42,43; Zech. 
14.6.) 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


plagues? O Sheol, *where is thy de- 
‘power of Sheol; I will redeem them struction? Repentance shall be hid from 
from death: O death *where are thy mine eyes. 

"Heb. hand "Or, J will be 


Ver. 14. THE BLESSING OF ISRAEL IN THE FUTURE KINGDOM. 


These words are evidently to be taken in the sense of a promise, find- 
ing their fulfillment, as the other prophecies noted, partially in the restora- 
tion of Israel from Assyria; fully in a spiritual sense in Christ, Israel in 
this sense being the Israel of God, the New Testament Church of Christ; 
and finally, in keeping with other such passages, many see the literal ful- 
fillment in the yet future restoration of Israel from their present dispersion 
and national death. ! 

Because the verse before and after and all the chapter. is a threat, 
Schmoller and others say that a promise is here unsuitable and accordingly 


246 


14 I will ransom them from the 


JOEL 


make the clauses of the verse all questions implying a negative answer. 
_ But this inference is rather forced and the reading of our text is preferred 
by the majority. 

The Septuagint translates after the manner of I Cor. 15.55, and 
from this Paul no doubt quoted. The verse is expressed in language allud- 
ing to the ideal Israel, and His victory over death and the grave, His own 


resurrection being the firstfruits of the full harvest to come in the resur- 
rection at the end. 


GHAP TERS FOURTEEN 


5 I will be as the dew unto Israel; he 7 They that dwell under his shadow 
shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth shall return; they shall revive as the 
his roots as Lebanon. grain, and blossom as the vine, ‘the 

6 His branches shall spread and his scent thereof shall be as the wine of 
beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his Lebanon. 
smell as Lebanon. 10r, his memorial 


Vers. 5-7. “THE EFFECTS OF THE LORD’sS LOVE RICH IN BLESSING ON 
ISRAEL. 


Ver. 5. The dew falls copiously in the east; no plant is more pro- 
ductive than the lily, one root often producing fifty bulbs; while the trees 
of Lebanon cast down their roots as deeply as their height upwards, so 
that they are immovable. 


Ver. 6. The olive never loses its verdure, while the fragrance of 
Lebanon with its cedars and aromatic shrubs is proverbial. 


Ver. 7. The members of Israel (the first “they’’) are here distin- 
guished from Israel as a whole (the second “‘they’’). [he shadow men- 
tioned here is Israel’s and not God’s, it being necessary that we hold to the 
same reference here as in verse 6. They that used to dwell under Israel’s 
shadow, but who shall have been forced to leave it, shall return and be 
restored. 


“‘the scent thereof’’,—1. e., of Israel’s fame. 


THE BOOK OF 


JOEL 


(B. C. 800) 


The book of Joel falls easily into two divisions, Chap. 1.1 to Chap. 
2.17, setting forth judgment upon the Gentiles, and Chap. 2.18 to Chap. 
3.21 the promises of blessing for Israel. 


CHAPTER ONE 


4 That which ‘the palmer-worm hath which the locust hath left hath ‘*the 
left hath ‘the locust eaten; and_ that canker-worm eaten; and that which the 


1Probably, different kinds of locusts, or lo- 
usts in different stages of growth. 


24d. 


JOEL 





canker-worm hath left hath ‘the cater- teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath 

the jaw-teeth of a lioness. 

Sait 15 Alas for the day! for the day of 
6 For a nation is come up upon my Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction 

land, strong, and without number; his from the Almighty shall it come. 


Vers. 4,6,15. THE BEGINNING OF THE DAY OF JEHOVAH. 


pillar eaten. 


Is this description in the first chapter that of a plague of real locusts 
in Joel’s time or is it an allegorical prediction of a coming invasion by 
some hostile human army? A good case can be made out for either view. 
In either case, however, it is an earnest or portent of a coming greater 
calamity. 


Arguments for the Allegorical View: (The Fathers, older expositors, 
and more recently Po. Gr. Hav. Hen. Ber.) 

1. Locusts are a natural figure for hostile invaders. (See Rev. 9.3-12 
where they are allegorical.) 

2. The scourge is called the “‘Northerner’’, while locusts come from 
the south. (Chap. 2.20.) 

3. The agent is described as a responsible one. (Chap. 2.20.) 

4. The imagery goes beyond the effects of locusts and threatens fire, 
drought, plague and assault upon cities. (Chaps. 1.19,20 and 
2.6.) 

5. Prayer is to be made for a removal of the scourge that the heathen 
may not rule over them. (Chap. 2.17.) 

6. The scourge was to be destroyed in a way physically inapplicable 
to,locusts. (@hap: 2,20.) 

7. Ravages are to be remedied which locusts could not inflict, 1. e., 
Judah's captivity is to be turned and the land is to be recovered 
from the foreigners. (Chap. 3.1,17.) 


Arguments for the Literal View: (Sco.) 

1. Joel addresses his own contemporaries and not a future generation. 
(Chapel sess) 

2. The plague had occurred “before our own eyes’. (Chap. 1.16.) 

3. He asks the old men if the like had ever occurred in their day. 
(Chap ile2%) 

4, The description is that of a physical and not a political plague, 
i. e., fields stripped, seeds shrivel, drought, etc. 

5. He never hints at the invariable effects of human invasion, i. e., 
plunder, massacre, bloodshed, etc. 

6. The losses restored are the years which this army had eaten. 
(Chapzs2 on) 

7. He tells them to hand the story down to future generations. 
(Chapa) 

8. ‘The locusts are compared to actual soldiers—run like horses, leap 
like men, climb, etc.; he never would have compared a real army 
to itself. 

9. The name ‘“‘Northerner’’ is typical of doom, a name employed 
always to express the instrument of God’s wrath, and so Joel 
applies it to his fateful locusts. 


248 


JOEL 


10. “that the heathen may not rule over them’’ may, it is said, be 
translated with equal propriety, “‘that the heathen may not make 
satirical song about them”’, or “‘use a byword against them’’. (See 
margin. ) 

11. The assault on cities may be applied to locusts as well as to a 
human army; the expression, “‘steal in at the windows’’ being 
more applicable to the locusts than to a human army. 


12. There is little if any force in what the Allegorists say about the 
responsible agent, as Chap. 2.20 may also be applied to locusts. 


The balance of the argument we feel to be strongly in favor of the 
literal view, namely, that Joel was describing a plague of devouring locusts 
in his own day. This plague is shown, however, to have a spiritual 
significance, and is made the occasion for the prophecy of the day of the 
Lord in its two aspects of judgment on the Gentiles and blessing for Israel, 
this “day of the Lord’’ being more fully developed in the second chapter, 
where the literal locusts are left behind and the future “day of the Lord”’ 
fills the scene. 


Ver. 4. Four successive swarms of locusts are described, literally, 
the ‘Shearer’, the ‘““Swarmer’’, the “‘Lapper’’ and the ‘“‘Devourer’’, the 
same being four different poetic names for the locusts. 


Ver. 6. ‘“‘nation’’,—The word used for nation here is one that has 
in it the idea of hostility, and is here used of locusts. 


Ver. 15. ‘“‘Alas for the day’’,—1. e., the day then present in which 
the plague of the locusts was upon them. This day was so terrible that it 
might well be thought of as the beginning of the “‘Day of the Lord’, 
which Joel describes ‘as ‘‘at hand’. 

“the day of Jehovah’’,—This is always a day of judgment, a day of 
His anger. That the immediate reference is to the day then present is to 
be seen in the fact that in the next verse Joel returns at once to the devasta- 
tion of the land then going on. However in this mention of the “day of 
Jehovah’’ may be seen a typical significance, a reference to the worse 
calamities about to come on them of which the locusts were but the prelude. 


Verse 11 introduces an unusual drought, while verses 19 and 20 
refer to the effect of the parching heat. Some refer the “fire’’ to forest fires. 


CHAPTER TWO 


Here it would seem the prophet passes into allegory and foretells a 
coming judgment through the invasion of a heathen army, and this he 
does under an imagery drawn from their then present experience of the 
locust plague. 


1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and upon the mountains; a great people and 
sound an alarm in my holy mountain; a strong; there hath not been ever the 
let all the inhabitants of the land trem- like, neither shall be any more after 
ble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, them, even to the years of many gener- 
for it is nigh at hand; 2 a day of dark- ations. 3 A fire devoureth before them; 
ness and gloominess, a day of clouds and behind them a flame burneth: the 
and thick darkness, as the dawn spread land is as the garden of Eden before 


he ae 


JOEL 


them, and behind them a desolate wil- 
derness: yea, and none hath escaped 
them. 

4 The appearance of them is as the 
appearance of horses; and as ‘horsemen, 
so do they run. 5 Like the noise of 
chariots on the tops of the mountains 
do they leap, like the noise of a flame 
of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a 
strong people set in battle array. 

6 At their presence the peoples are 
in anguish: all faces are waxed pale. 7 
They run like mighty men; they climb 
the wall like men of war; and they 
march every one on his ways, and they 


one thrust another; they march every 
one in his path; and *they burst through 
the weapons, and “break not off their 
course. 9 They leap upon the city; 
they run upon the wall; they climb 
up into the houses; they enter in 
at the windows like a thief. 10 The 
earth quaketh before them; the heavens 
tremble; the sun and the moon are 
darkened, and the stars withdraw their 
shining. 11 And Jehovah uttereth his 
voice before his army; for his camp is 
very great; for he is strong that execut- 
eth his word; for the day of Jehovah 
is great and very terrible; and who can 


break not their ranks. 8 neither doth abide it? 
1Or, war-horses "Or, when they fall around the weapons, 
they &c 


3Or, are not wounded 


Vers, 1-11, 


Ver. 1. The priests were to sound the alarm horn to apprise the 
people of the coming judgment. 


Ver. 2. “‘A day of darkness’’,—This is a fit image of the coming 
day, suggested by the sun being obscured by swarms of locusts. 


“as the dawn spread upon the mountains’’,—In the word “‘spread”’ is 
to be found the idea of beaten down, scattered, crushed by and with a mass 
of clouds as if in conspiracy to prolong the night. So shall come a great 
people and strong, bringing with them a day of darkness, etc. “here may 
be a reference in the expression to the shining or the yellow light reflected 
by the rays of the sun from the wings of a swarm of locusts. (K. Ma.) 

Some find the principal comparison in the rapidity with which and 
the wide extent over which the dawn spreads itself,—so shall a numerous 
people overspread the land. (Ma. Ba.) 


Ver. 3. The word “‘them’’ throughout the verse refers to the army 
before the prophet’s vision. 


Ver. 4. “The appearance of them’’,—i. e., of the figurative locusts, 
the army before the prophet’s vision. 


Ver. 7. “This imagery is drawn from the well-known military order 
in the advance of swarms of locusts. 


Mer 8. 


Ver. 9. This verse completes the description, and together with 
verses 7 and 8 gives us a picture which is exactly true to nature. They 
rush through the weapons, the darts, and their ranks are not broken. 


Ver. 11. “his army’’,—Scofield takes verses 1 to 10 as descriptive 
of the invading army and verse 11 as referring to Jehovah’s army which is 
to be marshaled against the invaders, the army, he says, being that which is 
described in Rey. 19.11-18, the battle foretold being that of Armageddon. 
But inasmuch as the reference is still to the day of Jehovah, even as in 
verse 1, there is no good reason why the antitypical human foes of Judea, 
of which the locusts are figures, should not be considered as the army of 


250 


THE INVADING ARMY FROM THE NORTH. 


They do not push each other out of their place. 


JOEL 


Jehovah coming in judgment upon them. ‘There can be, however, on the 
other hand no forcible objection to taking this army as Scofield does, if the 
chapter is to be referred to the still future day of Jehovah. 


Verso l2= k-/. 


The reference to the “‘meal offering’, etc., in verse 14 finds its mean- 
ing in that God may give plentiful harvests so that these things could once 
more be offered. 


A CALL TO REPENTANCE. 


Vers. 18-27. 


Ver. 20. “the northern army’’,—Some take this as indicative of 
the Chaldeans and the Syrians, while others, thinking of the day of the 
Lord in the end time refer it to the Gentile world-powers headed up under 
the Beast and the false prophet. (Rev. 16.14.) 

“eastern sea... western sea’’,—The Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. 

“stench shall come up’’,—A metaphor from locusts which perish, 
when blown by a storm into the sea or the desert, and emit a stench from 
their putrefying bodies. 


Ver. 23. “the former rain’’,—The Autumn rain. 


“tn just measure’’,—i. e., as much as the land required. Literally it 
reads ‘‘according to right’. 


“the latter rain’’,—The Spring rain. 
“in the first month’’,—1. e., in the month when first it is needed. 


Some, who take Chap. 1 as allegorical prediction, see in the four 
kinds of locusts the four great world-powers, Babylon, Medo-Persia, 
Greece and Rome. (FP. Hen., and the Jews in general.) 


THE LOoRD’s PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE. 


28 And it shall come to pass after- fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun 


ward, that I will pour out my Spirit 
upon all flesh; and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy, your old men 
shall dream dreams, your young men 
shall see visions: 29 and also upon the 
servants and upon the handmaids in 
those days will I pour out my Spirit. 
30 And I will show wonders in the 


shall be turned into darkness, and the 
moon into blood, before the great and 
terrible day of Jehovah cometh. 32 And 
it shall come to pass, that whosoever 
shall call on the name of Jehovah shall 
be delivered; for in mount Zion and in 
Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, 
as Jehovah hath said, and ‘among the 
remnant those whom Jehovah doth call. 


heavens and in the earth; blood, and 


1Or, ix the remnant whom, &c. 


Vers. 28-32. “THE PROMISE OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 


Ver. 28. Regardless of how the previous portion of this chapter is 
taken, it is certain that this verse and all that follows has a remote and 
ultimate reference. 


“afterward” .—This expression is a bit more indefinite but clearly 
identical with the formula used by the later prophets. It come from the 
Hebrew word meaning ‘‘latter’’, ‘‘last’’, and refers to the last days, the 
days under the Messiah after the deliverance of Israel from the northern 
army. ‘The prophecy was fulfilled in Acts 2.17, but only in its beginning. 
Peter said the promise was also “‘to all that are afar off’’ (both in space 
and time), and thus while it has a partial and continuous fulfillment during 


251 


JOEL 


the “‘last days’’ which began with the first advent of Christ, its final and 
greater fulfillment awaits the “last days’’ as applied to the ultimate “end 
time.” 


“apon all flesh’’,Not merely on a privileged few, as the prophets of 
the Old Testament, but upon mankind generally. (F. Pu. Sch.) Some 
think that the Jews only were in Joel’s mind and that in his mind the 
heathen were to be destroyed. (George Adam Smith.) 


“prophesy ... dream... see vistons’’,—The three modes whereby 
God revealed Himself under the Old Testament. Prophesying, here, does 
not relate so much to foretelling events but to preaching, speaking oe wit- 
nessing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 


Ver. 30. Here begins a description of the cosmical signs preceding 
the day of the Lord. 


This outpouring of the Spirit is viewed by the prophet as connected 
with the great day of the Lord and as a sign of tts coming. It is described 
here only in a general way, its actual coming being set forth in Chap. 3. 
What the form of these phenomena shall be it is idle to conjecture. “Ihe 
allusion may be to the massacres and conflagrations attendant upon the 
destruction of Jerusalem as a type and earnest of the more terrible con- 
vulsions to occur before the final destruction of the ungodly world. 


Ver. 32. “‘shall be delivered’’,—As Christians were delivered from 
the destruction of Jerusalem by retiring to Pella, warned by the Saviour’s 
utterance (Matt. 24.16), which was a type of the spiritual deliverance 
of all believers and of the last deliverance of the “‘elect remnant’. 


“tn mount Zion and in Jerusalem’’,—WNot to be taken in a local sense. 


“as Jehovah hath said’’,—In Joel's own preceding words (F.), in 


(Mei). (K.), in an older writing of Joel (Ew.), in a lost prophecy 
ei 


“among the remnant’’,—There shall be among them those whom the 
Lord shall call. The word literally means ‘‘the escaped”’. 


“doth call’ ,—i. e., according to the election of grace. (Rom. 11.5.) 
(F. Sch., and most older and later expositors. ) 


CHAP TERSLHREE 


1 For, behold, in those days, and in all the regions of Philistia? *will ye 


that time, when I shall *bring back the render me a recompense? and if ye 
captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I recompense me, swiftly and speedily will 
will gather all nations, and will bring I return your “recompense upon your 
them down into the valley of Jehosa- own head. 5 Forasmuch as ye have 
phat; and [ will execute judgment upon taken my silver and my gold, and have 
them there for my people and for my carried into your temples my goodly 
heritage Israel, whom they have scat- precious things, 6 and have sold the 
tered among the nations: and they have children of Judah and the children of 
parted my land, 3 and have cast lots Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, 
for my people, and have given a boy that ye may remove them far from their 
for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, border; 7 behold, I will stir them up 
that they may drink. 4 Yea, and what out of the place whither ye have sold 
are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and them, and will return your ‘recompense 

1Or, return to “Or, will ye repay a deed of mine, or will ye 

do aught unto me? swiftly &c. 
3Or, deed 


252 


JOEL 


upon your own head; 8 and I will sell shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to 
your sons and your daughters into the a nation far off: for Jehovah hath 
hand of the children of Judah, and they spoken it, 


Vers. 1-8. “THE RESTORATION OF JSRAEL AND THE JUDGMENT OF 
GENTILE NATIONS. 


Ver. 1. ‘“‘For’’,—He is now to explain in detail what he had before 
mentioned in general. 


“in those days’’,—i. e., the days to come, the “‘afterward’’ of the 
previous chapter. 


_ “when I shall bring back the captivity’’,—This shows distinctly the 
object of the day of the Lord, namely, the bringing of deliverance to the 
people of God. To “bring back’’ means to reverse, to make an end of. 


Ver. 2. “‘all nations’’,—Primarily those that have offended against 
Israel but inclusive of the heathen world in general. 


“valley of Jehosaphat’’,—This is the valley where Jehosaphat gained 
his victory over the Gentile army and is southwest of Jerusalem, and was 
called ‘“‘the valley of Berachah (blessing) unto this day’’ (II Chron. 20). 
The valley between Jerusalem and the mount of Olives on the east was 
first called the valley of Jehosaphat in the fourth century and was there- 
fore not so known in Joel’s day. Jehosaphat means “‘Jehovah judges’, 
and the expression used by Joel is no doubt a general term signifying the 
theatre of God’s judgment on the nations, although undoubtedly the 
imagery was furnished to Joel by that great deliverance which God gave 
to Jehosaphat in II Chron. 20. 


“execute judgment’’,—This is a much to be preferred rendering to 
“plead with’ of the Authorized Version. 


_ Ver. 3. A war custom of the heathen of that time in dealing with 
their captives. : 


Ver. 4. “render me a recompense’ ,—i. e., injure me (my people) 
for fancied wrongs. God here identifies Himself with His people. 


“what are ye to me’’,—He counts them as aliens; they have no part 
in Him. ‘The nations here mentioned had committed such crimes as those 
referred to. 


Ver. 5. This alludes without doubt to II Chron. 21.16,17. 
Vers. 7,8. Fulfilled by Alexander the Great. (Fa. Sch.) 


“‘Sabeans’’,—These people occupied the remote extremity of Arabia 
Felix and were probably a partner with Tyre in slave selling. 


“far off’,—The remotest nation in the opposite direction from 
Greece. 


9 Proclaim ye this among the na- say, I am strong. 11 “Haste ye, and 
tions; *prepare war; stir up the mighty come, all ye nations round about, and 
men; let all the men of war draw gather yourselves together; thither cause 
near, let them come up. 10 Beat your thy mighty ones to come down, O Jeho- 
plowshares into swords, and your vah. 12 Let the nations bestir them- 
pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak selves, and come up to the valley of 

1Heb. sanctify 2Or, Assemble yourselves 


253 


JOEL 





*Jehosaphat; for there will I sit to judge is near in the valley of decision. 15 The 
ll th ti d about. 13 Put sun and the moon are darkened, and the 
a Ad Nd sa a aac stars withdraw their shining. 16 And 


‘ P , ; 
| 1 . A 
ye in the sickle; for the “harvest is Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter 


ripe: come, *tread ye; for the winepress his voice from Jerusalem; and the heav- 
is full, the vats overflow; for their ens and the earth shall shake: but Jeho- 
wickedness is great. vah will be a refuge unto his people, 

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the val- and a stronghold to the children of 


ley of decision! for the day of Jehovah Israel. 


®That is, Jehovah judgeth 
4Or, vintage 
*Or, get you down 


Vers. 9-16. THE DAY OF THE LORD IN RETROSPECT. 


Ver. 9. The nations are here summoned to come against Jerusalem 
not to destroy it but to be destroyed. 


“Proclaim ... ptepare’’,—This is addressed not to the Jews but to 
the heathen nations, 1. e., to their heralds who are to summon them to 
war. The word “‘prepare’’ is literally ‘‘sanctify’’ and Schmoller says it 
cannot therefore be referred to the heathen. But it is the same word exactly 
as used when Babylon was called upon to prepare war against Jerusalem 
(Jer. 6.4), and it is a well known fact that the heathen usually begin war 
with religious ceremonies. 


Ver. 10. “‘let the weak say I am strong’’,—-So mad shall be the fury 
of the world against God’s people that even the feeble will not desire to be 
exempted from warring against them. 


Ver. 11. “thither cause thy mighty ones to come down’ ,—This is a 
prayer by Joel. The ‘“‘mighty ones’’ are God's really mighty ones in con- 
trast to the self-styled mighty ones of verse 9. Keil without warrant 
refers these to angels. 


Ver. 12. “round about’’,—Not merely, as Henderson says, ‘‘round 
about Jerusalem’, but all the nations from all parts’ who have maltreated 
the people of God. Thus also in verse 11. 


Ver. 13. God directs the ministers of His vengeance to execute His 
wrath. His command is to His mighty ones. His enemies are to be cut 
down like ripe grain and trodden (crushed) like grapes in the winepress. 


Ver. 14. “‘valley of dectston’’,—i. e., the valley of judgment, the 


place where the Judge renders His decision. 


Ver. 16. “Jehovah will roar’’,—i. e., asa lion. It will be found 
that wherever this expression occurs it is in connection with the destruction 
of Gentile dominion (Jer. 25.30; Amos 1.2; 3.8; Isa. 42.13), and while 
it may have a near fulfillment it always looks forward to a vaster and more 
ultimate one. 


‘ 


17 So shall ye know that I am Jeho- down sweet wine, and the hills shall 
vah your God, dwelling in Zion in my flow with milk, and all the brooks of 
holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be Judah shall flow with waters; and a 
holy, and there shall no strangers pass fountain shall come forth from the 
through her any more. house of Jehovah, and shall water ‘the 

18 And it shall come to pass in that valley of Shittim. 
day, that the mountains shall drop 19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and 


1That is, the valley of acacias 


294 


a 


JOEL 


Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for and Jerusalem from generation to gener- 
the violence done to the children of ation. 
Judah, because they have shed innocent 21 And I will *cleanse their blood, 
blood in their land. that I have not cleansed; for Jehovah 
20 But Judah shall ’abide forever, dwelleth in Zion. 
“Or, be inhabited 3O0r, hold as innocent 


Vers. 17-21. ‘THE BLESSINGS OF THE COMING KINGDOM. 


Ver. 17. “there shall no strangers pass through’’,—i. e., to attack 
or defile. 


Ver. 18. “‘mountains drop wine... hills flow with milk’’,—Figur- 


ative expressions for abundance of vines, and flocks yielding milk plenti- 
fully. 


“a fountain shall come forth’’,—Here is a reference to the gushing 
and ever-flowing fountain of water under the temple. Thus blessings 
both temporal and spiritual shall issue from the house of God. 


“valley of Shittim’’,—This is a valley on the border between Moab 
and Israel beyond the Jordan, an arid desert where the Acacia (sandal- 
wood) grows. 


Ver. 19. Egypt and Edom are mentioned because of their violence 
against the children of Judah and are taken as representatives of the ene- 
mies of Israel in general. (Amos 1.11; Oba. 10; Jer. 49.17.) 


When Joel made this prophecy there were no symptoms whatsoever 
of decay on the part of the countries mentioned and yet how wonderfully 
has the prophecy been fulfilled. 


Ver. 21. “I will cleanse their blood’’,—It means to pronounce 
innocent, to free from guilt. Thus Judah was to be purged from her 
guilt (the shedding of blood), the climax of her sin which for long had 
been visited with judgments. 


Nowack and Schmoller render, ‘‘I will avenge Israel’s blood’, i. e., 


I will not leave unpunished the shedders of it. The first explanation, 
however, adheres more closely to the original meaning of the word. 


That Joel’s prophecy is to find its final and completest fulfillment 
in “‘the last day’’, in times yet to come, is the usually accepted view. As 
Schmoller says, ‘“The final and complete fulfillment will come only with 
the consummation of the kingdom at the Parousia, or Second Advent of 
our Lord.” 8 

This explanation of the prophecy is favored by: 

1. The usual two-fold application of this and similar prophecies. 

2. Peter’s statement that the promise is ‘“‘unto them that are afar off’’. 

3. The as yet unfulfilled verses 17 (of which the very opposite is as 

yet the case), 18 and 20. 

Says Farrar, ‘““By the expression ‘a great people’ in Chap. 2.2, the 
host of Assyria may be primarily meant (Isa. 37.36), but ultimately the 
last antichristian confederacy destroyed by special divine interposition is 
meant, and while Chap. 2.28 was fulfilled in earnest at Pentecost, it will 
be hereafter more fully fulfilled at the restoration of Israel (Isa. 53.13; Jer. 
31.9,34; Ezk. 39.29; Zech. 12.10) and the consequent conversion of 
the whole world, (Isa. 11.9; 66.18-23; Mic. 5.7; Rom. 11.12,15), 


gon 


AMOS 





and while the reference of verse 16 of this last chapter may be to the 
victories of the Jews over their cruel foe Antiochus Epiphanes, under the 
Maccabees, the ultimate reference is to the last Antichrist of whom Anti- © 
ochus Epiphanes was but the type.”’ 

Scofield says, ‘“The whole picture is of the end-time of this present 
age, of the ‘times of the Gentiles’; of the battle of Armageddon; of the re- 
gathering of Israel and of kingdom blessing. The order of events is: (1) 
The invasion of Palestine from the north by Gentile world-powers headed 
up under the Beast and the false prophet (Joel 2.1-10. See Rev. 16.14); 
(2) the Lord’s army and the destruction of the invaders (Joel 2.11; Rev. 
19.11-21; (3) the repentance of Judah in the land (Joel 2.12-17; Deut. 
30.1-9); (4) the answer of Jehovah (Joel 2.18-27); (5) the effusion 
of the Spirit in the (Jewish) ‘last days’ (Joel 2.28,29; (6) the return of 
the Lord in glory and the setting up of the kingdom (Joel. 2.30-32; Acts 
15.15-17) by the regathering of the nation and the judgment of the 
nations (Joel 3.1-16); (7) the full and permanent blessing (Joel 3.17- 
Lie Zech eiwalallGeviatt.20.0 20 


HE BOOROE 


AMOS 


(BUG787--B'G 763) 





Amos prophesied in the northern kingdom (Israel). Within fifty 
years his warnings were fulfilled, the kingdom being utterly destroyed. 
The vision of Amos, however, did not stop with the northern kingdom, 
but included in certain respects the whole ‘‘house of Jacob’’. 

The judgment on Judah was fulfilled in the seventy years’ captivity, 


and that on Israel, the northern kingdom, in the world-wide dispersion 
which continues to the present day, 


CHAP TERY FIVE 


16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the 18 Woe unto you that desire the 
God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye 
be in all the broad ways; and they shall have the day of Jehovah? It is dark- 


say in all the streets, Alas! alas! and ness, and not light. 19 As if a man 
they shall call the husbandman to did flee from a lion, and a bear met 
mourning, ‘and such as are skillful in him; *or went into the house and 
lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all leaned his hand on the wall, and a ser- 


vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of 
pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah be darkness, and not light? 
Jehovah. even very dark, and no brightness in it? 


‘Heb. awd proclaim wailing to such as are “Or, and 
skillful in lamentation 


Vers. 16-20. “THE DAY OF JEHOVAH, A DAY OF RIGHTEOUS RETRIBU- 
TION. 


Ver. 16. “‘Therefore’’,—God foresees that they will not obey the 
exhortation. The sense of the verse is that on every side there. will be dead 
to mourn for. 


256 


AMOS 


“such as are skillful in lamentation to watling’’,—The professional 
mourners who were employed at funerals. Not only these, but the hus- 
bandmen were called to mourn, inasmuch as there will not be enough 
-of the former because of the universal mourning which will prevail. 


_ Ver. 17. “tn all the vineyards shall be wailing’’,—As in the cities, 
so in the land among the vineyards where usually songs of joy were heard, 
there will be the death-wail. 


“for I will pass through the midst of thee’’,—-Said perhaps with an 
allusion to Exodus 12.12, as if what happened in Egypt at the smiting 
of the first born would be repeated. 


Ver. 18. “‘Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord’’,— Because 
they fancied that they, the carnal Israel, and the true people of God were 
identical, and that this day must of course bring to them as well as to the 
rest of Israel deliverance from distress, as well as great joy and glory. 
Therefore they did not scruple to say in irony, as if in ridicule of the 
threatening of Amos, that they desired the day of the Lord to come. 
Would not that be a day of victory to Israel? But the prophet tells them 
that for them it would be a calamity and a day of righteous retribution. 


Ver. 19. ‘Therefore should they escape one danger they would the 
more certainly fall into another. The figures are taken from everyday life 
and are quite clear as to their meaning. 


“leaned his hand on the wall’’,—i. e., to support himself from fall- 
ing. Serpents often hide themselves in a fissure in the wall. 


CHARLERSEIGHED 


In this chapter, under the symbol of a basket of summer fruit, Israel 
is shown to be a people ripened by sin for the severe judgment of destruc- 
tion pronounced upon them. So many shall be the dead that in every 
place they shall cast them forth in silence, meaning perhaps that the terror 
of God and the dread of the enemy would make them afraid to speak (verse 
3). “In that day’, i. e., the day of judgment mentioned by the prophet, 
the sun will go down at noon and the earth will tremble. The primary 
reference of these severe pronouncements is, of course, to the calamity that 
came upon Israel fifty years later, but the bold and startling language with 
which the predictions are clothed shows that they look forward to a vaster 
fulfillment tn time still future, and that the whole is a type of the judg- 
ments upon the ungodly people in the great day of accounts. 


CHAPTER NINE 


1 I saw the Lord standing ‘beside the one of them flee away, and there shall 
altar; and he said, Smite the capitals, not one of them escape. 
that the thresholds may shake; and 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jeho- 
break them in pieces on the head of all vah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I 
of them; and I will slay the last of will destroy it from off the face of the 
them with the sword; *there shall not earth; save that [ will not utterly de- 
1Or, upon 


“Or, he that fleeth of them shall not flee 
away, and he that escapeth of them shall not 
he delivered. 


257 


AMOS 


stroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah. yet shall not the least kernel fall upon 
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will the earth. 10 All the sinners of my 
*sift the house of Israel among all the people shall die by the sword, who say, 
nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us. 


®Heb. cause to move to and fro. 
Vers. 1, 8-10. A VISION OF JEHOVAH EXECUTING JUDGMENT. 


Ver. 1. It is difficult to know whether this judgment is to be taken 
as upon Israel alone, or upon both Israel and Judah. If upon the former 
then the “‘altar’’ is in the idolatrous temple at Bethel (F. He. Sm. Gr. Sch.), 
but if upon both Israel and Judah, the “‘altar’’ is at Jerusalem (K. C. Fai. 
Fal. Hen.). The latter view makes the exegesis a bit smoother; but inas- 
much as Amos was a prophet especially for Israel, and the book has been 
largely devoted to Israel, and because of the connection (Chap. 8.14) the 
altar at Bethel, which is denounced in other parts of the book (Chap. 
3.14; 4.4), seems to be the one in the vision, and it would therefore seem 
best to apply the chapter with its judgment to Israel, although there is to 
be sure a reference to Judah in verse 11. 


Ver. 8. ‘“‘the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful king- 
dom’’,—Here the difficulty begins. The “‘house of Jacob’? would seem 
to belong to the kingdom of Judah, and if we make “‘the sinful kingdom”’ 
to be Israel only, then the exception, the house of Jacob, would lie outside 
of the subject treated. Keil removes the difficulty by taking “‘the sinful 
kingdom’ as embracing both Israel and Judah in one; and there are no 
insuperable objections to this interpretation. 


Schmoller relieves the situation by saying that “the house of Jacob” 
is literally “‘the stock of Israel’’ and is here to be referred to the ten tribes, 
i. e., to Israel, and “the sinful kingdom’’ thus refers without difficulty to 
the kingdom of Israel alone. 


Perhaps the best explanation is to think of the house of Jacob before © 


there was any division, and the prophet here then conceives of the Jewish 
nation as one and says that this part of the house of Jacob, this part of the 
nation, the ten tribes (Israel) shall not be utterly destroyed. A remnant 
was to be spared for Jacob’s sake to fulfill the covenant whereby “‘the seed 
of Israel’’ is hereafter to be “‘a nation forever’. (Jer. 30.11; 31.36) 


Ver. 9. “yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth’’,—The 
Godly elect, the solid grains, are preserved while the chaff, the dust, falls 
through to the ground. (Rom. 11.26.) 


11 In that day will I raise up the shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills 
tabernacle of David that is fallen, and shall melt. 14 And I will *bring back 


close up the breaches thereof; and I the captivity of my people Israel, and 
will raise up its ruins, and I will build they shall build the waste cities, and 
it as in the days of old; 12 that they inhabit them; and they shall plant vine- 
may possess the remnant of Edom, and yards, and drink the wine thereof; they 
all the nations that ’are called by my shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit 
name, saith Jehovah that doeth this. of them. 15 And I will plant them 
13 Behold, the days come, saith Jeho- upon their land, and they shall no more 
vah, that the plowman shall overtake be plucked up out of their land which 
the reaper, and the treader of grapes I have given them, saith Jehovah thy 
him that soweth seed; and the mountans God. ; 
10r, were 2Or, return to 
258 


ae 


AMOS 


_ Vers. 11-15. THE BLESSINGS OF THE FUTURE KINGDOM. 


Ver. 11. “In that day’’,—1i. e., in the dispensation of the Messiah. 


“the tabernacle of David that ts fallen’’,—The fallen condition of 
this kingdom, which occurred more especially in the time of the Baby- 
lonian captivity, is presupposed. (K. Gr.) The literal meaning of the 
word used is “‘hut’’, showing its low condition during the days of Amos 
and subsequently during the Babylonian captivity before the restoration, 
as well also as before the restoration under the Messiah. 

This tabernacle of David Jehovah promises to “ratse up’. This 
promise was but partially and temporarily fulfilled under Zerubbabel, be- 
cause this restoration did not include Israel, the main subject of this 
prophecy, while furthermore the kingdom of Zerubbabel was not an inde- 
pendent and settled one and of its subjects it could not be said, “‘they shall 
no more be plucked up out of their land’’ (verse 15). 

‘The prophecy in this verse 11 certainly does turn to Judah, yet, as 
Schmoller says, ‘‘not so much as a separate kingdom, but only insofar as it 
furnishes the divinely appointed basis and point of departure for the restor- 
ation of the entire people’. 


Ver. 12. “the remnant of Edom’’,—Edom, as the representative of 
all heathen nations, is mentioned because of these nations they were the 
most hostile to Israel, and by “‘the remnant’ is expressed that part of Edom 
which had not already been subjugated. 

“called by my name’’,—This expression, wherever used, is applied 
only to the covenant people of God, in conformity with which the meaning 
here must be that the recreated kingdom shall bear sway over Edom and 
other heathen nations which shall in consequence become a part of the 
covenant people... This seems therefore to be a prophecy of the calling of 
the Gentiles, and as such is quoted by James in Acts 15.17. Concerning 
this expression Fausset says, ‘““‘who belong to me, whom I claim as mine 
(Psa. 2.8) ; in the purposes of electing grace, God terms them already called 
by his name’. The possession then spoken of here is to be spiritually 
realized. (F. Gr.) . (Isa. 49.8; 54.8; Rom. 4.13.) 

Amos shows that nothing was to be hoped for by the ten tribes apart 
from connection with Judah. 


Ver. 13. “Behold the days come’’,—i. e., when Israel is ‘“‘planted 
upon their land’’ (verse 15) when the Jews shall have been restored to 
their own land. ; 

“the ploughman .. . . . and the treader’’,—Such shall be the 
abundance of the harvest and the vintage that they can hardly be gathered 
before the time shall come for the preparing for the next crop. 


Ver. 15. “they shall no more be plucked up out of their land’’,— 
(See Jer. 32.41.) This is most certainly a distinct expression of the final 
abolition of an exile; never again shall the restored exiles be carried away 
by enemies. [he promise in verses 1] to 15 is to the nation as a whole. 

Schmoller says, “‘An unprejudiced comparison shows that the 
prophecy transcends the experience. This fact does not show that the 
threatening is unfounded, but that it has an eschatological character. ‘Ihe 
prophet, indeed, sees the last decisive judgment arise, but still the judgment 


259 


OBADIAH 


which came historically upon the ten tribes was not this last decisive one. 
The prophecy was further fulfilled when Jerusalem was destroyed by the 
Romans, but it still awaits its complete fulfillment in the last judgment 
at the Parousta upon the entire body of the apostate members of the people 
of God of whom Israel was a type.’’ This same expositor further says 
that because the judgment was fulfilled in literal Israel is no sign that the 
promise must likewise be so fulfilled in Israel after the flesh. He with 
many others think of this promise as being fulfilled now in the New Testa- 
ment Israel. James says in Acts 15.17 that verse 12 was fulfilled in Christ, 
and if this be so, then in a very certain sense the fulfillment of. the raising 
up of the tabernacle of David ought also to be found in Christ. 


If this, and other prophecies like it, are to be taken literally, then we 
must look for a literal restoration of the Jews to the land of Palestine 
sometime in the future, inasmuch as it did not occur in times now past. 
(See ‘‘Doctrinal and Moral’’ in Lange’s Commentary under this chapter.) 


(He pbOOK Or 


OBADIAH 


(B. C. 586) 


Vers. 1-16. ' The condemnation and coming destruction of Edom 
together with the rest of the foes of Israel. 


15 For the day of Jehovah is near mountain, so shall all the nations drink 
upon all the nations; as thou hast done, continually; yea, they shall drink, and 
it shall be done unto thee; thy ‘dealing *swallow down, and shall be as though 
shall return upon thine own head. 16 they had not been. 

For as ye have drunk upon my holy 
1Or, recompense *Or, talk foolishly 


Vers. 15,16. “THE DAY OF JEHOVAH AND THE PUNISHMENT OF THE 
UNGODLY. 


Ver. 15. “the day of Jehovah’’,—The day in which the Lord will 
manifest Himself as the righteous punisher of the ungodly people. It is 
the day introduced in verse 8. 


“upon all the nations’ ,—‘‘The range’’, says Klieforth, “‘extends to a 
universal judgment.’ ‘‘It shows’’, says Fausset, “‘that the fulfillment is 
not exhausted in the punishment inflicted upon the surrounding nations 
by the instrumentality of Nebuchadnezzar, but as in Joel 3.14 and in 
Zech 2a atheslast judgment to come on the nations confederate against 
Jerusalem is referred to.” 


Ver. 16. “‘ye’’,—Some explain, ‘‘ye Jews’’, the prophet suddenly 
shifting his address fora moment. (F. Sm. Ma.) Others explain, “‘ye 
Edomites’’. (C. Kle.) By the first explanation “drunk’’ refers to the 
cup of affliction, being dispossessed of their goods and lands by Edom and 
all the nations: so shall all the heathen nations drink the same cup. By 
the second explanation “‘drunk”’ refers to the cup of exultation, i. e., taking 


260 


OBADIAH 


part in the wild revelry of the destroyers and so shall they drink the cup 
of wrath from God’s hand. ‘The latter seems preferable. 


17 But in mount Zion there shall be 
those that escape, and it shall be holy; 
and the house of Jacob shall possess 
their possessions. 18 And the house 
of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of 
Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau 
for stubble, and they shall burn among 
them, and devour them; and there shall 
not be any remaining to the house of 
Esau; for Jehovah hath spoken it. 19 
And they of the South shall possess the 
mount of Esau, and they of the low- 


land the Philistines; and they shall pos- 
sess the field of Ephraim, and the field of 
Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess 
Gilead. 20 And the captives of this 
"host of the children of Israel, *that are 
among the Canaanites, shall possess even 
unto Zarephath; and the captives of 
Jerusalem, that are in Sepharad, shall 
possess the cities of the South. 21 And 
saviours shall come up on mount Zion 
to judge the mount of Esau; and the 
kingdom shall be Jehovah’s. 


1Or, fortress 

“Or, shall possess that which belongeth to 
the Canaanites, even &c. Or, that are among 
the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and &c. 


Vers. 17-21. "THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE JEWS IN THEIR OWN 
POSSESSIONS. 
Ver. 17. “‘those that escape’’,—Unlike Judah’s heathen foes of 


whom no remnant shall escape, a remnant of the Jews shall escape when 
the rest of the nation has perished. 

“tt shall be holy’’,—It shall be inviolable, no longer profaned by 
strangers. 


Ver. 18. The “house of Jacob’’ is the kingdom of Judah, and the 
“house of Joseph’’ is the kingdom of Israel, and through the burning zeal 
of God in them, the one shall become a “‘fire’’ and the other a “‘flame’’, the 
two forming one kingdom, their former feuds being laid aside. 

“This was but an earnest’’, says Fausset, ‘‘of the future union of 


Judah and Israel in the possession of the enlarged land as one kingdom. 
CPezeleies 7.1 0.) | 


Ver. 19. “And they of the South’’,—The men of Judah, who in 
the coming time are to occupy the south of Judea, shall also possess in 
addition to their own territory the adjoining mountainous region of Edom. 

“and they of the lowland’’,—This refers also to Judah, who in the 
coming time is to occupy the lowland in the west of Judea, but shall also 
possess the land of the Philistines, the people being here put for the land. 

“and they’’,—The reference is still to the men of Judah. 

Ephraim and Samaria formerly belonged to the Ten tribes. 

“and Benjamin’ ,—The other tribe composing Judah shall possess 
Gilead, east of the Jordan, and so the dominion returns to Judah (Gen. 
49.10) and the whole land is brought back to the House of David by the 
two tribes who had remained true to it. (Jer. 32.44.) 

The ‘‘they’’ of this verse is by some referred to the Ten tribes. “This 
makes an abrupt and an unnatural passage from the previous subject, but 
it makes them possess the land that was originally theirs (Ephraim and 
Samaria). These same authorities then refer “‘the children of Israel’ of 
verse 20 to the Ten tribes also, and this seems natural because Jerusalem 
of verse 20 refers to Judah, the Two tribes, and thus the parallelism is the 


261 


OBADIAH 


better carried. But all things considered, the explanation we have already 
given is the preferable one. 


Ver. 20. “‘captives’’,—Those who were ‘“‘carried away’. 
“host of the children of Israel’’,—The twelve tribes united under 
Judah. 


“among the Canaanites’’,—In Phoenicia and western Palestine. 
“even unto Zarephath’’,—Near Zidon. Mentioned in Luke 4.26. 


“in Sepharad’’,—A district of western Asia about Lydia and near 
the Bosphorus. (F. Vul. Jer. Say. Che. Kle.) . 
There are four interpretations of the first clause of this verse: 
1. “And the captives of this host of the children of Israel that are 
among the Canaanites even unto Zarephath, and the captives that 
are in Jerusalem, that are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of 


the South? © (He-Ma. Um, Pas Cas.) 


2. ‘“‘And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall be-~ 


come the Canaanites which there are even unto Zarephath’’, etc. 
This is the view of Kleinert, but it will hardly do to arbitrarily 
supply, as he does, the words “‘shall become’’ and ‘“‘there are’. 

3. ‘And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall 
possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the cap- 
tivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of 
the South.” GA. V..F. Sm» Hit. Sep.) 


4. The rendering of the Revised Version as set forth in our text. 
Both the third and fourth views supply “‘shall possess’ before the 


words, ‘“‘even unto Zarephath’. ‘This is quite allowable, but between the 
two the rendering of the Revised Version is preferable. In fact, it is far 


more natural than either of the other views, the word “‘among’’, which it: 


supplies, corresponding with the word “‘itn”’ in the latter part of the verse. 


Inasmuch as the distribution of the land as set forth tn these verses 
has never taken place, tt would seem as though it ought to take place in 
the future. The general conception of the true Israel, the people of God 
in a spiritual sense, inheriting the earth may be set forth as a spiritual ful- 
filling of the Old Testament prophecies in general, but how such minute 


details as the very portions of land which the different tribes shall possess _ 


can be spiritualized is difficult to see. 


Ver. 21. “saviours’’,—This does not refer to kings, but the rather 
to heroes like the Maccabees. 

Edom is, of course, a type of Israel’s foes and of God’s last foes. Keil 
calls attention to the fact that the destruction of Edom and the occupation 
of Seir by Israel must, according to Numbers 24.18, proceed from the Ruler 
that shall arise out of Jacob, the Messiah. According to Amos 9.11, how- 
ever, not until the setting up of the tabernacles of Judah that have fallen 
down, and not until, according to Obadiah, on the day of Jehovah, at 
and after the judgment of all the peoples, will it follow. “The fulfillment 
of verses 17 to 21 can therefore only belong to the Messianic period, so 
that it began in a spiritual sense with the establishment of the kingdom 
of Christ on earth and proceeds with its extension among the peoples of 


262 


MICAH 





the earth, and will in this sense be fully accomplished with its final com- 
pletion at the second coming of the Lord. But in the literal sense it 
would seem, as we have shown, to call for a fulfillment which is yet alto- 
gether in the future. 


‘THE BOOK OF 


MICAH 


(Be. C3s750——B, G5710) 


— 


CHAPTER TWO 


Verse bz, 13; 


12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all 
of thee; I will surely gather the remnant 
of Israel; I will put them together as 
the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the 
midst of their pasture; they shall make 
great noise by reason of the multitude 
of men. 


13 The breaker is gone up before 
them: they have broken forth and 
passed on to the gate, and are gone out 
thereat; and their king is passed on be- 


fore them, and Jehovah at the head of 
them. 


THE PROMISE TO THE REMNANT. 


Some authorities put verses 12 and 13 in the mouth of the false 
prophets. (Ew. Kle. Hof. Hart.) But there is hardly sufficient ground 
for this view, although the words do seem a bit abrupt when put in the 
mouth of Micah. NHowever, the reference to the “‘remnant’’ is hardly 
appropriate to the false prophets, and so we prefer with the majority to 
refer the words to Micah. (F.K. Pu. Ma. Hen. Hit. Cas.) For a similar 
transition see Hos, 1.9,10. 


Ver. 12. “‘all of thee’’,—The restoration from Babylon was but 
partial, and this is of course therefore Messianic and finds its spiritual ful- 
fillment in the people of God of this dispensation, and its literal fulfillment, 
as Fausset says, in the still future restoration of Israel as mentioned in 


Romans 11.26. 


“remnant’’,—The elect remnant which is to survive all previous 
calamities. 


“Bozrah’’,—A region famed for its rich pastures. 
“multitude of men’’,—God can make a remnant into a multitude. 


Ver. 13. ‘“‘the breaker’’,—The Messiah. 
“they’’,—The returning Israelites. 


“through the gate’’,—1i. e., the gate of the foe’s city where they had 
been held captive. 


“their king’’,—The king out of the House of David, the Messiah, the 
“Breaker’’. 


“Jehovah at the head of them’’,—As in the marches in the desert. 
CNtm10.35; Ex; 13:21.) 


263 


MICAH 


CHAPTER FOUR 


1 But in the latter days it shall come 
to pass, that the mountain of Jehovah's 
house shall be established “on the top 
of the mountains, and it shall be exalted 


above the hills; and peoples shall flow 
unto it. 2 And many nations shall go 
and say, Come ye, and let us go up to 
the mountain of Jehovah, and to the 
house of the God of Jacob; and he will 
teach us of his ways, and we will walk 
in his paths. For out of Zion shall go 
forth *the law, and the word of Jehovah 
from Jerusalem; 3 and he will judge 
“between ‘many peoples, and will decide 
concerning strong nations afar off: and 
they shall beat their swords into plow- 
shares, and their spears into pruning- 
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword 
against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more. 4 But they shall sit 
every man under his vine and under his 
fig-tree; and none shall make them 
afraid: for the mouth of Jehovah of 
hosts hath spoken it. 5 For all the 
peoples walk every one in the name of 
his god; and we will walk in the name 
of Jehovah our God for ever and ever. 

6 In that day, saith Jehovah, will I 
assemble that which is lame, and [| will 
gather that which is driven away, and 
that which [| have afflicted; 7 and I will 
make that which was lame a remnant, 

1Or, at the herd 


“Or, instruction 
3Or, aMOnNg 





and that which was cast far off a strong 
nation: and Jehovah will reign over 
them in mount Zion from henceforth 
even for ever. 8 And thou, O tower of 
“the flock, “the hill of the daughter of 
Zion, unto thee shall it come, yea, the 
former dominion shall come, the king- 
dom of the daughter of Jerusalem. 

9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? 
Is there no king in thee, is thy coun- 
sellor perished, that pangs have taken 
hold of thee as of a woman in travail? 
10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, 
O daughter of Zion, like a woman in 
travail; for now shalt thou go forth 
out of the city, and shalt dwell in the 
field, and shalt come even unto Baby- 
lon: there shalt thou be rescued; there 
will Jehovah redeem thee from _ the 
hand of thine enemies. 11 And now 
many nations are assembled against thee, 
that say, Let her be defiled, and let our 
eye ‘see our desire upon Zion. 12 But 
they know not the thoughts of Jehovah, 
neither understand they his counsel; for 
he hath gathered them as the sheaves to 
the threshing-floor. 13 Arise and thresh, 
O daughter of Zion: for I will make thy 
horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs 
brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many 
peoples: and I will devote their gain 
unto Jehovah, and their substance unto 
the Lord of the whole 


5Or,.£der. See Gen. 35.21. 
“Heb. Ophel 
‘Or, gaze upon 


4Or, great 


Vers. 1-13. “THE FUTURE KINGDOM AND THE REGATHERING OF ISRAEL. 


Ver. 1. he first three verses of this chapter are almost word for 
Pe ae Isa. 2.2-4. [he majority seem to think that Isaiah quoted trom 
icah. 


“In the latter days’’,—The word “‘latter’’ literally means the “‘hind- 


most’, the “‘farthest’’, whether of space or time—the last of the days, and © 


is translated by Alexander and others, ‘‘in the end of the days’. ‘The 
phrase according to Jewish interpreters always means the days of the 
Messiah. 

“the mountain of Jehovah's house’’,—Mount Zion in the widest 
sense including Mount Moriah where the Temple stood. 

“‘on the top of the mountains’’,—It is better to retain the literal read- 
ing of the margin, “‘at the head of the mountains’. Alexander translates, 
“high among’. It means raised and fixed above the other mountains so 
as to be visible in all directions. 

‘exalted’’,—The reference is to a moral exultation and dignity and 
not to physical elevation. 

Kleinert insists that we have here a figurative reference to the Christian 


264 


ae Se 


MICAH 


Church and that the ideal significance of both sentences is proven by the 
parallel third member, the “‘flowing’’ being a spiritual one (verse 3) and 
compatible with the nations ‘‘afar off’’ staying at home. 

Fausset, on the other hand, declares that the restoration from Baby- 
lon is but a type of the restoration of Israel hereafter and that Israel, and 
not merely the Christian Church, is the ultimate subject of the prophecy, 
one of the encouragements for this contention being the unsearchable wis- 
dom of God’s thoughts as set forth in Isa. 55.8 as the ground for this 
restoration, which matter he says is again in mind in verse 12 of this 
puapien ‘The truth is, of course, to be found in both of these views taken 
together. 


Ver. 2. “‘mountain of Jehovah’’,—Mount Zion. 


“the law’’,—The word means literally, ‘instruction’, and the refer- 
ence is not merely to the Jewish law as such but to a rule of life from God. 


Ver. 3. “judge between’’,—This does not mean to “‘rebuke’ (A- 
V.), nor to “‘convince’’ (C. V. Coc.), but to “decide concerning’. It 
means to arbitrate, to decide their differences. ’ 

“beat their swords into plowshares’’,—The more particular reference 
here is to the swords still drawn against God’s kingdom. (Joel 4.10.) 


Ver. 5. “‘all the peoples’’,—All the heathen peoples walk in the 
name of their several gods, but as for the Jews in dispersion they will walk 
in the name of Jehovah forever. 

Their Babylonian captivity cured them of their idolatry, and so it 
seems their present dispersion must cure them of their unbelief. 


Ver. 6. “lame... driven away .. . afflicted’’,—-The suffering chil- 
dren of Israel will then after hard blows and rejection, be graciously gath- 
ered together again. 


Ver. 7. “remnant’’,—They were to be treated as the remnant to 
whom the promise applies and were to be made into a strong nation. 
“Jehovah’’,—The Messiah, of course, is meant although Micah speaks 


of Him as Jehovah. . 
“from henceforth’’,—1i. e., from the time of the fulfillment on. 


Ver. 8. “tower of the flock’’,—That Jerusalem is meant is proven 
by the next clause, “the hill of the daughter of Zion’’, which hill was an 
impregnable height on Mount Zion. ‘The reference is probably to the 
tower of David. In large pastures it was customary to erect wooden towers 
so as to overlook the flocks, and therefore it is a shepherd relation between 
Jehovah and His people that is here mentioned. (F. K. Hen.) 

“the former dominion . . . . the kingdom’’,—The kingdom in its 
former glory. 


Ver. 9. “Is there no king tn thee?’’—This is asked tauntingly,— 
there is a king in Zion but he is powerless to help against the advancing 
foe. 

“counsellor’’,—This is an explanatory synonym for “‘king’’. 

The first question of this verse is addressed to Zion as she sees the 
Assyrian army approaching. 


265 


MICAH 


Ver 10. “now shalt thou go forth out of the city’’,—1. e., upon its 
capture. 

“dwell in the field’’,—Defenseless instead of being in a fortified city. 

“unto Babylon’’,—Micah looks beyond the threatening Assyrian 
power to the captivity under Babylon. 

“there will Jehovah redeem thee’’,— Through Cyrus, the type of the 
coming Messiah. 


Ver. 11.  ‘“‘many nations’’,—Many see here a reference to the oppres- 
sion under Antiochus Epiphanes. ‘This, however, seems to be opposed by 
“now” and by the term “‘nations’’, which can hardly refer to the mercenary 
collections of this king, but may very properly designate the subject peo- 
ples composing Babylon’s army, together perhaps with Edom, Amon, etc., 
who exulted in Judah’s downfall. 


Ver. 13. ‘Arise and thresh’’,—1. e., destroy the foes gathered by 
Jehovah as sheaves. 


CHAPTER FIVE 


1 Now shalt thou gather thyself in 
troops, O daughter of troops: he hath 
laid siege against us; they shall smite 
the judge of Israel with a rod upon 
the cheek. 

2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, 
which art little to be among the ‘thou- 
sands of Judah, out of thee shall one 
come forth unto me that is to be ruler 
in Israel; whose goings forth are from of 
old, “from everlasting. 3 Therefore will 
he give them up, until the time that she 
who travaileth hath brought forth: then 
the residue of his brethren shall return 
‘unto the children of Israel. 4 And he 
shall stand, and shall feed his flock in 
the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty 
of the name of Jehovah his God: and 
they shall abide; for now shall he be 
great unto the ends of the earth. 5 And 
this man shall be our peace. When the 
Assyrian shall come into our land, and 
when he shall tread in our palaces, then 
shall we raise against him seven shep- 
herds, and eight “principal men. 6 And 
they shall waste the land of Assyria 
with the sword, and the land of Nim- 
rod in the entrances thereof: and he 
shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when 
he cometh into our land, and when he 
treadeth within our border. 7 And the 

10r, families. See Judg. 6.15 

20x, from ancient days 


3Or, with 
4Or, princes among men 


remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst 
of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, 
as showers upon the grass, that tarry not 
for man, nor wait for the sons of men. 
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be 
among the nations, in the midst of 
many peoples, as a lion among the 
beasts of the forest, as a young lion 
among the flocks of sheep; who, if he 
go through, treadeth down and teareth 
in pieces, and there is none to deliver. 

9 Let thy hand be lifted up above 
thine adversaries, and let all thine ene- 
mies be cut off. 

10 And it shall come to pass in that 
day, saith Jehovah, that I will cut off 
thy horses out of the midst of thee, and 
will destroy thy chariots: 11 and I will 
cut off the cities of thy land, and will 
throw down all thy strongholds. 12 
And I will cut off witchcrafts out of 
thy hand; and thou shalt have no more 
soothsayers: 13 and I will cut off thy 
graven images and thy ‘pillars out of the 
midst of thee; and thou shalt no more 
worship the work of thy hands; 14 and 
I will pluck up thine Asherim out of 
the midst of thee; and I will destroy 
thy “cities. 15 And I will execute ven- 
geance in anger and wrath upon the 
nations ‘which hearkenth not, 

5Or, obelisks 

6Or, enemies 

7Or, such as they have not heard 


Vers. 1-15. “THE BIRTH OF THE KING, THE DISPERSION OF ISRAEL, AND 
THE KINGDOM AGE. 


_ Lest they fall into carnal security he reminds them of the calamities 
which are to precede the prosperity. 


266 





| 
. 


MICAH 


Ver. 1. “‘daughter of troops’’,—She is so-called because of her 
numerous troops. 

“he’’,—i. e., the enemy, Assyria-Babylon. 

“smite upon the cheek’’,—The greatest of insults. 

“the judge’’—The one who stands at the head. If the king is meant 
he was perhaps not so called because that dignity was reserved for the 
Messiah just to be announced. Hengstenberg says the expression marks a 
time when there was no king. 


Ver. 2. “the thousands of Judah’’,—Each tribe was divided into 
thousands’, each thousand containing a thousand families. 


Ver. 3. “‘them’’,—i. e., Israel, given into the hands of her enemies. 


“she who travaleth’’,—‘‘This’’, says Fausset, “‘cannot be restricted 
wholly to the Virgin Mary (Hen.), for Israel is still given up, though 
the Messiah has been brought forth eighteen and a half centuries ago. 
But the Church’s throes are to be included, which are ofly to be ended when 
Christ shall at last appear as the Deliverer of Jacob, and when the times 
of the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled, and Israel, as a nation, shall be 
born ina day.”’ (Isa. 66.7-11; Lu. 21.24.) Kleinert thinks the people 
of Judah are meant. (See Chap. 4.8.) 

“then the residue of his brethren shall return’’,—The remainder of 
the Israelites dispersed in foreign lands both of Judah and the ten tribes. 
(Paik Kile. Hots Cas.) 

Scofield’s remarks are of interest at this point; he says, ‘‘Micah 5.1,2 
forms a parenthesis in which the ‘word of the Lord’ goes back from the 
time of the great battle of Armageddon (closing part of preceding chapter), 
yet future, to the birth and rejection of the King, Messiah-Christ. This is 
followed by the statement that He will ‘give them up until the time that 
she which travaileth hath brought forth’. There is a twofold travail of 
Israel: (1) that which brings forth the ‘man-child’ (Christ) (Rev. 12. 
1-3); and (2) that which, in the last days brings forth a believing ‘rem- 
nant’ out of the still dispersed and unbelieving nation (ver. 3; Jer. 30. 
6-14; Mic. 4.10). In verse 7 we have the ‘man-child’, the Christ of 
Rev. 12.1-3; in verses 8-24 the remnant established in kingdom blessing. 
The meaning of verse 3 is that from the rejection of Christ at His first 
coming Jehovah will give Israel up till the believing remnant appears; then 
He stands and feeds in His proper strength as Jehovah; He is the defense 
of His people, and afterward the remnant go as missionaries to Israel and 
to all the world.” 

Ver. 4. “‘he’’»,—The Messiah. 

“they’’,—Both the returning remnant and the Israelites previously 
delivered. 

“great unto the ends of the earth’’,—His kingdom becomes a univer- 
sal kingdom of great power. 


Ver. 5. “‘this man’’,—i. e., the one just mentioned. 

“the Assyrian’’,—Whatever Assyrian it may be, i. e., Assyria as the 
representative of all the foes of Israel in all ages. 

“seven shepherds and eight principal men’’,—An idiom for a full and 
sufficient number. 


267 


MICAH 





Ver. 6. “land of Nimrod’’,—i. e., Babylon. z 
“‘he’’,—This in both instances in this verse means the Messiah. 
Ver. 7. “‘as dew’’,—1i. e., quickening them by a blessed influence as 
dew does the grass. 
Ver. 8. “as a lion’’,—i. e., striking terror by her power into all ; 
opponents. | 
Ver. 9. “Let thy hand be lifted up’’,—1.e., that through it and by : 


it God may smite. 
Vers. 10,11. 
depend upon these because war will be no longer. 
“T will cut off witchcrafts’’,—1. e., the witchcraft which thou now 


useth. 

Ver. 13. The reference here is to stone and molten images and 
statues for idolatry. 

Ver. 14. “Ashertm’’,—i. e., ““groves’’,—the idolatrous symbol of 
Astarte. 


CHAPTER SEVEN 


“thy cities’’,—The cities where were the seats of false worship or near 
which the ‘‘groves’’ existed. 


“horses . . . . stcongholds’’,—Israel will no longer 


1 Woe is me! for I am as when they 
have gathered the summer fruits, as the 
grape gleanings of the vintage: there is 
no cluster to eat; ‘my soul desireth the 
first-ripe fig. 

2 The godly man is perished out of 
the earth, and there is none upright 
among men: they all lie in wait for 
blood; they hunt every man his brother 
with a net. 

3 °Their hands are upon that which 
is evil to do it diligently; the prince 
asketh, and the judge is ready for a re- 
ward; and the great man, he uttereth 
the evil desire of his soul; thus they 
weave it together. 4 The best of them 
is as a brier; *the most upright is worse 
than a thorn hedge: the day of thy 
watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; 
now shall be their perplexity. 5 Trust 
ye not in a neighbor; put ye not con- 
fidence in a “friend; keep the doors of 
thy mouth from her that lieth in thy 
bosom. 6 For the son dishonoreth the 
father, the daughter riseth up against 
her mother, the daughter-in-law against 
her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are 
the men of his own house. 


1Or, nor first-ripe fig which my soul desired 
*Or, Both hands are put forth for evil to do 
at, Ge. 

3 8Or, the straightest is as it were taken from 


res 
4Or, confidant 


7 But as for me, “I will look unto 
Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my 
salvation: my God will hear me. 8 Re- 
joice not against me, O mine enemy: 
when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in 
darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto 
me. 9 [ will bear the indignation of 
Jehovah, because I have sinned against 
him, until he plead my cause, and ex- 
ecute judgment for me: he will bring 
me forth to the light, and I shall behold 
his righteousness. 10 Then mine enemy 
shall see it, and shame shall cover her 
who said unto me, Where is Jehovah 
thy God? Mine eyes shall see my desire 
upon her; now shall she be trodden 
down as the mire of the streets. 11 
"A day for building thy walls! in that 
day shall the ‘decree be far removed. 12 
In that day shall they come unto thee 
from Assyria and the cities of “Egypt, 
and from ‘Egypt even to the River, and 
from sea to sea, and from mountain to 
mountain. 13 Yet shall the land be 
desolate because of them that dwell 
therein, for the fruit of their doings. 

14 *Feed thy people with thy rod, 
the flock of thy heritage, which dwell 


5Or, ix Jehovah will I keep watch 

®Or, /x the day that thy walls are to be 
built i 

1Or, boundary 

SHeb. Mazor 


Or, Rule 





MICAH 


solitarily, in the forest in the midst of fear unto Jehovah our God, and shall 
Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and be afraid because of thee. 

Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 As Peta an ae) suck neauaco unces, Cita 
; ; ) j pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the 
in the days of thy coming forth out of transgression of the remnant of his heri- 
the land of Egypt will I show unto tage? he retaineth not his anger for 
them marvellous things. 16 The na- ever, because he delighteth in loving- 


kindness. 19 He will again have com- 
passion upon us; he will “tread our 
iniquities under foot; and thou wilt 


tions shall see and be ashamed of all 
their might; they shall lay their hand 


upon their mouth; their ears shall be cast all their sins into the depths of the 
deaf. 17 They shall lick the dust like sea. 20 “Thou wilt “perform the truth 
a serpent; like crawling things of the to Jacob, and the lovingkindness to Ab- 
earth they shall come trembling out of raham, which thou hast sworn unto our 
their close places; they shall come with fathers from the days of old. 


Or, subdue our iniquities 
NOr, Thou wilt show thy faithfulness &c. 
“Heb. give 


Vers. 1-20. “THE VOICE OF THE REMNANT IN THE LAST DAYS. 


Personified Israel is here speaking through the prophet. In other 
words Micah speaks as the organ of the true Israel. 


Ver. 4. “the day of thy watchman’’,—i. e., the day foretold by 
thy true prophets, the day of their visitation, the day of the Lord. 


“their’’,—i. e., those to whom reference has just been made. 
“now’’,—i. e., in the day of their perplexity. 


Ver. 7. “I will look unto Jehovah’’,—‘‘She did so under Baby- 
lonian captivity’’, says Alford, ‘‘and she shall do so again hereafter when 
the Spirit of grace shall be poured upon her.’’ (Zech. 12.6.) 


Ver. 8. “rejoice not against me’’,—Israel addresses her triumphant 
foe. This foe is a type of her last and worst enemy. (Ps. 137.7,8.) 


Ver. 9. “execute judgment for me’’,—i. e., against my enemies. 
“bring me forth to the light’’,—i. e., out of the darkness of captivity. 
“his tighteousness’’,—His gracious faithfulness to His promises. 


Ver. 11. The anticipation of the exile goes forward and from the 


oe of the threatenings the prophet expects the restoration of Jerusa- 
em. 


_ “a day for building thy walls’’,—1i. e., by Cyrus. Fausset says, “‘And 

Tye Vale ok when the Jews shall be restored’. (Amos 9.11; Zech. 

“tn that day shall the decree be far removed’’,—It is impossible to 
discover the exact meaning of this phrase. The word ‘‘decree’’ may also 
mean “‘law”’ or ‘boundary’. Among the explanations are the following: 
The tyrannical decree or rule of Babylon. (F. Hen.) 
The decree of God for her captivity. (Henry.) 
The law in its widest and most general sense and the reference is 
to its abolition in New Testament times. (Kle.) 
The boundary of the city shall be extended, i. e., so as to contain 
the people flocking into it from all nations. (Ma.) 
The boundary of the land shall be far extended, her territory 
increased. (Cas.) 


UI 4b WNre 


269 


ZEPHANIAH 


6. The boundary between Israel and the nations shall be removed, 
and so shall Israel’s exclusiveness be removed. (K.) 


Views 1 and 2 taken together furnish perhaps the best explanation. 


Ver. 12. “unto thee’’,—1. e., the restored Zion. 

“they’’,—i. e., the heathen peoples. 

“from Assyria’ ,—i. e., first of all from the nation that had been her 
scourge. 

“the River’’,—i. e., Euphrates. 

“from sea... from mountatn’’,—Perhaps from the Mediterranean 
on the west to the Persian sea on the east, and from Mount Zion on the 
south to Mount Lebanon on the north. 


Ver. 13. “They must not forget the visitation of calamity upon their 
land which must intervene. 

Ver. 14. Here personified Israel speaks again. 

“dwell solitarily’’,—i. e., in the midst of captivity. 

Ver. 15. Jehovah answers the prayer. 

“them’’,—i. e., Israel. 

Ver. 16. Here Micah speaks. 

“lay their hand upon their mouth” — Their speech shall be taken 

away by reason of astonishment. 

“Their ears shall be deaf’’,—They shall close their ears, “‘so as not 


to be compelled to hear of Israel’s successes’, (F.), “‘before the thunder 
of Jehovah’s mighty deeds’. (Hit. Kle.) 


Ver. 17. “‘close places’’,—1i. e., hiding’ places. 
““thee’’,—Maurer refers this to Jehovah, but it is better with Fausset . 
and others to refer it to Israel. 


Ver. 18. Personified Israel speaks again. 
“remnant’’,—The elect remnant of grace. 


Ver. 19. The “‘us’’ and the “our’’ refer to Israel in the first person, 
and the “‘their’’ refers to the same in the third person. 


THE BOOK OF 


ZEPHANIAH 


(B. C. 630—B. C. 611) 


CHAPTER ONE 


7 Hold thy peace at the presence of 14 The great day of Jehovah is near, 
the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jeho- it is near and hasteth greatly, even the 
vah is at hand; for Jehovah hath pre- voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty 
pared a sacrifice, he hath consecrated his man crieth there bitterly. 
guests. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day 


270 





ZEPHANIAH 


of trouble and distress, a day of waste- 
ness and desolation, a day of darkness 
and gloominess, a day of clouds and 


thick darkness, 16 a day of the trum- 
pet and alarm, against the fortified cities, 
and against the high *battlements, 

AO i corner towers 


Vers. 7,14-16. JEHOVAH’s DAY OF WRATH COMING UPON JUDAH. 


Ver. 7. “Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice’’,—The reference is to a 
slaughter of the guilty Jews, the Chaldeans being the guests. 

The day of Jehovah is called, in verse 8, “the day of Jehovah's sactt- 
fice’, and in verse 14 this day is described. 


Ver. 14. ““The great day of Jehovah ts near’’,—The day is always 
looked upon as near at hand. ‘The reference is here of course to the judg- 
ment upon Judah through the Chaldeans. 

“even the voice of the day of Jehovah’’,—As if Jehovah ushered in 
that day with a roar of vengeance. The word “‘voice’’ may as properly 
be taken as an interjection, “Hark, the day of Jehovah’’. 

“the mighty man crieth bitterly’’,—Because he cannot save himself 
from the power of the foe. 


Ver. 15. Of this verse Keil says, ‘““All the words supplied by the 
language are crowded together to describe the terrors of the judgment’. 
This Day of Jehovah is to be accompanied by terrible signs of destruction 
on earth and by troublous agitation of the elements. 


Ver. 16. “trumpet’’,—The war-signal of the besieging army. 
“the high battlements’’,—The corner towers or embattlements behind 
which the wicked people vainly imagine themselves to be secure. 





CHARLTER..[CWO 


1 Gather yourselves together, yea, 
gather together, O nation that hath no 
*shame; 2 before the decree bring forth, 
“before the day pass as the chaff, before 
the fierce anger of Jehovah come upon 
you, before the day of Jehovah’s anger 
come upon you. 3 Seek ye Jehovah, all 
ye meek of the earth, that have kept 


his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek 
meekness: it may be ye will be hid in 
the day of Jehovah’s anger. 

6 And the sea-coast shall be pastures, 

10r, longing 

*Or, (the day passeth as the chaff) 


with *cottages for shepherds and folds 
for flocks. 

7 And the coast shall be for the rem- 
nant of the house of Judah; they shall 
feed their flocks thereupon; in the houses 
of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the 
evening; for Jehovah, their God, will 
visit them and “bring back their captiv- 


y. 

11 Jehovah will be terrible unto 
them; for he will famish all the gods 
of the earth; and men shall worship 
him, everyone from his place, even all 
the “isles of the nations. 


8Or, caves 
4Or, return to 
5Or, coast-lands 


Vers. 1-3,6,7,11. D.RKEPENTANCE COMMANDED AND RESTORATION 
PROMISED. 
Ver. 1. “hath no shame’’,—i. e., the insolent and audacious nation. 


It is literally, ‘‘doth not grow pale’. “The word may be translated ‘“‘long- 
ing’, and thus mean there is no longing on the part of the nation to return 


to God. The address is to Judah. 
Ver. 3. “it may be you will be hid tn the day of Jehovah's anger’, 


271 


ZEPHANIAH 


—This does not express doubt as to the fact of their deliverance, but the 
difficulty of it. 


Ver. 6. Philistia, instead of a land of thick population, shall become 
a pasture land. 


“cottages’’,—The reference is doubtless to caves or dug-outs to pro- 
tect the shepherds from the sun. 


Ver. 7. “for the remnant of the house of Judah’’,—Judah after her 
judgment, upon her return from exile, is to inherit this pasture land for 


her flocks. 
“Jehovah will visit them’’,—1. e., in mercy. 


Ver. 1I. “‘worship him everyone from his own place’’,—Some read 
into the word ‘“‘from’’ the sense of ‘“‘going up to Jerusalem’’, and so make 
this the same idea as that in Micah 4.1 and Zech. 14.6, where the idea of 
going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for worship is set forth. (K. Kle. Hit.) 
But we see no reason for taking this other than it reads, and so we refer 
it to worshipping God everywhere, each one in his own home land. (F. 


Ma. Wo.) 


CHAPTER THREE 


8 Therefore wait ye for me, saith 
Jehovah, until the day that I rise up 
to the prey; for my “determination is to 
gather the nations, that I may assemble 


the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine 
indignation, even all my fierce anger; 
for all the earth shall be devoured with 
the fire of my jealousy. 

9 For then will I turn to the peoples 
a pure “language, that they may all call 
upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him 
with one ‘consent. 10 From beyond the 
rivers of Ethiopia *my suppliants, even 
the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring 
mine offering. 11 In that day shalt 
thou not be put to shame for all thy 
doings, wherein thou hast transgressed 
against me; for then I will take away 
out of the midst of thee *thy proudly 
exulting ones, and thou shalt no more 
be haughty in my holy mountain. 12 
But I will leave in the midst of thee an 
afflicted and poor temple, and they shall 
take refuge in the name of Jehovah. 13 
The remnant of Israel shall not do in- 
iquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a 
deceitful tongue be found in their 
mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, 
and none shall make them afraid. 


Heb. judgment 

*Heb. lip 

®Heb. shoulder 

4Or, shall they bring my suppliants, even the 
daughter of my dispersed, for an offering unto 
me 
‘Or, them that exult in thy majesty 


14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, 
O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the 
heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15 
Jehovah hath taken away thy judg- 
ments, he hath cast out thine enemy: 
the King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in 


the midst of thee; thou shalt not “fear. 
evil any more. 16 In that day it shall 


be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; 
‘O Zion, let not thy hands be slack. 17 
Jehovah thy God is in the midst of 
thee, a mighty one who will save; he 
will rejoice over thee with joy; he will 
‘rest in his love; he will joy over thee 
with singing. 18 °I will gather them 
that sorrow for the solemn assembly, 
who were of thee; to whom the burden 
upon “her was a reproach. 19 Behold, 
at that time I will deal with all them 
that afflict thee; and I will save that 
which is lame, and gather that which 
was driven away; and I will make them 
a praise and a name, whose shame hath 
been in all the earth. 20 At that time 
will I bring you in, and at that time 
will I gather you; for I will make you a 
name and a praise among all the peo- 
ples of the earth, when I “bring back 
your captivity before your eyes, saith 
Jehovah. 


®Another reading is see 

7Or, and to Zion 

5Heb. be silent 

Or, They have been sorrowful for the solemn 
assembly which I took away from thee, for the 
lifting up of reproach against her~ 

MAccording to another reading, thee 

UOr, return to 





ZEPHANIAH 


Vers. 8-20. JERUSALEM DENOUNCED BUT HER JOYFUL RE-ESTAB- 
. LISHMENT PROMISED. 


Ver. 8. This verse is addressed not to the ungodly (C. Ma.), but 
to the Pious Jews. 

“tise up to the prey’’,—i. e., like a savage beast rising from his lair 
greedy for his prey. (Matt. 24.28.) 

“gather the nations’ ,—i. e., against Jerusalem, to pour out his indig- 
nation upon them there (F. Kle. yy and not in the sense that those among 
them desirous of salvation shall fall a prey to Jehovah. (See Joel 3.2: 
Wer 22-and 14. 2;) 

It is, says Kleinert, “‘the last act of the judgment, as it is a fixed 
element of the prophetic eschatology, the final gathering of the heathen 
nations before Jerusalem in order to be destroyed in the decisive struggle’. 


(Micah 4.12.) 


Ver.9. ‘“‘For then’’,—i. e., after the punishment and as a result of it. 
““peoples’’,—The peoples which have hitherto with unclean lips 
called upon their idols. 
“a pure language’ Demeter ioe ‘a pure lip’. 


Ver. 10. “Ethtopia’,—The southern extremity of the then known 
world, and here made the representatives of all Israel which shall be restored. 

“my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed’’,—The reference 
is of course to Israel. This rendering, which makes the words nominative 
and which is preferable, is supported by the context and also by Isa. 18.7. 
(Lut. Hit. Mar. Kle. Vul.) 

Others prefer the marginal reading. GKicebs D. Wo. Hen. Stra.) 
This puts the words “‘suppliants‘’ and “‘daughter’’ in the objective case, 
and thus represents the heathen as converting the Israelites dispersed among 
them and as bringing them to God as an offering; but this is no doubt intro- 
duced from the reference in Isa. 66.20. 


Ver. 11. “‘thou’’,—i. e., Israel. 

“shalt not be put to shame’ ’,—Because their transgressions will have 
been removed. 

“proudly exulting ones’’,—It is pride that brings shame, and there 
chad been those who boasted of their temple and their election as God’s 
People, etc. 

“no more be haughty’’,—The converted remnant shall be of humble 
spirit. 

Ver. 12. The blessed effect of sanctified affliction on the Jewish 


remnant. 


Ver. 14. The prophet in mental vision sees the joyful day of Zion 
and bids her rejoice at it. 


Ver. 15. “thy judgments’’,—When sin is renounced .(verse 13) 
judgments are removed. ‘The judgments are those threatened in verses 
DAN ays 


273 


HAGGAI GY 
Ver. 17. “‘rest in his love’’,—-The Hebrew word for “‘rest’’ is ‘‘be 


silent’ and the reference is no doubt to the calm, quiet joy which He has in 
the possession of the object of His love. 


Ver. 18. “‘will gather’’,—1i. e., from the dispersion. 


“them that sorrow for the solemn assembly’’,—i. 
assembly which they could not celebrate in captivity. 


“were of thee’’,—1i. e., of Israel, of thy origin and thy descent. 


“to whom’’,—i. e., to Israel. The meaning of the text as rendered 
is, “To whom (Israel) the burden (of Israel’s captivity) upon her (Israel) 
was a reproach’’. ‘This rendering follows the Hebrew more closely than 
does that of the Authorized Version, although either is allowable and 
makes practically the same sense, the reference in either case being to Israel 
in dispersion and longing for the solemn assembly. 


Ver. 20. “bring you in’’,—In the sense of Deut. 33.3,5. 


“captivity’’,—This word is plural in the Hebrew and is so used to 
express perhaps all their captivities and the different places from which they 
will be caused to return. 


“before your eyes’’,—Your own eyes shall see it, incredible as it 
may seem. 


e., the solemn 


THE BOOK OF 


HAGGAI 


(B. C. 520) 


CHAPTER TWO 


6 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 
Yet once, it is a little while, and I will 
shake the heavens, and the earth, and 
the sea, and the dry land; 7 and I will 


shake all nations; and ‘the precious 
things of all nations shall come; and I 


will fill this house with glory, saith 
Jehovah of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, 
and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of 
hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house 
shall be greater than the former, saith 
Jehovah of hosts; and in this place 
will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts. 


1Or, the things desired (Heb. desire) of all 
nations shall come 


Vers. 6-9. “THE GLORY OF THE FUTURE TEMPLE. 


Ver. 6. The prophet calls upon the old men to witness to the 
insignificance of the present temple in comparison with the magnificence 
of the temple in the days of Solomon, and then he utters a prophecy con- 
cerning a temple which shall be built the glory of which shall be greater 
even than that of Solomon’s. 


“Yet once, it is a little while’’,—There are several translations of this 
phrase, all of which amount to practically the same thing, namely, that it 
would be only a little while until, etc. 

1. ‘“‘One period more, a brief one it is’’,—There will be one period 

more, and a brief one, between the then present and the predicted 


274 


HAGGAI 


great change of the world. (Hit. Hof. Del.) This is perhaps 
overworking the passage a bit. 


2. “It is yet a little while’’,—The Hebrew for “‘once’’ is by this 
view considered an indefinite article or numeral adjective. (F.C. 
Ew. Um. Ru. Hen. Moo. Gro. Lut. Tar.) This view is quite 
acceptable, as the one or two grammatical objections which have 
been urged against it are not at all weighty. 


3. “Once more (i. e., yet once), it is a little while’’,—This is perhaps 
the least objectionable grammatically and is therefore to be pre- 


ferred. (K. Kle. Coc. Mar. Koe. Pre. Sep.) 


“and I will shake the heavens’, etc.,—The principal reference here is 
perhaps a figurative one. God’s judgments are often represented under 
images drawn from the phenomena of nature. (Psa. 62; Psa. 18.7-15; 
Isa. 13.13; 64.1-3.) The thought then of this expression is that of vio- 
lent political convulsions and judgments on His foes. Physical prodigies 
are not necessarily to be excluded. (Matt. 24.7,29.) 


Ver. 7. “I will shake all natigns’’,—i. e., I will judge among the 
nations (Psa. 110.6), shake them down until they shall lose hostility to 
Him. Fausset calls attention to the fact that Paul condenses together the 
two verses of Haggai, both 6 and 7 as well as 21 and 22, implying thereby 
that it was one and the same shaking of which the former verses of Haggai 
denote the beginning and the latter the end; and Fausset says, ‘““The shak- 
ing began introductory to the first advent; it will be finished at the second. 
Concernin® the former compare Matt. 3.17; 27.51; 28.2: Acts 2.2 and 
4.31; concerning the latter compare Matt. 24.7; Rev. 16.20; 18.20 and 
ea ee 


Sir Isaac Newton says here, “There ts scarcely a prophecy of the 
Messiah tn the Old Testament which does not to some extent at least refer 
to His second coming.” 


“the precious things of all nations shall come’’,—The Authorized 
Version reads, ‘“The Desire of all nations shall come’’, and the usual idea is 
that this refers to the Messiah. 


This rendering has always been a favorite one. It is the rendering 
of the Vulgate, of all the Reformers excepting Calvin, of the older orthodox 
commentators, quite generally of the English expositors, and has more 
recently been adopted by Fausset. So confidently has this opinion been 
held that Ribera suspected the later Jews of having changed the verb to the 
plural so that 1t could not refer to the Messiah, after they had found that 
He had not, as they maintain, come to the temple and that it had been 
destroyed by Titus in A. D. 70. Of course this is not to be taken 
seriously. It is quite natural, as McCurdy says, that the Christian Church, 
in whose hymns and prayers this interpretation is still daily heard, should 
be loathe to give up a prediction which seemed to embody such a great 
and inspiring truth. But such an interpretation cannot as we will now 
see, stand the test of correct criticism. 


The rendering of our text, “‘the precious things’, or ‘‘the desirable 
things’’, is favored by the following considerations: 

1. The Hebrew word means the quality of a thing rather than the 
thing itself, i. e., desirableness, beauty, etc. 


275 


HAGGAI 


2. The Messiah can hardly be said to be the desire of all nations. He 
was “‘a root out of a dry ground”, having “‘no beauty that we 
should desire Him’’. (Isa. 53.2.) 


3. If my “‘all nations’ the Gentiles only are meant, what encourage- 
ment would it have been to the Jews to build the temple, which 
is the matter in mind, to tell them that One was coming who was 
the desire of all the Gentiles, i. e., “‘all nations’’? 


4. The person of the Messiah does not well connect with the expres- 
sion, “silver and gold’ of verse 8, which is introduced as con- 
firmatory of this verse 7. 

5. The verb “shall come’ is plural and cannot therefore have a 
singular subject. This is the strongest objection to the Author- 
ized rendering and it is impossible to evade the force of it. 


Fausset prefers the old rendering, and answers the above objections 
to it after the following manner: 


1. To the first objection he says the abstract is often put for the con- 
crete. A ‘‘man of desires’’ is one desired or one who is desirable. 


(Dan. 9.23; 10.3,11.) 


2. To the second objection he replies that if the Messiah was not 
desired, and it is not implied that the nations definitely desired 
Him, yet He was the only one to satisfy the yearning desires which 
all unconsciously felt for a Saviour, shown in their painful rites 
and bloody sacrifices. Moreover, while the Jews as a nation 
desired Him not (to which people [sal Dove refers), the Gentiles, 
who are plainly pointed out by “‘all nations’’, accepted Him; and 
so to them He was peculiarly desirable. 


4. As to the fourth objection, he thinks that verse 8 harmonizes 
quite as well with the Authorized Version of verse 7; in the former 
of which verses Jehovah says that the silver and gold are His and 
consequently He could so adorn this temple if He chose, but He 
says He will adorn it with a glory far more precious, i. e., with the 
presence of His divine Son, in His veiled glory first, and at His 
second coming with His revealed glory. “Then shall the nations 


bring offerings of those precious metals which ye now miss so 
much, (Isa. 2.3; 60.3,6,7; Ezek. 43.2,4,5; 44.4.) 


5. To the fifth objection he replies that when a plural noun depends 
upon and follows a singular one, the verb in Hebrew may agree 
with the plural noun, being nearest to it. But this can be true 
only when the predicate may naturally be referred to the governed 
word as containing the controlling idea of the sentence. But this 
is not the case here; it is not the nations who are to come, but 
the desire, or as we prefer to translate, the desirable things, in 
which latter case there is no difficulty in explaining the plural verb. 


It is quite evident from the above discussion that the rendering of our 
text is by far to be preferred, the more especially so since it is grammatically 
unassailable. “The “‘destrable things’ therefore refer to the precious things, 
i. e., gold, gifts, etc. Most of the later commentators have adopted this 
view. (K.C. Gr. Ma. Co. Ew. No. Ne. Cl. It. Hen. Hof. Koe. Sep. Syr. 
Ros. Moo. Kle. McC. Kim. Mor. Sco. Dru.) 


276 


OO 


HAGGAI 


It will not, however, do to think, with Henderson, of the things 
desired by the nations, realized in the blessings of the Messiah’s reign. 
This explanation is not only irrelevant to the discourse as a whole, but it 
must be discarded as well because of the want of connection with the con- 
text. Some few authorities (Um. Ru. Hit. Fue.) take the word collec- 
tively and make the passage mean, ‘‘the most desirable among the Gentiles 
shall come’. ‘This is allowable so far as the Hebrew is concerned, but 
here also the connection with verse 8 fails us. 


Cocceius resolves the difficulty presented to the rendering of the 
Authorized Version by the plural verb by translating as follows: ‘‘I will 
shake all nations, that they may come to the desire of all nations.’ This 
is more admissible grammatically than Fausset’s explanation of the plural 
verb, but the third consideration in favor of our text, as given above, is 
decisive also against this rendering. 


“and I will fill this house with glory’’,— 

According to the Authorized Version this would mean the glory of 
Christ, who Himself was to enter into this house. [he outward adorn- 
ment of the temple is by this view lost sight of entirely. As Fausset says, 
“The first temple was filled with the cloud of glory, the symbol of God; 
this temple was to be filled with the glory of God veiled in the flesh (John 
1.14) at Christ’s first coming when He entered into it, i. e., into Herod’s 
temple, performed miracles there and taught in it. (Christ ‘sat daily 
teaching in the temple’); but that glory is to be revealed at His second 
coming, as this prophecy in its ulterior reference foretells (Mal. 3.1).” 

According, however, to our rendering the primary reference must be 
to the outward and inward glory of the silver and gold adornments, in 
keeping with the clause just preceding. 


Ver. 8. “The silver ts mine, and the gold ts mine’’,— 


According to our text this merely means that there will be plenty of it 
to outshine the glory of the first temple. 


According to the Authorized rendering the thought of this and the 
following verse would be, “‘Fear not; the Messiah is coming and I will 
fill this latter house with His glory. ‘The silver and the gold are mine 
and I could make this house outshine the first with the glory of such things, 
but I will see to it that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than 
that of the first one because it will be filled with the glory of Christ.”’ 


Ver. 9. “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the 
former’’,—The view of the old rendering has just been given, but in keep- 
ing with our text, if we regard the immediate context the interpretation 
becomes self-evident. [he display of gold and silver in the first temple 
was mournfully remembered by the people in their poverty, but the out- 
ward adornments of those other days would be more than surpassed, as 
Calvin says, ‘‘when the nations would come, bringing with them all their 
a that they might offer themselves and all their possessions a sacrifice 
to God.” 

What now as to the fulfillment of this remarkable prediction? Ac- 
cording to the older view, that of the Authorized Version, this question 
has already been answered by the remarks of Fausset, whether we think 
of the typical fulfillment of Herod’s time or of the ultimate reference of 
the prophecy to the time of Christ’s second coming. 


277 


HAGGAI 


Scofield adopts this view but refers the entire passage to the end-time 
and says, with certain other commentators, following the interpretation of 
Abarbanel and other Jewish expositors, that “‘thits latter house’ can only 
refer to the temple yet to be built as predicted in Ezek. 43. ‘The expres- 
sion, “J will shake all nations’, he says refers to the great tribulation 
and is followed by the coming of Christ in glory. There is no great 
force in McCurdy’s objection to this on the ground of the prophet’s 
announcement of a speedy fulfillment. The student must of course make 
his decision here consistent with his interpretation of the remarkable pas- 
sage in Ezekiel just referred to. 


According to the rendering of our text it is quite certain that there 
has as yet been no literal fulfillment of this prediction. The gifts to be 
brought are most certainly those which are to be prompted by the spirit 
of reverence and piety and godly fear. “This was not the case with the 
adornments of the temple of Herod’s time. Herod, it is true, was a for- 
eigner, but his labors for the temple were prompted by worldly policy and 
were utterly out of harmony with the spirit of this prediction. Even so 
the adornments of this temple did not outshine those of Solomon's. It 
is doubtful therefore whether this temple has any right to consideration at 
all in connection with this prophecy (C. Hen. McC.), for thus in either 
case the prophecy will have been a failure. Of course there were some few 
proselytes from heathenism to Judaism in the days of the temple of Herod, 
and the offering of themselves with their gifts may be taken as but the 
merest fraction of a literal fulfillment of the promise in these verses when, 
according to representation elsewhere the nations of the world with their 
possessions shall flow unto Jerusalem. We must therefore either, (1) look 
for the literal fulfillment in times still future according to the premillen- 
narian teaching of the kingdom which is to follow the second coming of 
Christ, or (2) seek a spiritual interpretation of the prophecy, because the 
prediction is given as a revelation from God and its fulfillment is certain, 
and the decision must rest of course with one’s view of the entire teaching 
of prophetic Scripture along these lines. 


According to the spiritual interpretation the temple must be merged 
into the Church of Christ or the kingdom of the present dispensation, and 
the coming of the early converted Gentiles, offering themselves and their 
gifts, was but a pledge of the higher and more glorious fulfillment which 
is still to come as more and more the world is gathered into the fold of the 
kingdom of Christ, the inward glory of the New Testament dispensation 
far exceeding the outward glory of the dispensation of the Old. 


“in this place will I give peace’’,— 


Says McCurdy, following the school of spiritual interpretation, “‘It 
is the presence of Jehovah that sheds glory upon the Church, His temple 
and dwelling place, that imparts inward peace and joy and outward peace 
and prosperity to its members in ever increasing measure.”’ 


Fausset, of the older school, says, “ ‘in this place will I give peace’, 
viz., at Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom of God, whose seat was 
the temple; where Messiah made peace through the blood of the cross. 
Thus the glory consists in this peace, inward peace and outward, between 
man and God and between man and man.” 


278 


HAGGATI 


20 And the word of Jehovah came 
the second time unto Haggai in the four 
and twentieth day of the month, saying, 
21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of 
Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens 
and the earth; 22 and I will overthrow 
the throne of kingdoms; and [ will de- 


chariots, and those that ride in them; 
and the horses and their riders shall 
come down, every one by the sword of 
his brother. 23 In that day, saith Jeho- 
vah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerub- 
babel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, 
saith Jehovah, and will make thee as a 


stroy the strength of the kingdoms of 
the nations; and [ will overthrow the 


Vers. 20-23. 


Ver. 21. “I will shake the heavens and the earth’’,—(See verses 
6,7.) Zerubbabel may have asked concerning these convulsions, the Jews 


possibly believing they would lead to the overthrow of their own national 
existence. 


Ver. 22. “‘the throne of the kingdoms’’,—i. e., their governments. 
All other kingdoms, says Fausset, are to be overthrown to make way for 
Christ’s universal kingdom. (Dan. 2.44.) 


“by the sword of his brother’’,—The heathen nations are doubtless 
to be stirred up against each other and thus the wars will be mutually 
destructive. 


Ver. 23. “In that day’’,—1i. e., the period, however long, during 
which the political convulsions and overthrow of the nations are com- 
menced and completed. 


“T will make thee as a signet’’,—i. e., a ring with a seal on it, thus 
making Zerubbabel, as the representative of his people, the signet ring of 
Jehovah. ‘The signet being worn on the finger it was the object of con- 
stant regard, in all which points of view, says Fausset, “‘the theocratic 
people. and their representative Zerubbabel the type, and Messiah his des- 
cendent the Antitype, are regarded by God.”’ 


During the commotions God would take care of Zerubbabel. He 
would be building the temple and convulsions would be taking place all 
around him, but God promises to preserve him. Of course Zerubbabel fitly 
represents all the rulers of the Jews during the period within the range of 
the prophecy and the promise extends to all the faithful rulers who were to 
follow him, and thus the prophecy becomes indirectly and typically Mes- 
sianic, the Messiah and His kingdom being prefigured in Zerubbabel and 
his kingdom. (F. He..Kle. McC. Moo.) ‘Thus Fausset says, ‘‘Messiah 
is the antitypical Zerubbabel. He is the signet ring on God’s finger and 
with Him God makes the covenant in which the Israelites are included. 
He is the Representative and King. In Him, in Whom God hath chosen 
the people as His own, they are assured of safety.”’ 


Others say the prophecy is directly Messianic and that by Zerubbabel 
the Messiah is meant. We are inclined to the indirect or typically Mes- 
sianic interpretation. There is, of course, no doubt that the prophecy of 
verses 6 and 7 are directly Messianic. “Those who spiritualize the prophecy 
of verses 6 and 7 take the shakings mentioned in two entirely different 
ways. Says McCurdy, ‘The shaking of the heaven and the earth illustrates 
in both cases the violent commotions among the Gentiles through the divine 
power, but the result in the former was to be their ultimate conversion, 
in the other their destruction. The allusion in the former must be to all 


219 


signet; for I have chosen thee, saith 
Jehovah of hosts. 


THE FUTURE DESTRUCTION OF GENTILE POWER. 


ZECHARIAH 


movements in the history of humanity either before or since the coming 
of Christ which have disposed men to own Christ as their Lord and Sav- 
iour, those which changed the aspect of the civilized world and adjusted 
the nations for the ready reception and rapid spread of the Gospel, the 
conquests of Alexander and the wars of his successors, then the progress 
of Roman supremacy, and all subsequent events in the world’s history, 
political, social or moral, which have subserved the growth and glory of 
the Church of Christ. The view, therefore, of Keil and Hengstenberg is 
beside the mark, who suppose that the shaking of the nations is intended 
to set forth the punitive judgments of God upon the heathen, as leading 
them to submit themselves to His rule. As a matter of fact it was not 
to any great extent the judgments of God that led the heathen to accept 
the Gospel.”’ 


THE BOOK OF 


ZECHARIAH 


(B. C. 520—B. C. 487) 


The Book of Zechariah is designed to console and encourage God’s 
people still in a condition of weakness and suffering. 


CHAPTER ONE 


7 Upon the four and twentieth day how long wilt thou not have mercy on 
of the eleventh month, which is the Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, 
month of Shebat, in the second year against which thou hast had indignation 
of Darius, came the word of Jehovah these three score and ten years?. 
unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, 13 And Jehovah answered the angel 
the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, that talked with me with good words, 

8 I saw in the night, and, behold, a even comfortable words. 
man riding upon a red horse, and he 14 So the angel that talked with me 
stood among the myrtle-trees that were said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus 
in the *bottom; and behind him there saith Jehovah of hosts; I am jealous for 
were horses, red, sorrel and white. Jerusalem and for Zion with a great 

9 Then said I, O Lord, what are jealousy. 
these? And the angel that talked with 15 And I am very sore displeased 
me said unto me, I will show thee what with the nations that are at ease; for 
these are. I was but a little displeased, and they 

10 And the man that stood among *helped forward the afflliction. 
the myrtle-trees answered and_ said, 16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I 
These are they whom Jehovah hath sent am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; 
to walk to and fro through the earth. my house shall be built in it, saith Jeho- 

11 And they answered the angel of vah of hosts, and a line shall be stretch- 
Jehovah that stood among the se ipa ed forth over Jerusalem. 
trees, and said, We have walked to an 17 Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith 
fro through the earth, and, behold, all Jehovah pe eee Lin “cee shall yet 
the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. overflow with prosperity; and Jehovah 

12 Then the angel of Jehovah an- shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet 
swered and said, O Jehevah of hosts, choose Jerusalem. : 

10r, shady place "Or, helped for evil 


280 


ZECHARIAH 


Vers. 7-17. THE RIDER ON THE RED Horse. ‘THE FIRST OF TEN 
VISIONS IN ONE NIGHT. 


Ver. 8. “‘man’’,—The angel of the Lord, i. e., ‘Christ. (See verse 


“red horse’’,—Representing blood-shed and implying vengeance on 
the foes of Israel. 

The horses next mentioned are red in color, dark red (Ges. Zur.), 
brown (Hen.) bay (Ch. Koe. Moo.), the idea being that of flame colored 
referring to burning and destroying. Next are mentioned “‘sorrel’’ horses 
or ‘‘speckled’”’ (K. Um. Ma. Pe. A-V.), and then “‘white’’ horses, the last 
being perhaps a symbol of victory, although the significance of the color 
is not to be pressed. 


“tn the bottom’’,—The word means deep places, or shady places, and 
is a symbolical designation of the abyss-like power of the world in which 
the Jewish Church stands like a feeble and lowly shrub. 


Ver. 9. “my Lord’’,—Whether this is addressed to the man on 
the red horse of verse 8 or to the angel of interpretation (the angel that 
talked with me) of this verse is a difficult question to decide. Some think 
the “‘man’’ of verse 8, ““my Lord’’ and “‘the angel that talked with me’’ of 
this verse, and the ““man’’ of verse 10 and the “angel of the Lord’’ of 
verse 11 are all one and the same, the prophet having addressed the man 
on the red horse as ““My Lord’, but having perceived, when the reply 
came, that it was but an angel. (Sco.) 


Others because of the expression “‘the angel of Jehovah’’ think the 
man on the red horse to be Christ. The language of verse 9 seems to 
imply a distinction between the party addressed and the one making the 
reply, in case we consider the question put to the man on the red horse. 
The context does not furnish sufficient ground for a positive decision one 
way or the other; neither is it a matter of great importance which view 1s 
peo but on the whole we prefer that which takes the “‘angel of Jehovah’’ 
as Christ. 


Vers. 10,11. The man on the red horse answers, and then in verse 
11 the attendant angels answer the angel of Jehovah. 


“all the earth sitteth still and ts at rest’’,—-The nations at large were 
dwelling in calm and severe repose undisturbed by any foe, a vivid con- 
trast to their own prostrate and suffering condition. This gives occasion 
for the following intercession. 


Ver. 12. “seventy years’’,—The angel of Jehovah intercedes for 
the land against a world at ease. It is not implied here that the seventy 
years were just drawing to a close, but it seemed as if the exile condition 
would never end although they were back in their own land. 


Ver. 16. “‘a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem’’,—A meas- 
uring line for extending the city. The contents of this and the following 
verse were all practically fulfilled under Ezra and Nehemiah. But this was 
only a beginning. Says Chambers, ‘“Zechariah looks down the whole vista 
of the future and utters predictions which do not exhaust themselves in 
any one period.” 


281 


ZECHARIAH 


18 And I lifted up mine eyes, and he answered ‘me, These are the horns 
saw, and behold four horns. which have scattered Judah, Israel and 
19 And I said unto the angel that Jerusalem. 


talked with me, What are these? And 


Vers. 18,19. “THE VISION OF THE FOUR HORNS. 


Ver. 18. “four horns’’,—A horn is the symbol of power and here 
stands for a Genttle foe. The expression “four horns’’ doubtless refers 
to the four cardinal points of the compass. Which ever way Israel had 
looked she had found threatening foes on every side. (C. F. Um. Ma. Ch. 
Hit. The. Koe. ) 


Ver. 19. Jerusalem is mentioned here merely for emphasis, while 
in verse 21 Judah alone is mentioned as including both the two and the 
ten tribes. 


By many the four horns are referred to the four great world-empires 
of Daniel (K. Ba. Wor. Hen. Kim. Jer.) The only objection to this view 
is not that two of the powers were still in the future, because God’s Spirit 
in the prophets regards the future as present, but that the Medo-Persian 
power did not persecute Israel, and also each succeeding world-power 
destroyed its successor while here the four powers are destroyed by four 
other powers. ‘These objections are not necessarily fatal to the view, nor 
need this view be taken to show that the exhaustive fulfillment is yet 
future. 


20 And Jehovah showed me four Judah, so that no man did lift up his 


smiths. head; but these are come to terrify them, 

21 Then said I, What come these to cast down the horns of the nations, 
to do? And he spake, saying, These which lifted up their horn abeinse the 
are the horns which have scattered land of Judah to scatter it. 


Vers. 20, 21. THE VISION OF THE FOUR CARPENTERS. 


Ver. 20. “‘carpenters’’,—The various powers which God raised up 
and employed to overthrow Israel’s foes. 


Ver. 21. “no man lifted up his head’’,—All were in a prostrate 
condition. 


CHAPTERS IW © 


1 And I lifted up mine eyes, and vah, will be unto her a wall of fire 
saw, and, behold, a man with a measur- round about, and [| will be the glory in 
ing line in his hand. 2 Then said I, the midst of her. 

Whither goest thou? And he said unto 6 Ho, ho, flee from the land of the 
me, Io measure Jerusalem, to see what north, saith Jehovah; for I have spread 
is the breadth thereof, and what is the you abroad as the four winds of the» 
length thereof. 3 And, behold, the heavens, saith Jehovah. 7 Ho, Zion, 
angel that talked with me went forth, escape, thou that dwellest with the 
and another angel went out to meet daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus saith 
him, 4 and said unto him, Run, speak Jehovah of hosts: "After glory hath he 
to this young man, saying, Jerusalem sent me unto the nations which plun- 
shall *be inhabited as villages without dered you: for he that toucheth you 
walls, by reason of the multitude of men toucheth the apple of his eye. 9 For, 
and cattle therein. 5 For I, saith Jeho- behold, I will shake my hand over them, 
10Or, dwell *Or, After the glory, he hath &c. 


282 


; ZECHARIAH 


and they shall be a spoil to those that 
served them; and ye shall know that 
Jehovah of hosts hath sent me. 

10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of 


Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell 
in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. 
li And many nations shall join them- 
selves to Jehovah in that day, and shall 


be my people; and I will dwell in the 
midst of thee, and thou shalt know 
that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto 
thee. 12 And Jehovah shall inherit 
Judah as his portion in the holy land, 
and shall yet choose Jerusalem. 13 Be 
silent, all flesh, before Jehovah; for 
he is waked up out of his holy habita- 
tion. 


Vers. 1-13. THE VISION OF THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE. 


‘This chapter is a prophecy of the enlargement and security of the 
Covenant people. 


Ver. 1. “‘man’’,—There is no data for positive opinion as to these 
characters, but there is no reason why this man should not be thought of 
as the same with the one in Chapter I, i. e., Christ, here the author of 
Jerusalem’s coming restoration. : 


“a measuring line’’,—‘'The measuring line’, says Scofield, “‘is used 
by Ezekiel (Ezk. 40.3,5) as a symbol of preparation for rebuilding the 
city and temple in the kingdom-age. Here also it has that meaning, as 
the context (verses 4-14) shows. The subject of the vision is the restor- 


ation of the nation and the city. In no sense has this prophecy been 
fulfilled.”’ 


Ver. 2. “‘to measure Jerusalem’, i. e., its present dimensions with 
a view to its future indefinite enlargement. 


Ver. 3. “‘went forth’’,—i. e., from me, Zechariah. 
another angel’’,—1. e., one sent by the Measuring Angel. 


Ver. 4. “young man’’,—Zechariah, so-called because of his age. 


“without walls’’,—So many shall be its inhabitants that all cannot 
be contained within the walls. 


Ver. 6. Addressed to the Jews still remaining in the “land of the 
north’, 1. e., Babylon, a type of the various Gentile lands where the Jews 
had been scattered. 

“as the four winds’’,—To be thus scattered is a symbol of violence. 
The verse assigns a reason why the return was a possible one, i. e., I who 
scattered you can gather you. 


Ver. 7. “‘Zion’’,—Zion is here put for the inhabitants of Zion. 
“daughter of Babylon’’,—1. e., the people of Babylon personified. 


Ver. 8. “‘after glory hath he sent me’’,—The meaning is, after restor- 
ing the glory of God’s presence in Jerusalem, he (God) hath sent me 
(Christ) to execute judgment on the nations. 


“apple’’,—This refers to the pupil of the eye, the most precious and 
most easily injured which has therefore a double claim to protection. 


Vers. 10-13. These are of course purely Messianic and are by some 
referred to the people of God in this dispensation, while Scofield and others 
of his school vefer them to the “full blessing of the earth in the kingdom- 


a7 


age. 
283 


ZECHARIAH 


Ver. 11. “‘many nations’’,—This was true to some extent upon 
their return from exile, but in Messianic times, whether now or in the 
future, the kingdom of God will not be confined to the Jews but will be 
enlarged by the reception of many heathen peoples. 


Veriol or 
Verio. 


CHAPTER THREE 


(See Deuteronomy 32.9.) 


“his holy habitation’ ,—i. e., heaven. 


Divine forgiveness the sure foundation for the promises made. 


1 And he showed me Joshua the 
high priest standing before the angel of 
Jehovah, and ‘Satan standing at his 
right hand to be his adversary. 2 And 


Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah re- 
buke thee, O Satan; yea, Jehovah that 
hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is 
not this a brand plucked out of the 
fire? 3 Now Joshua was clothed with 
filthy garments, and was standing before 
the angel. 4 And he answered and spake 
unto those that stood before him, say- 
ing, Take the filthy garments from off 


I have caused thine iniquity to pass from 
thee, and I will clothe thee with rich 
apparel. 5 And I said, Let them set a 
clean mitre upon his head. So they 
set a clean “mitre upon his head, and 
clothed him with garments; and the 
angel of Jehovah was standing by. | 

6 And the angel of Jehovah protested 
unto Joshua, saying, 7 Thus saith Je- 
hovah of hosts: If thou wilt walk in 
my ways, and if thou wilt keep my 
charge, then thou also shalt judge my 
house, and shalt also keep my courts, 
and I will give thee °a place of access 


him. And unto him he said, Behold, 
1That is, the Adversary 


among these that stand by. 


“Or, turban ; 
3Or, places to walk 


Vers. 1-7« 


Ver. 1. “‘he’’,—1. e., the interpreting angel. 

“Joshua, the high priest’’,—He represents here the Jewish people. 

“standing before the angel of Jehovah’’ ,—1. e., in his official function 
as a high priest performing his duties. 

“Satan’’,—This refers to the chief of evil spirits, Satan himself, and 
not to a human adversary such as Sanballat (Ew. Kim.). 

“at his right hand’’,—The usual place of the accuser. 


Ver. 2. “‘Jehovah’’,—This is generally acknowledged to mean the . 
angel of Jehovah, it being not unusual in prophecy to have these terms used 
interchangeably. 

“a brand plucked out of the fire’’,——The reference is to the Babylonish 
exile from which Joshua, in the sense that he represents the people, had 
been pulled out as a brand. 


THE VISION OF JOSHUA THE HIGH PRIEST. 


Ver. 3. “clothed with filthy garments’’,—These represent the sins 
of the people. 


Ver. 4. “‘those that stood before him’’,—1i. e., the Lord’s minister- 
ing angels. . 
Ver. 5. ‘“‘J’’?,—1. e., Zechariah. He wants the assurance that the 


priesthood with its official purity would be fully restored. 
284 


ZECHARIAH 


Ver. 6. “protested’’,—i. e., solemnly declared,—a forensic term. 


Aes 7. “keep my charge’’,—i. e., keep the ordinances, ritual and 
moral. 


_ “keep my coutts’’,—i. e., preside over the temple ceremony as high 
priest. 

“a place of access’’,—This relates to a promise of some kind of asso- 
ciation or influence with Jehovah’s ministering angels. It really means 
“places to walk’’ and pertains doubtless to ingress and egress, free access 
to God among his ministering servants in the discharge of his priestly 
functions. (C. Ch. Ma. Ew. Hit. Fur. Koe.) 

Some translate “‘walkers’’,—1. e., angels, who as messengers, go be- 
tween the high priest and god (Pe. Ba. Gro.), while others translate 
“guides’’, i. e., from among the angels. But these last two require some- 
what of an alteration of the text. 


8 Hear now, O Joshua the high upon one stone are seven eyes: behold, 


priest, thou and thy fellows that sit I will engrave the graving thereof, saith 
before thee; for they ate men that ate Jehovah of hosts, and I will remove the 


f : : iniquity of that land in one day. 10 

a ‘sign: for, behold, I will bring forth In ci day, saith Jehovah of. hosts, 

my servant the “Branch. 9 For, behold, shall ye invite every man his neighbor 

the stone that I have set before Joshua: under the vine and under the fig-tree. 
1Or, wonder 


“Or; Shoot Or, Sprout 
Vers. 8-10. THE VISION OF JEHOVAH’S SERVANT, THE BRANCH. 


Ver. 8. “thy fellows that sit before thee’’,—-His associates in the 
priestly office; not that they were then actually sitting before him, but that 
this was their usual posture when in consultation about the duties of the 
priesthood. 

“men that are a sign’’,—The literal rendering is ‘‘men of wonder’. 
They are a sign of what is to come. ‘They are typical and as such are 
pledges to the desponding Jews that the priesthood should be preserved 
until the great antitype should come. ‘The address seems suddenly to have 
been shifted to the ministering ones and the talk is of Joshua and his col- 
leagues in the third person. 

“my servant, the Branch’’,—The Messiah. This seems to show His 
original obscurity and the gradual development of his character. 


Ver. 9. “‘the stone that I have set before Joshua’’,—There are two 

views as to the meaning of this stone: 

1. The foundation stone of the temple which had been set up (laid) 
before Joshua by the hand of Zerubbabel by God as the chief 
builder, and therefore your labor in building shall not be in vain. 
(F. He. Hit. Ros. Neu.) 

Antitypically then the stone is Christ, the chief corner stone of the 
foundation of the Church, ‘‘and’’, says Fausset, “‘the stone that 
shall crush all the world kingdoms’. 

The “‘eye’”’ is a symbol of Providence and seven is the symbol of 
perfection; so the watchful eyes of God are fixed upon it. And 
upon Christ are the eyes of the angels (I Tim. 3.16) and of the 
saints (John 3.14,15; 12.32) and of the patriarchs and the 


285 


ZEGHARIAG 





prophets (John 3.56; I Peter 1.10) and, above all, the eyes of 
the Father. 


2. The Jewish Church, with the same interpretation of the seven 
eyes as that just given. (Ch. Moo.) 
There is little data for definite decision but we unhesitatingly 
prefer the first view. 
The “‘seven eyes’ may also be conceived as the seven-fold radiation 
of the Spirit of God preserving and fitting for the glorious purpose 
involved. 


Both of these views of the “‘seven eyes’’ consider them not as engraved 
on the stone but as directed toward it. Calvin perhaps better considers the 
eyes to be carved on the stone, which would then refer to Christ’s own 
sevenfold or perfect fullness of grace and of the gifts of the Spirit, and His 
watchful care for the Jews in building the temple, and always for the 
Church, His spiritual temple. 7 

“T will engrave the graving’’,—i. e., make it a beautiful and precious 
stone. 

“T will remove the tniquity’’,—Not alone the iniquity but its con- 
sequences as well. 

“that land’’,—i. e., this land, the land of Israel, the inhabitants of 
which of course stand for the whole Church. 


“in one day’’,—Primarily the reference is to the “great day of atone- 
ment’ (tenth day of the seventh month) ; typically the reference is to the 
atonement of the Messiah on the cross ‘‘once for all’. 


Ver. 10. “‘under the vine and under the fig-tree’’,—This is to be 
taken perhaps both spiritually and literally. ‘‘It is’, says Fausset, “‘a 
type of peace with God through Christ and of Millennial .blessedness.”’ 
Scofield says that verse 10 marks the time of fulfillment as in the future 
kingdom. .He says, ‘‘It speaks of a security which Israel has never known 
since the captivity, nor will know until the kingdom comes.”’ 


CHABTERTEOUR 


1 And the angel that talked with thou not what these are? And I said, 


me came again, and waked me, as a mes my lord. 

man that is wakened out of his sleep. Then he answered and spake unto 
; me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah 

2 And he said unto me, What seest unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by *might, 


thou? And I said, I have seen, and, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
behold, a candlestick all of gold, with Jehovah of hosts. 

its bowl upon the top of it, and its 7 Who art thou, O great mountain? 
seven lamps thereon; ‘there are seven before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a 
pipes to each of the lamps, which are plain; and he shall bring forth the top 
upon the top thereof; 3 and two olive- stone with shoutings of Grace, Grace, 
trees by it, one upon the right side of unto it. : 
the bowl, and the other upon the left 8 Moreover the word of Jehovah 
side thereof. came unto me, saying, 

4 And I answered and spake to the 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid 
angel that talked with me, saying, What the foundations of this house; his hands 
are these, my lord? shall also finish it; and thou shalt know 

5 Then the angel that talked with me that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto 
answered and said unto me, Knowest you. 

1Some MSS have, and seven pipes to the "Or, an army 
lamps, &c. ; 


286 


ZECHARIAH 


10 For who hath despised the day of 
small things? for these seven shall re- 
joice, and shall see the plummet in the 
hand of Zerubbabel; these are the eyes 


of Jehovah, which run to and fro 
through the whole earth. 

11 Then answered I, and said unto 
him, What are these two olive-trees 
upon the right side of the candlestick 


12 And I answered the second time, 
and said unto him, What are these two 
olive-branches, “which are beside the 
two golden spouts, that empty ‘the 
golden oil out of themselves? 


13 And he answered me and said, 
Knowest thou not what these are? And 
I said, No, my lord. 

14 Then said he, These are the two 


anointed ones, that stand by the Lord 
of the whole earth. } 
3Or, which by means of the two golden spouts 


empty 
4Heb. the gold 


and upon the left side thereof? 


Vers. 1-14. THE VISION OF THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK AND THE Two 
OLIVE TREES. 


“T Ais ts, as we Rnow from Rev. 11.3-12’’, says Scofield, ‘‘a prophecy 
to be fulfilled in the last days of the present age.” 


Ver. 1. “‘out of his sleep’’,This was perhaps an ecstatic slumber 
of astonishment at the former vision. 


Ver. 2. “‘seven pipes to each of the lamps’’,——-The literal is ‘‘seven 
sevens’ (forty-nine in all), and our text is doubtless right in taking the 
expression distributively. For an exact parallel see IJ Sam. 21.20 and 
compare I Chron. 20.6. 

“bowl’’,—This is the oil vessel. 


“its sever) lamps’’,—The candlestick symbolizes the Jewish theocracy 
and ultimately the Church. The seven lamps indicate the fullness of the 
light that was shed, and the forty-nine pipes the number and variety of the 
channels by which grace is imparted to the luminary. 


The seven lamps are united in one stem: so in Ex. 25.32, but in Rev. 
1.12. the seven candlesticks are separate. Says Fausset, ‘“The Gentile 
Churches will not realize their unity until the Jewish Church as the stem 
unites all the lamps in one candlestick (Rom. 11.16-24).” 


Vero: 


Ver. 6. “Not by might’’, etc.,—As the candlestick gave light be- 
cause it was supplied with oil, so the work on the temple and the establish- 
ing of his people could only be accomplished by the same agency, oil being 
a symbol of the Holy Spirit. 


Ver. 7. “O great mountain’’,—Some take this as a reference to the 
Persian kingdom (K. Hen. Hit. Kim. Jer. Cha.), but it is better to take 
it with others as a figure of any and all mountain-like difficulties. (F. KI. 
Ch. Neu.) 

“he’’,—Zerubbabel, as the next verse plainly shows. 


“gtace, grace unto tt’’,—May God grant His grace to the stone, the 
grace that completed it preserve it forever. 


“two olive trees by it’’,—(See verses 12-14.) 


Ver. 8. “‘me’’,—1i. e., the divine angel, as also in verse 9. 


Ver. 10. “‘who hath despised the day of small things’’,—An ad- 
monition to the people and their rulers not to despise small beginnings such 


287 


ZECHARIAH 


as they had experienced. Who hath, i. e., with any reason? A negative 
answer is implied. (K. Ch. Wor.) ; 


“these seven’’,—i. e., the seven eyes of the Lord. 


“shall see the plummet’’,—An indication that the work is going for- 
ward to completion. 


Ver. 12. Without waiting for an answer he renews his question 
with slight alteration. 
“branches’’,—i. e., the channels through which the oil flowed into 
the bow! of the lamps. 


“spouts’’,—We are inclined to think that the marginal Fa which 
is that of the Authorized Version, gives the same sense with a somewhat 
clearer way of expression. 


Ver. 14. “the two anointed ones’’,—Literally ‘“‘the two sons of 
oil’’, i. e., Joshua and Zerubbabel (F. He. Pre.). Not the believing mem- 
bers of the Jews and the Gentiles (K1.), for this would confound the 
olive trees with the candlestick; nor Haggai and Zechariah (Ba. Hof.). 

Joshua and Zerubbabel typify the royal and priestly office of Christ. 
Fausset says that the “great mountain’’ of verse 7, representing mountain- 
like obstacles, antitypically refers to the antichristian last foe of Israel, the 
obstacle preventing her establishment in Palestine, about to be crushed 
before Messiah. (Jer. 51.25; Dan. 2.34,44; Matt. 21.44.) He says also 
the bringing forth of the “‘top stone’’ antitypically refers to the time when 
the full number of the spiritual Church shall be completed, and also when 
Ey one shall. be saved’. -CRom. 113263 Hebs 11.40361.2:22,23 3 ey, 

Scofield says, ‘“The whole scene forms a precursive fulfillment of the 
ministry of the two witnesses of Rev. 11, and of the coming of the true 
‘headstone’, Prince Messiah, of whom Prince Zerubbabel is a type. 
Joshua and Zerubbabel were the two olive trees for that day, as the two 
witnesses of Rev. 11 may, in turn, but point to Christ as Priest-King in 
the kingdom-age.”’ 


CHAPTER FIVE 


Vers. 1-4. THE VISION OF THE FLYING ROLL. 
The curse of God upon the thief and the profane man. 


Vers. 5-11. “THE VISION OF THE WOMAN IN THE EPHAH. 

We have here as some think a prophecy of the present dispersion of 
the Jewish people. Scofield thinks that prophetically the application to 
the Babylon (land of Shinar, verse 11) of Revelation is obvious, the Gen- 


tile Church in which time full of iniquity falls under the severe ide 
of God. (Rev. 18.) 


CHAPTER SIX 


1 And again I lifted up mine eyes, tains; and *the mountains were moun- 
and saw, and, behold, there came four tains of brass. 
chariots out from between two moun- 2 In the first chariot were red horses; 
1Or, the two 


288 


ZECHARIAH 


and in the second chariot black horses; 
3 and in the third chariot white horses; 
and in the fourth chariot grizzled strong 
horses. 


4 Then I answered and said unto the 
angel that talked with me, What are 
these, my lord? 

5 And the angel answered and said 
unto me. ‘These are the four *winds of 
heaven, which go forth from ‘standing 
before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The 
chartot wherein are the black horses 

“Or, spirits 





goeth forth toward the north country; 
and the white went forth after them; 
and the grizzled went forth toward 
the south country. 7 And the ‘strong 
went forth, and sought to go that they 
might walk to and fro through the 
earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk 
to and fro through the earth. So they 
walked to and fro through the earth. 
8 Then cried he to me, and spake unto 
me saying, Behold, they that go toward 
the north country have quieted my spirit 
in the north country. 
4Some MSS have, red 


3Or, presenting themselves 
Vers. 1-8. THE VISION OF THE FOUR CHARIOTS. 


Ver. 1. “chartots’’,—1. e., chariots to execute God’s judgments on 
the wicked Gentile nations. 


“brass’’,—A symbol of impregnable strength and permanency. 


“two mountains’,—A valley guarded by two brazen mountains is 
a fit symbol of the resistless might of Him who sends forth the executioners 
of His will. There has been considerable speculation as to which moun- 
tains are intended, Mt. Zion and Mt. Moriah (Ma. Um.), Mt. Zion and 
Mt. Olives (K. Moo.), the two horns of Medo-Persia (He.). But there 
is no need for seeking such explanations. 


“four’’,—1i. e., indicating like the four points of the compass, uni- 
versality, a judgment going in every direction. 

Can there be an allusion in the number “‘four’’ to the four world- 
kingdoms of Daniel? It is thought by some that this is true insofar at 
least as their existence lay in the future. God’s judgment on Babylon had 
already been executed unless the reference be to the punishment by Darius 
on Babylon two years later for her rebellion against the Medo-Persian 
conqueror. 


Vers. 2,3. “‘Red’’ denotes war and bloodshed; “‘black’’ denotes 
sorrow and death; “‘white’’ denotes victory, and the “‘grizzled’’ (piebald, 
speckled, dapple) denotes a mixed dispensation or judgment of perhaps 
‘famine and pestilence’ (K. Ch.), or of ‘‘adversity and prosperity’ (F. 
Wo. He.), or a combination of all (Moo.). 


“strong” ,—This is the usual sense of the word and is so taken by 
the majority but it is strange to find an epithet of quality immediately con- 
nected with one of color. Some therefore derive the word from an Arabic 
root meaning ‘‘to shine’, hence, shining red. (C. Ch. Ew. Or. Coc. Koe. 
Kim. Fur. Cha. Sep. Syr. Aq. A-V.) One cannot be sure, but it is best 
perhaps to adhere to the usual sense of the world and translate “‘strong’’ 
as in our text. 


Ver. 5. “‘winds’’,—Some translate ‘‘spirits’’ (F. A-V. He. Neu.), 
but it is nowhere else in the Bible so translated (certainly not in Ps. 104.4), 
and it is better to adhere to the word ‘‘winds’’. God makes the winds His 
angels, His ministers of judgment. 


Ver. 6. “north country’’,—1i. e., Babylon, the territory washed by 
the Tigris and the Euphrates. 


289 


ZECHARIAH 


“the white went forth after them’’,—The white horses, following 
perhaps to victoriously subdue Medo-Persia who had before the days of 
this vision been used of God to subdue Babylon. In this case of course 
the white horses would represent the Grecian (Alexander’s) kingdom, i. e., 
in case we adopt the four erorlds -power explanation. 


“the south country’’,—1i. e., Egypt “being a part of Alexander's 
kingdom and standing for the whole of it’’, says Fausset, and in this case 
the grizzled horses would represent Rome. 


Ver. 7. “‘strong’’,—He seems until now to have omitted the destina- 
tion of the first chariot with the red horses. All are agreed that verse 7 
refers to what the red horses of the first chariot were to do, and it will not 
therefore be worth while to busy ourselves with the practically insoluable 
difficulty as to why the word “‘strong” is used here. ‘hese first horses 
seem not content with going forth to a single territory but asked permis- 
sion to go through the whole earth and it was given. 


If the reference to the world kingdoms be retained the work of these 
horses ts to be completed hereafter when the final form of the Roman empire 
has been assumed and Israel’s last great foe, the antichristian confederacy, 


is overthrown. (KI. Hof. Wor. F.) 


But the contemporaneousness of their going forth, their destinations, 
the fact that Babylon had been overthrown before the vision and that 
Egypt was only one of the divisions of the Grecian empire somewhat 
invalidate the four world-empire explanation. (K. Sco. Coc. Koe.) 


Scofield says, ‘“That which is symbolized by the four chariots with 
their horses is not the four world-empires of Daniel, but the ‘four spirits 
of heaven which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth’, 
as is plainly shown in verse 5. These spirits are angels (Lu. 1.19; Heb. 
1.14), and are most naturally interpreted of the four angels of Rev. 7.1-3; 
9.14,15. ‘These have also a ministry earthward and of judgment, even 
as these spirits of Zechariah. The vision, then, speaks of the Lord’s judg- 
ments upon the Gentile nations north and south in the day of the Lord. 
(Isq2. Oe22eehew a elt oo) he 


Ver. 8. ‘“‘quieted my spirit’’,—1. e., have caused my spirit to rest, 
have appeased my anger. (F. Wo. A-V.) 

Babylon alone in the days of the prophet was punished. God's 
wrath had been satisfied in that direction. : 


9 And the word of Jehovah came Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, 
unto me, saying, 10 Take of them of Behold, the man “whose name is the 
the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobi- “Branch: and he shall “grow up out of 
jah, and of Jedaiah; and come thou the his place; and he shall build the temple 
same day, and go into the house of of Jehovah; 13 even he shall build the 
Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear 


they are come from Babylon; 11 yea, the glory, and shall sit and rule upon 
take of them silver and gold, and make his throne; and “he shall be a priest upon 
‘crowns, and set them upon the head of his throne; and the counsel of peace 
Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high shall be between them both. 14 And 
priest; 12 and speak unto him, saying, the “crowns shall be to Helem, and to 

10Or, a crown, and set it "Or, whose name is the Bud; and it (or, they) 


shall bud forth under him 
8Or, Shoot Or, Sprout 
4Or, shoot 
5Or, there shall be 
SOr, crown 


290 


ZECHARIAH 


Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and ‘to Hen 
the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in 
the temple of Jehovah. 15 And they 
that are far off shall come and build in 


know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent 
me unto you. And this shall come to 
pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice 
of Jehovah your God. 


the temple of Jehovah; and ye shall 
7Or, for the kindness of the son &c. 


Vers. 9-15. THE CROWN UPON JOSHUA’S HEAD. 


This communication although given at the same time as the visions 
and closely connected with them, does not itself take the form of a vision. 
Zechariah is told to go to the house of Joshua where three men had carried 
silver and gold sent as gifts, through them, by the exiles in Babylon to 
help in building the temple in Jerusalem. He was to go on that very day 
and take the silver and the gold and make crowns, etc. 


Ver. 11. “crowns’’,—The word is plural and is to be taken in the 
sense of circlets of which the crown was woven, or better perhaps, in keep- 
ing with the connection which treats of two distinct offices in one person, 
priest and king. 


Ver. 12. “Behold the man’’,—This may be referred to Joshua as 
typical of the Messiah (K.), but is better referred directly to the Messiah as 
if .He were present. 

“Branch’’,— (See Chap. 3.8 and Isa. 4.2.) 

“shall grow up out of his place’’,— 

1. Grow up from His own land and nation as a genuine root-shoot 

from the stock to which the promise had been made. (K. Ba. Ch. 
Coc. Hen.) 
2. Under Him “‘it’’, the Church, shall grow forth. (Ma. Margin.) 
3. Grow up’ of Himself, without man’s aid, of His own power, in 
His miraculous conception. (He.) 

4. Grow up out of His place of obscurity. (Moo.) 

The first explanation is by far the more preferable. 

“temple’’,—The spiritual temple of which Solomon’s and the one 
Pate then building were only types. (F. Wo. Ch. Hen. Tho. Coc. 

Oe. 

Fausset says, ‘‘It raises their thought beyond the material temple they 
were then building to the spiritual temple and also to the future glorious 
temple to be reared in Israel under Messiah’s superintendency.’’ (Ezk., 
Chaps. 40,41,42,43.) - . 


Ver. 13. “a priest upon his throne’’,—He is to be both king and 
high-priest on one and the same throne. 

“peace between them both’’,—Not between the Branch and Jehovah 
(Vit. Coc.), nor between the Branch and an ideal priest (Ew. Bu:), nor 
between the royal and priestly offices (Hen. Ros.), but between the king 
and the priest who sit on the throne united in one person, the Branch. 
(F. Ch. Um. Koe.) This is typified by Joshua and Zerubbabel working 
harmoniously together. 

“counsel of peace’’,—The glorious scheme of reconciliation between 
God and man effected by the joint exercise of the regal and sacerdotal offices 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 


Zo 


ZECHARIAH 


Ver. 14. The crowns are not to be Joshua’s personal property but 
are to be preserved in the temple as a memorial of the three men who 
brought them and to Joshua for his gracious hospitality. They were 
to be left there also to extend the typical significance of the whole proceed- 
ing. These men sending from afar their gifts for the house of God were 
types of many who would one day come from heathen lands and help to 
build the temple of God. 


“Chelem’’ is a copyist’s error for Cheldai and ““Hen’’ is doubtless 
another name for Joshua. 


Ver. 15. “they that are afar off’’,—The reference is primarily to 
the distant stranger, including of course the Jews of the dispersion, the 
return of the latter and the conversion of the former. 


“ye shall hnow’’,—1i. e., when the events correspond to the prediction. 


(Ag 


if’’,——This does not mean that their unbelief could set aside God's 
gracious purpose as to the coming of the Messiah, but that His glory should 
not be manifest to the disobedient Jews unless they turn to Him with 
manifest repentance. 

Says Scofield, ‘“The invariable order is followed, first the judgments 
and then the kingdom, and we have here a symbolical representation of 
Christ in His kingdom glory. The fulfillment of the Branch will infinitely 
transcend the symbol. He shall ‘bear the glory’ as the Priest-King on 
His own throne. Christ is now a Priest, but still in the holiest within the 
veil and seated on the Father’s throne. He has not yet come out to take 
His own throne. The crowns were laid up in the temple to keep alive 
this larger hope of Israel.’’ 


CHAPTER SEVEN 


PAST RESULTS OF DISOBEDIENCE. 


CHAPTER EIGHT 


1 And the word of Jehovah of hosts the streets of the city shall be full of 


came to me, saying, 2 Thus saith Jeho- boys and girls playing in the streets 
vah of hosts: I am jealous for Zion thereof. 6 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 
with great jealousy, and I am jealous If it be marvellous in the eyes of the 
for her with great wrath. 3 Thus saith remnant of this people in those days, 
Jehovah: I am returned unto Zion, and should it also be marvellous in mine 
will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: eyes? saith Jehovah of hosts. 7 Thus 
and Jerusalem shall be called The city saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will 
of truth; and the mountain of Jehovah save my people from the east country, 
of hosts, The holy mountain. 4 Thus and from the west country: 8 and [ 
saith Jehovah of hosts: There shall yet will bring them, and they shall dwell 
old men and old women ‘dwell in the in the midst of Jerusalem; and they 
streets of Jerusalem, every man with his shall be my people, and I will be their 
staff in his hand “for very age. 5 And God, in truth and in righteousness. 
4Or, szd 


*Heb. for multitude of days 
Vers. 1-8. PROMISE OF FUTURE BLESSINGS FOR OBEDIENCE 


Ver. 3. “I am returned’’,—1. e., determined to return. . 
“The city of truth’’,—i. e., the city where truth is found 


292. 


ZECHARIAH 


Ver. 4. A beautiful picture of long life, security and happiness. 
The strict fulfillment is to be referred to Messianic times and in complete 
fulfillment to the Millennium times. 


Ver. 6. ‘“‘the remnant’’,—This refers, as also in verses 11 and 12, 
to the remnant of Judah which returned from Babylon, and among whom 
Zechariah was prophesying. If the thing predicted seemed impossible to 
them, i. e., in their eyes, it was not so in His, Jehovah’s. 


Ver. 7. He will save His people from all lands as far as the sun 
shines. They are now found in countries especially west of Jerusalem. 
The dispersion under Nebuchadnezzar was only to the east. It would 
appear therefore that the restoration is as yet future. In a spiritual sense 
Jerusalem stands for the Messianic kingdom, while the literal interpretation 
(F. He. Sco. Pre. Koe.) calls for an actual restoration to their own land. 


Campbell Morgan says here, ““This is a prophecy never yet fulfilled: 
and I believe one of the very first things after the Apocalypse of Jesus with 
His saints, and when the man of sin has been destroyed, will be the gather- 
ing of God’s ancient people to their own city.” 


9 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Let blessing. Fear not, but let your hands 


your hands be strong, ye that hear in be strong. 
these days these words from the mouth 14 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 
of the prophets that were in the day As I thought to do evil unto you, when 
that the foundation of the house of Je- your fathers provoked me to wrath, 
hovah of hosts was laid, even the tem- saith Jehovah of hosts, and I repented 
ple, that it might be built. 10 For not; 15 so again have I thought in these 
before those days there was no hire for days to do good unto Jerusalem and to 
man, nor any hire for beast; neither the house of Judah: fear ye not. 16 
was there any peace to him that went These are the things that ye shall do: 
out or came in, because of the adversary: Speak ye every man the truth with his 
for I set all men every one against his neighbor; ‘execute the judgment of 
neighbor. 11 But now I will not be truth and peace in your gates; 17 and 
unto the remnant of this people as in let none of you devise evil in your 
the former days, saith Jehovah of hosts. hearts against his neighbor; and love 
12 For there shall be the seed of peace; no false oath: for all these are things 
the vine shall give its fruit, and the that I hate, saith Jehovah. 
ground shall give its increase, and the 18 And the word of Jehovah of hosts 
heavens shall give their dew; and I will came unto me, saying, 19 Thus saith 
cause the remnant of this people to Jehovah of hosts: the fast of the fourth 
inherit all these things. month, and the fast of the fifth, and 

13 And it shall come to pass that, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of 
as ye were a curse among the nations, the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah 
O house of Judah and house of Israel, joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; 
‘so will I save you, and ye shall be a therefore love truth and peace. 

WHeb. judge truth and the judgment of 
peace 


Vers. 9-19. THE RESTORATION PROPHETS ARE To BE HEEDED. 


Ver. 9. “‘prophets’’,—Haggai and Zechariah himself. 
“before those days’’,—1. e., in which work on the temple was resumed. 
“went out or came in’’,—i. e., engaged in their ordinary occupations. 


_ By “adversary”’ is doubtless meant the foe without and by “every one 
against his neighbor’ is meant intestine discord. 


Ver. 11. “But now’’,—i. e., now and from now on. 
293 


ZECHARIAH 


Ver. 12. “the seed of peace’’,—There is no doubt but that the 
meaning is the seed shall be prosperous. (F. Ch. Wo. He. Pre. A-V.) 

Keil and others render, ‘The seed of peace, namely, the vine shall’, 
etc.; but the vine is no more a vegetation that grows in peaceful t times than 
other kinds of Aen 


Ver. 13. ‘“‘ye shall be a blessing’’,—They were to be an aot of 
blessedness as they were before an example of an accursed people, i. e., a 
people upon whom the curse of God had rested. 

Fausset says, “Ihe distinct mention of Judah and Israel proves that 
the prophecy has not yet had tts full accomplishment, since Israel (the ten 
tribes) has never yet been restored, although individuals of Israel did return 


with Judah.” 
Werl>16; 


istered. 


Ver. 19. The fast of the fourth month was on account of the 
taking of Jerusalem (Jer. 39.2); that of the fifth month was on account 
of the burning of the city and temple by Nebuchadnezzar; that of the 
seventh month on account of the murder of Gedaliah and his friends (Jer. 
41.1), and that of the tenth month was on account of the commencement 
of the siege against Jerusalem (Jer. 52.4). These were all to be turned 


into festivals of joy. 


““‘gates’’,—The place where justice was usually admin- 


tions shall come to seek Jehovah of 


20 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: It 
hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the 


shall yet come to pass, that there shall 
come peoples, and the inhabitants of 
*many cities; 21 and the inhabitants 
of one city shall go to another, saying, 
Let us go speedily to entreat the favor 
of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of 
hosts: I will go also. 


favor of Jehovah. 

23 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In 
those days it shall come to pass, that 
ten men shall take hold, out of all the 
languages of the nations, they shall take 
hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, 
saying, We will go with you, for we 


22 Yea, many peoples and strong na- have heard that God is with you. 


10r, great 
Vers. 20-23. JERUSALEM YET To BE THE RELIGIOUS CENTER OF THE 
EARTH. 
Ver. 20. “peoples’’,—i. e., entire nations. The connection is 


dropped at the end of the verse and resumed in verse 22. 


Ver. 21. “I will go also’’,—-The prompt response of each of the © 
parties addressed. 
Ver. 22. “many peoples and strong nattons’’,—This is of course 


Messianic, but it is entirely consistent as well with the literal interpretation 
that reserves the full accomplishment till Jerusalem becomes the center of 
Christianized Jewry. (Rom. 11.12,15.) ' 


Ver. 23. “‘ten’’,—A definite number put for an indefinite. 


3.154) 
The heathen will not only go in streams to Jerusalem but will seek 


intimate connection with the Jewish nation. 
“of all the languages of the nations’’,—1i. e., of the nations of all 


languages. 


(Gen. 


294 


ZECHARIAH 


“take hold of the skirts’’,—A gesture of entreaty. 


“go with you’’,—i. e., not only to the house of God (Hit.), but in 
other ways as well. (Ruth 1.16.) 

“in those days’’,—The days when Jerusalem has been made the center 
of the earth’s worship. Says Scofield, ‘The Jew will then be the mission- 


> ae 


ary, and to the very ‘nations’ now called ‘Christian’. 


CHAPTER NINE 


Chapters 9 to 14 were written thirty years later. 


Vers. 1-8. A graphic account of Alexander’s conquests in Syria in 
the language of prophecy and also a prophecy of Philistia’s incorporation 
with Judah. 

“The greater meaning of these verses’, says Scofield, ‘‘converges on 
the yet future last days, as the last clause of verse 8 shows, for many oppres- 
sors have passed through Jerusalem since the days of Alexander.” 


9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of 
Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: 
behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he 
is just, and *having “salvation; lowly, 
and riding upon an ass, even upon a 
colt the foal of an ass. 10 And I will 
cut off the chariot.from Ephraim, and 
the horse from Jerusalem; and the bat- 
tle bow shall be cut off; and he shall 
speak peace unto the nations; and his 
dominion shall be from sea to sea, and 
from the River to the ends of the earth. 

11 As for thee also, because of the 
blood of thy covenant I have set free 
thy prisoners from the pit wherein is 
no water. 12 *Turn you to the strong- 
hold, ye prisoners of hope: even today 
do I declare that I will render double 
unto thee. 

13 For I have bent Judah for me, I 
have filled the bow with Ephraim; and 


I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against 
thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee 
as the sword of a mighty man. 14 And 
Jehovah shall be seen over them; and 
his arrow shall go forth as the light- 
ning; and the Lord Jehovah will blow 
the trumpet, and will go with whirl- 
winds of the south. 15 Jehovah of 
hosts will defend them; and they shall 
devour, and shall tread down the sling- 
stones; and they shall drink, and make 
a noise as through wine; and they shall 
be filled like bowls, like the corners of 
the altar. 16 And Jehovah their God 
will save them in that day as the flock 
of his people; for they shall be as the 
stones of a crown, ‘lifted on high over 
his land. 17 For how great is “his 
*soodness, and how great is “his beauty! 
grain shall make the young men flourish, 
and new wine the virgins. 


1Heb. saved 

Or, victory 

3Or, return 

Vers. 9-17. SAFETY AND PEACE BECAUSE OF THE COMING MESSIAH 
' WHOSE DOMINION Is To BE UNIVERSAL. 


Ver. 10. ‘‘This and the verses which follow’’, say some, “‘look for- 
ward to the end-time and the kingdom.’’ Its immediate reference is per- 
haps to the deliverance under the Maccabees from the tyranny of Antiochus 
Epiphanes. 

“from Ephraim . . . from Jerusalem’’,—Both the ten and the two 
tribes, ‘“which’’, says Fausset, “‘are to be restored hereafter’. 

“sea to sea’’,—Primarily the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. 

“the River’’,—The Euphrates. These boundaries fulfill Gen. 15.18; 
Ex. 23.31 and Ps. 72.8. ‘“This’’, says Fausset, “‘is to be the center of the 
Messiah’s future kingdom and from thence extended to all the earth.”’ 


295 


1Or, glittering upon, &c. 
5Or, their 
SOr, prosperity 


ZECHARIAH 


Ver. 11. ‘“‘thee’’,—1. e., the whole nation, the ten and two tribes. 


“blood of thy covenant’’,—i. e., the covenant between them ratified 
by the blood of sacrifices. 


“the pit wherein ts no water’’,—An image of the misery of the Jews 
in exile. 


“set free’’,—1. delivered them from the oppression of Antiochus 
Epiphanes, this Fak ee being a type of the future deliverance from 
their last great persecutor hereafteras (lsa7eod 4 200. da) 


“ptisoners’’,—This is not necessarily to be restricted to the Jews in 
exile but is to be taken rather of the entire people. 

Ver. 12. “the stronghold’’,—An emblem of the security they are 
to find in the Messiah. 


“prisoners of hope’’,—i. e., the hope just expressed, hope in a 
covenant-keeping God. 


“render double’’,—i. e., double the prosperity you formerly had 
(Ch.), or perhaps better, doubly greater than your adversity. (F. Wo.) 


“even today’’,—1i. e., in spite of all threatening circumstances. 


Vers. 13-15. The Maccabean deliverance. 


Ver. 16. “lifted on high’’,—Many prefer the marginal reading, 
“glittering on high’. (K. Ew. Ch. Ma. Koe. Fur.) The reference is to 
the gems of a crown flashing from the brow of a conqueror as he stalks 
over the land. 


Ver. 17. “‘his’’,—i. e., Jehovah's, (F. He. Ch. Ew. Hen. Pre.) 
“goodness . . . beauty’’,—i. e., which He bestows upon His people. 
“corn” and “wine’’,—1. e., indicating peace and prosperity. 


CHAPTER TEN 


1 Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time men, treading down their enemies in the 
of the latter rain, even of Jehovah that mire of the streets in the battle; and 
maketh lightnings; and he will give they shall fight, because Jehovah is with 
them showers of rain, to every one them; and the riders on horses shal! be 
grass in the field. 2 For the teraphim confounded. 6 And I will strengthen 
have spoken vanity, and the diviners the house of Judah, and I will save the 
have seen a lie; and ‘they have told false house of Joseph, and [| will bring them 
dreams, they comfort in vain: therefore back; for I have mercy upon them; and 


they go their way like sheep, they are they shall be as though I had not cast 
afflicted, because there is no shepherd. 3 them off; for I am Jehovah their God, 


Mine anger is kindled against the shep- and I will hear them. 

herds, and I will punish the he-goats; 7 And they of Ephraim shall be like 
for Jehovah of hosts hath visited his a mighty man, and their heart shall 
flock, the house of Judah, and will make rejoice as through wine; yea, their 
them as his goodly horse in the battle. children shall see it, and rejoice; their 
4 From him shall come forth the corner- heart shall be glad in Jehovah. ' 
stone, from him the nail, from him the 8 I will hiss for them, and gather 
battle-bow, from him every “ruler to- them; for I have redeemed them; and 


gether. 5 And they shall be as mighty they shall increase as they have increased. 


1Or, the dreamers speak falsely 
*Or, exactor 


Vers. 1-8. FORMER MERCIES RESTORED TO JUDAH AND ISRAEL. 
Ver. 1. The promise of rain and the fruitful season. Scofield says 
296 


ZECHARIAH 


that there is here both a physical and a spiritual meaning; rain as of old 
will be restored to Palestine, but also, there will be a mighty effusion of the 
Spirit upon restored Israel. 


Ver. 2. Idolatry, the cause of their affliction, to cease. 


Vers. 3-5. Deliverance through God’s blessing upon her own native 
rulers. ‘‘IThe whole scene’, says Scofield, “‘is of the events which group 
about the deliverance of the Jews in Palestine in the time of the northern 
invasion under the ‘beast’ (Dan. 7.8; Rev. 19.20), and ‘Armageddon’ 
(Rev. 16.14; 19.17). The final deliverance is wholly effected by the 
Return of the Lord. That there may have been a precursive fulfillment 
in the Maccabean victories can neither be affirmed nor denied from Scrip- 
ture.”’ 


Ver. 6. Fausset here claims that the distinct mention of Israel, the 
ten tribes, shows that there is yet a more complete restoration than that 
from Babylon when Judah alone with a very few Israelites returned. 


“bring them back’’,—He promises to bring them back and cause them 
to dwell as in olden time in their own land. 


Ver. 8. “hiss for them’’,—This refers to calling them together as 
do the keepers of bees by a hissing sound or whistle. 


“So Jehovah, by the mere word of His mouth, shall gather back to 
Palestine His scattered people. The multitudes mentioned by Josephus, 
as peopling Galilee two hundred years after this time were but a pledge 
of the future more perfect fulfillment of the prophecy.’’ (Fausset. ) 


9 *And I will sow them among the 
peoples; and they shall remember me in 
far countries; and they shall live with 
their children and shall return. 

10 I will bring them again also out 
of the land of Egypt, and gather them 
out of Assyria; and I will bring them 
into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; 
and place shall not be found for them. 


11 And he will pass through the sea 
of affliction, and will smite the *waves 
in the sea, and all the depths of the 
Nile shall dry up; and the pride of 
Assyria shall be brought down, and the 
sceptre of Egypt shall depart. 

12 And I will strengthen them in 
Jehovah; and they shall walk up and 
down in his name, saith Jehovah. 


1Or, And though I sow them... . they shall 
remember, &c. 


*Or, the sea of waves 


Vers. 9-12. THE DISPERSION AND THE REGATHERING OF ISRAEL. 


Ver. 9. “I will sow them’’,—Never does this word, when applied 
to men, have the sense of scattering, abandoning, destroying (He. Hit. 
Fur.), but always the idea of increase. It therefore means here to cause 
to increase. The dispersion was with a special design. It is a Hebrew 
future and is said of that which has been done, is being done, and may be 
done afterwards. 


Ver. 10. “Egypt and Assyria’’,—These are types of the present 
universal dispersion. . 

“Gilead and Lebanon’’,—Their old dwellings east and west of Jor- 
dan, with special reference perhaps to northern Palestine, the former home 
of the ten tribes. 


Werte 1), 
will afflict the sea. 


“he will pass through the sea with affliction’’,—1i. e., He 
‘As before at the Red Sea, so now He marches through 


297 


ZECHARIAH 





the deep at. the head of His chosen and smites down the roaring waves.” 
(Chambers.) He will cause such things to cease to be an obstacle to their 
restoration. 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 


Israel's rejection caused by her persistent and deliberate wickedness. 
Vers. 1-6. “THE WRATH AGAINST THE LAND. 


This, says Scofield, was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem after | 
the rejection of the Messiah. 


7 So I fed the flock of slaughter, called *Beauty, and the other I called 
verily *the poor of the flock. And I *Bands; and I fed the flock. 
took unto me two staves; the one I 


10r, the most miserable of sheep "Or, Graciousness 
3Or, Binders Or, Union 
Vers. 7-14. JEHOVAH’S WRATH CAUSED BY THE SALE AND REJECTION 
OF THE MESSIAH. 


Ver. 7. “Beauty ... . Bands’’,—Literally, ‘‘graciousness’’ and 
“union’’, the first signifying God’s attitude toward His people Israel in 
sending His Son, and the second, His purpose to reunite Judah and 
Ephraim. 

“poor of the flock’’,—‘This is’’, says Scofield, “‘ ‘the remnant accord- 
ing to the election of grace’ (Rom. 11.5); those Jews who did not wait 
for the manifestation of Christ in glory, but believe on Him at His first 
coming, and since. Of them it is said that ‘they waited upon me’, and 
‘knew’ (verse 11). Neither the Gentiles nor the Gentile Church cor- 
porately are in view; only the believers out of Israel during this age.”’ 


15 And Jehovah said unto me, Take is broken, nor feed that which ‘is sound; 
unto thee yet again the instruments of a but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, 
foolish shepherd. and will tear their hoofs in pieces. 


: ; 17 Woe to the worthless shepherd 
16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall 


in the land, who will not ‘visit those be upon his arm, and upon his right 
that are *cut off, neither will seek *those eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and 
that are scattered, nor heal that which his right eye shall be utterly darkened. 
Or, miss 4+Heb. standeth 
*Or, lost 


3Or, the young 


Vers. 15-17. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED SHEPHERD. 


Ver. 15. “‘tmplements’’,—The crook, bag, pipe, knife, etc. 
“foolish’’,—Literally, ‘“‘wicked’’. 


Ver. 16. “tear their hoofs in pteces’’,—This may refer either* to 
cruelty, even as the flock is driven over rough and rocky places (F. Ew. 
Hit.), or to the ferocious greed of the shepherds who will even rend these 
extremities rather than lose a shred of the flesh. (Ch.) 


Ver. 17. “arm... eye’’,—The judgment is upon the arm that 
ought to have defended and the eye that ought to have watched. 


Who.is meant by the “wicked shepherd’’? 
298 


ZECHARIAH 


1.) Herod?) *(He.) 

2. The Roman rulers. 

3. The whole body of native rulers. (Hen.) 

4, The Beast of Dan. 7.8 and Rev. 19.20. (Sco.) 

The primary reference is doubtless to the Roman rulers, although 
they stand no doubt as a type of the later antichristian power which is to 
rise in the last times. 

Scofield says, ‘“The reference to the Beast is obvious; no other per- 
sonage of prophecy in any sense meets the description. He who came in 
His Father’s name was rejected; the alternative is one who comes in his 
own name.” 

Fausset says, ““Ihey were given up to Rome and shall be again given 
up to the Antichrist, the instrument of judgment by Christ’s permission. 
Antichrist will first make a covenant with them as their ruler, will break 
it, and they shall feel the iron yoke of his tyranny as the false Messiah 
because they rejected the light yoke of the true Messiah. But at last he 
is to perish utterly (verse 17) and the elect remnant of Judah is to be saved 


gloriously.”’ 


(K. F. Hof. Koe.) 


CHAR DERY TWELVE 


Scofield contends that Chaps. 12-14 form one prophecy, the general 
theme of which is the Return of the Lord and the establishment of the 


kingdom. 


1 The *burden of the word of Jeho- 
vah concerning Israel. : 

Thus saith Jehovah, who stretcheth 
forth the heavens, and layeth the foun- 
dation of the earth, and formeth the 
spirit of man within him: 2 Behold, I 
will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling 
unto all the peoples round about, and 

10r, oracle 


“upon Judah also “shall it be in the 
siege against Jerusalem. 3 And it shall 
come to pass in that day, that I will 
make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for 
all the peoples; all that burden them- 
selves with it shall be sore wounded; 
and all the nations of the earth shall be 
gathered together against it. 


“Or, against 


3Or, shall it fall to be 


Vers. 1-3. JERUSALEM WHEN BESIEGED TO BECOME THE INSTRU- 
MENT OF JUDGMENT ON HER FOES. 
Ver. 2. “a cup of reeling’’,—1i. e., a cup containing God’s wrath, 


the drinking of which will cause them to reel and fall in hopeless weak- 
ness, etc. 

“apon Judah also shall it be’ ,—i. e., she shall be involved in the 
same trial and be also a cup of trembling to her foes. 


Ver. 3. “a burdensome stone’’,—This is taken from one of the 
sports of the young men who test their strength by lifting great stones by 
which they are sometimes crushed. 

FPausset says, ““The Jews. fell on the stone of offense, Messiah, and 
were broken; but the stone shall fall on Antichrist who ‘burdens himself 
with it’ and grind him to powder.” 


299 


ZECHARIAH 





“all the nations of the earth’’,—Here again those who interpret liter- 
ally mention the fact that the antichristian confederacy against the Jews 
shall be almost universal. 


4 In that day, saith Jehovah, I will 
smite every horse with terror, and his 
rider with madness; and I will open 
mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and 
will smite every horse of the peoples 
with blindness. 5 And the chieftains 
of Judah shall say in their heart, The 
inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength 
in Jehovah of hosts their God. 6 In 
that day will I make the chieftains of 
Judah like a pan of fire among wood, 
and like a flaming torch among sheaves; 
and they shall devour all the peoples 
round about, on the right hand and on 
the left; and they of Jerusalem shall yet 
again dwell in ‘their own place, even in 
Jerusalem. 7 Jehovah also shall save 
the tents of Judah first, that the glory 
of the house of David and the glory of 

1Heb. her 


the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not 
magnified above Judah. 8 In that day 
shall Jehovab defend the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem; and he *that is feeble among 
them at that day shall be as David; and 
the house of David shall be as God, as 
the angel of Jehovah before them. 9 
And it shall come to pass in that day, 
that I will seek to destroy all the na- 
tions that come against Jerusalem. 

10 And I will pour upon the house 
of David, and upon the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of 
supplication; and they shall look unto 
*me whom they have pierced; and they 
shall mourn for him, as one mourneth 
for his only son, and shall be in bitter- 
ness for him, as one that is in bitterness 
for his first-born. 

2Or, that stumbleth 


® According to some MSS., him 
Vers. 4-10. “THE SIEGE ITSELF. 


Many scholars would have us believe that the reference is to the battle 
of Armageddon. 


Ver. 4. “I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah’’,—i. e., 
to guard over her, Judah standing here for the whole nation. 


Ver. 6. “‘all the peoples round about’’,—Many persist in finding an 
ultimate reference here to the final antichristian foes of Israel: Fausset says 
that Daniel represents the Antichrist more as a king with his conquests, 
St. John dwells more on his spiritual tyranny, while here in Zechariah his 
army is more fully described. 


Ver. 7. “‘save the tents of Judah first’’,—The unprotected open land 
as against the fortified city, the latter of which must know that in either 
case the victory was from God. 


Ver. 8. “‘shall be as David’’,—David was to the Jew the highest 
type of strength and glory. 


“the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah’’,—It © 
shall exceed even its highest fame of old. 

Many commentators refer this prophecy, as we have seen, to the deal- 
ings of God with the national Israel in the last days, in the last great 
struggle of ungodliness. (V.F.K. Mi. Dat. Sco.) 

Chambers objects to this interpretation, but says, however, ‘‘It is 
manifestly easier to interpret the passage in its details upon this literal view 
of its application.”’ (See Lange’s Commentary in loco.) 


Ver. 10. “‘the Spirit of grace and supplication’’,—i. e., the Spirit 
which brings grace, producing in the minds of men the experience of the 
grace of God and so leading to supplication. 


“whom they have pierced’’,—The reference is here plainly to the 
Messiah. 


300 


ZECHARIAH 





4é 


me... him’’,—This change of person is not uncommon in Hebrew. 


‘The conversion and restoration of the Jews’’, says Seiss, ‘“‘the Saviour 
Himself connects with His promised return, as also does the Apostle Paul, 
thus leaving no room for a Millennium of universal peace and righteous- 
ness before His second coming. Thus here the Lord says, ‘I will pour 
upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit 
of grace and supplication; and they shall look upon me whom they have 
pierced’,”’ 


11 In that day shall there be a great apart; the family of the house of 
mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 


} : ‘ the family of the house of Levi apart, 
of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megid- and their wives apart; the family of the 


don. 12 And the land shall mourn, Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; 
every family apart; the family of the 14 all the families that remain, every 
house of David apart, and their wives family apart, and their wives apart. 


Vers. 11-14. THE REPENTANCE OF THE REMNANT. 


Ver. 11. The mourning shall be as the mourning of the city of 
Hadadrimmon for King Josiah who fell in the valley of Megiddon. 


Ver. 12. “every family apart’’,—Retirement is natural and needful 
for deep religious mourning and personal religion. 


Four families are enumerated, two from the royal line under the 
names of David and of his son Nathan, and two from the priestly line, 
Levi and his grandson Shimei, after which he embraces all together. (F. 
K. Ch. He. Lut. Hen. Koe.) Thus one leading family and one subordi- 
nate family of both the royal and priestly order is mentioned to show that 
the grief pervades all from the highest to the lowest. 


Ver. 14. “‘all the families that remain’’,—Perhaps it is best to think 
with Chambers of the remainder after those just specified, although New- 
man refers it to those who are left after the judgment. Thus also Fausset, 
who says it refers to those who are left ‘‘after the fiery ordeal in which two 


thirds fall. (Chap. 13.8,9.)” 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


1 In that day there shall be a foun- and his father and his mother that be- 
tain opened to the house of David and gat him shall thrust him through when 
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin he prophesieth. 4 And it shall come to 
and for uncleanness. 2 And it shall pass in that day, that the prophets shall 
come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah be ashamed every one of his vision, 
of hosts, that I will cut off the names when he prophesieth; neither shall they 
of the idols out of the land, and they wear a hairy mantle to deceive: 5 but 
shall no more be remembered; and. also he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a 
I will cause the prophets and the un- tiller of the ground; for I have been 
clean spirit to pass out of the land. 3 made a bondman from my youth. 6 
And it shall come to pass that, when And one shall say unto him, What are 
any shall yet prophesy, then his father these wounds between thine ‘arms? 
and his mother that begat him shall say Then he shall answer, Those with 
unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou which I was wounded in the house of 
speakest lies in the name of Jehovah; my “friends. 

1Heb. hands 
*Or, lovers 


301 


ZECHARIAH 





Vers. 1-6. IDOLATRY AND FALSE PROPHESYING TO CEASE. 


Ver. 1. “a fountain opened’’,—It had long been opened but then 
only will their eyes be opened to see it. 

“for sin and for uncleanness’’,—i. e., for judicial guilt and for im- 
purity. The reference is to the two-fold ritual of Moses. It is the blood 
which cleanses from all sin. 


Ver. 2. “cut off the names of the idols’’,——The reference is to the 
total extinction of idolatry, idolatry here representing all forms of ungeal: 
ness and immorality. 

“prophets” ,—1i. e., false prophets. 

“the unclean spirit’’,The spirit of uncleanness in opposition to the 
spirit of holiness. The reference is to those who profess to be divinely 
inspired but are in league with Satan, an active agency in direct contrast 
to the Spirit of grace. (Chap. 12.10.) 


Ver. 3. If such a false prophet prophesies his very parents would 
not let parental affection keep them from punishing him. 


Ver. 4. The revolution is to be so great that the false pretender 
will be ashamed of his claims and will strip off his “hairy mantle’, the 
badge of a prophet and a symbol of grief for the sins he is supposed to 
reprove, by means of which in this case he was deceiving the people. 


Ver. 5. Charged with his crime he denies it. 


Ver. 6. He is asked about the tell-tale wounds between his arms, 
i. e., on his breast, which to the questioners is palpable evidence that he 
was wounded in connection with idolatrous worship. (See I Kings 
18.28.) 

“wounded in the house of his friends’’,—Fausset takes this as an im- 
plied admission that he had pretended to prophesy and his friends in their 
zeal for God had wounded him. 

Hengstenberg says the word “‘friends” should be translated ‘‘lovers’’ 
and made to refer to idols, which is also tantamount to admitting the 
charge. 

Chambers takes it as an evasion; they are simply chastisements he had 
received from his friends or relatives. 


7 Awake, O sword, against my shep- off and die; but the third shall be left 


herd, and against the man that is my therein. ' ; : ; 

fellow, saith Jehovah of hosts: smite 9 And I will bring the third part into 
‘ ese: - x the fire, and will refine them as silver is 
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be refined, and will try them as gold is 


scattered; and I will turn my hand tried. “They shall call on my name, and 
upon the little ones. 8 And it shall I will hear them: I will say, It is my 
come to pass, that in all the land, saith people; and they shall say, Jehovah is 
Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut my God 


Vers. 7-9. “THE SHEPHERD SMITTEN, THE FLOCK SCATTERED AND THE 
REMNANT REFINED AND SAVED. 


“Awake"’,—This is addressed to the sword personified. “The sword 
is here used representatively for any means of taking life. (See Jer. 47.6.) 


302 


ZECHARIAH 





_ “smute’,—In Matt. 26.31, where this is quoted, it is said, ‘I will 
‘smite’, thus showing that it is God’s act. 


“my fellow’’,—Used only here and a number of times in Leviticus. 
It denotes a close and intimate connection. Who is this and who is the 
“fellow’’? It is the Messiah Himself, as the Fathers, Reformers and most 
moderns take it. Other interpretations are ‘“‘the foolish shepherd” of 
Chap. 11.15 (Ma. Ew. Hit.), but this it cannot be, for God’s “‘fellow”’ 
could not in any appropriate sense be applied to an unworthy person. 
Judas Maccabaeus (Gro.), Pekah (Bun.), Jehoiakim (Ma.), Josiah 
(Pre.), the whole body of rulers including Christ (C.). 


“the sheep’’,—The covenant nation. The scattering of the Disciples 
on His arrest was an initial fulfillment, a pledge of the dispersion of the 
whole Jewish nation. Says Fausset, ““Uhe Jews are still His sheep waiting 
to be gathered by Him. (Isa. 49.9,11.)” 


“my hand upon the little ones’’,—These are doubtless to be taken as 
the humble followers of Christ from the Jewish Church, the “little flock’, 
the “‘wretched of the flock’ in Chap. 11.7,11, mercifully revisited. 


Ver. 8. Keil says, ‘““The dispersion of the flock will deliver two 
thirds of the nation in the whole land to death, so that only one third will 
remain alive.” (See Ezek. 5.2-12.) 


“cut off and die’’,—This seems to show that literal death is meant. 
Fausset says, “‘Stnce this has never been fulfilled tt must await fulfillment tn 
the future under the Antichrist.” 


Ver. 9. “‘shall call on my name’’,—Hence, says Fausset, “it appears 
that the Jews’ conversion is not to precede but to follow their external 
deliverance by the special interposition of Jehovah.” 


“tn all the land’, Chambers, consistent with his method of spiritual 
interpretation, says, ‘This is not to be taken in a literal sense, but as repre- 
senting the domain covered by the kingdom of God’’, while others (K. F. 
Hen. Sco. Koe.) refer it to the holy land, Palestine. 

Some say the third part is the entire race of Jews during the present 
dispensation (Mi. Koe.), but as Hengstenberg justly argues in that case 
unbelieving Judaism would be regarded as the whole and legitimate con- 
tinuation of Israel, and this is simply impossible. Chambers says the third 
oe fr the entire kingdom of God on earth whether composed of Jews or 

entiles.’’ 


Scofield contends that in these last two verses Zechariah is returning 
to the subject of Chap. 12.10, and that they refer to the sufferings of the 
remnant preceding the great battle of Armageddon. 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 


1 Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, 
when thy spoil shall be divided in the 
midst of thee. 

2 For I will gather all nations against 


Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be 
taken, and the houses rifled, and the 


women ravished; and half of the city 
shall go forth into captivity, and the 
residue of the people shall not be cut off 
from the city. 

3 Then shall Jehovah go forth and 
fight against those nations, as when he 
fought in the day of battle. 


ZECHARIAH 


Vers. 1-3. “THE GREAT BATTLE IN THE DAY OF JEHOVAH. 
The final conflict and triumph of God’s kingdom. 


Ver. 1. “‘a day of Jehovah’’,—A day appointed for the manifesta- 
tion of His glory and power. 
“thy spoil’’,—i. e., that which the enemy takes from her. 


_ Ver. 2. “half the city’’,—Fausset to reconcile this with the two- 
thirds of Chap. 13.8,9 says that there it was two-thirds of the entire land, 
while here it is one half of the city. 

To what does the event refer? 


1. The time of the Maccabees. (C. Gro.) 

2. The siege of Jerusalem by Titus. (Lo. Cl. He. Cy. The. Marc.) 
But Titus did not have all nations under his banner, nor did he 
leave one-half of the people in the city. For the same reason it 
cannot apply to the Chaldean conquest. 

3. The period just before the Babylonian exile. (Ma. Kn. Ew. Hit. 
Bert.) But this is not at all consistent with facts. 

4. All conflicts of the Church of God with her foes from the com- 
mencement of the Messianic era to its close. (K. Ch. Hen.) 

5. A period yet future. (F. Ne. Co. Sco. Wor. Moo. Blay.) It 
would seem that only according to this last view is it at all possible 
to interpret the passage without meeting insurmountable dif- 
ficulties. 

‘This’, says Campbell Morgan, ‘‘is an Old Testament prophecy of 
the Apocalypse of the Lord with His holy ones, being that MRIS: of His 
coming elsewhere called His manifestation.” 


Ver. 3. The Deliverance of His People. 


“as when He fought’’,—Perhaps at the Red Sea (Hen. ), although the 
more general reference may seem better, that is, as shown on many former 


occasions. (K. Ch. Koe.) 2 

4 And his feet shall stand in that shall come, and all the holy ones with 
day upon the mount of Olives, which is thee. 
before Jerusalem on the east; and the 6 And it shall come to pass in that 
mount of Olives shall be cleft in the day, that ‘there shall not be light; the 
midst thereof toward the sea and toward bright ones shall withdraw themselves: 
the west, and there shall be a very great 7 but it shall be one day which is known 
valley; and half of the mountain shall unto Jehovah; not day, and not night; 
remove toward the north, and half of but it shall come to pass, that at even- 
it toward the south. time there shall be light. 

5 And ‘ye shall flee *by the valley of 8 And it shall come to pass in that 
*my mountains; for the valley of the day, that living waters shall go out from 
mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, Jerusalem; half of them towards the 
ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before eastern sea, and half of them toward the 
the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, western sea: in summer and in winter 
king of Judah; and Jehovah my God shall it be. f 

1Or, as otherwise read, the valley of my ‘Or, the light shall not be bright nor dark 
mountains shall be stopped 

2Or, to 

8Or, the 


Vers. 4-8. THE RETURN OF THE MESSIAH TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, 
AND THE PHYSICAL CHANGES IN THE LAND. 


Ver. 4. The valley is to run east and west. 
304 


ZECHARIAH 


| The prediction that His feet shall stand on the mount of Olives, Erd- 
man says, 1s a proof that the Lord is to return to this earth. 


Ver..5.> “by the valley’’,—1. e., through it. 

“my mountains’ ,—i. e., those made by the cleavage. 

“reach unto Azel’’,—This refers to a place near Jerusalem of which 
no trace exists today. 

One derivation of the word makes it mean “‘adjoining’. (F. He. 
Koe. Jer.) Fausset says, ‘“The valley reaches up to the city gates so as to 
enable the fleeing citizens to betake themselves to it immediately on leaving 
the city’. 

Another derivation makes it mean ‘“‘ceasing’’ (Hen.), the valley reach- 
ing to Azel where they will find cessation from danger. This puts the 
place east of the mount of Olives. 


“earthquake’’,—This is referred toin Amos 1.1 but of it we have no 
further information. 

“with thee’’,—The narrative here passes from indirect to direct ad- 
dress suddenly because of the rapture of the moment,—a thing not uncom- 
mon in Hebrew. 


“all the holy ones with thee’’,—All agree that angels are meant, and 
to these are added by premillennarians redeemed men, glorified saints. 


Ver. 6. This is a very difficult verse. 

1. A very great preponderance of manuscript authority (Tar. It. Pe.) 
as well as many commentators (He. Lut.) translate, ‘It will not be light, 
but cold and ice’. 

2. Exégetical necessity almost compels one to accept the translation 
of either the A-R-V or the A-V., and the preponderance of authority is 
greatly on the side.of the former. (K. KI. Ch. Hen. Hof. Pre. Fur. Van. 
Koe.) The whole verse then indicates a day of darkness. 


Ver. 7. “one day’’,—1i. e:, an unique day. 
“known to Jehovah’’,—And by implication to no one else. 


“not day and not night’’,—These words are easier explained in har- 
mony with the Authorized Version reading of verse 6. Both verse 6 and 
verse 7 would then refer to an admixture like a dark day in which it is 
hard to distinguish between the darkness and the light. If the reading 
of our text, which we have preferred, in verse 6 be retained it is still possible 
to find reference to the kind of a day just mentioned. Chambers, how- 
ever, explains, “not day and not night’ in the sense of not being able to 
determine what is day and what is night because the lights of heaven have 
been put out, and this is in harmony with what is said elsewhere of the 
Day of the Lord, i. e., a day of darkness. 

“at eventime there shall be light’’,—-When darkness would be ex- 
pected it suddenly becomes light. 

Cowles says, ‘“There is a gradation through three distinct stages, first, 
utter darkness; then, a dim twilight like that of an eclipse; then at the close 
when you might expect darkness to cover the earth, lo! the effulgence of 
the full and glorious day.”’ 


Ver. 8. An ever-flowing stream toward the Dead Sea and toward 
the Mediterranean, a lively image of abundance. 


305 


ZECHARIAH 


9 And Jehovah shall be King over 
all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah 
be one, and his name one. 

10 All the land shall be made like 


the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon 
south of Jerusalem; and she shall be 
lifted up, and shall dwell in her place, 
from Benjamin’s gate unto the place 
of the first gate, unto the corner gate, 
and from the tower of Hananel unto the 
king’s winepresses. 

11 And men shall dwell therein, 
and there shall be no more ‘curse; but 
Jerusalem shall dwell safely. 

12 And this shall be the plague 
wherewith Jehovah will smite all the 
peoples that have warred against Jeru- 
salem: their flesh shall consume away 


" while they stand upon their feet, and 


their eyes shall consume away in their 
sockets, and their tongue shall consume 
away in their mouth. 

13 And it shall come to pass in that 
day, that a great “tumult from Jehovah 
shall be among them; and they shell 
lay hold everyone on the hand of his 
neighbor, and his hand shall rise up 
against the hand of his neighbor. 

14 And Judah also shall fight at Jeru- 
salem; and the wealth of all the na- 
tions round about shall be gathered. to- 
gether, gold, and silver, and apparel, in 
great abundance. 

15 And so shall be the plague of the 
horse, of the mule, of the camel, and 
of the ass, and of all the beasts that 
shall be in those camps, as that plague. 


Or, dax Or, devoting to destruction “Or, discompture 


Vers. 9-15. “THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED UPON THE EARTH. 


Ver. 9. “‘be one and His name one’’,—i. e., be so recognized, He 
alone will be worshipped and the worship of idols and other gods will 
disappear. 


Ver. 10. “‘Arabah’’,—The largest of the Judean plains running 
from Lebanon to the further side of the Dead Sea. 

“Geba and Rimmon’’ ,—Cities on the northern and southern borders 
of Judea. 

““she’’,—1. e., Jerusalem. 

“from Benjamin’s gate (on the north) to’’, etc..—It is a question 
whether “‘the first gate’ (the old gate, Neh. 3.6) was on the east or on 
the west. Some make the line run east to the “first gate’’ and west to the 
“corner gate’ (F. K. Hen.), while others, with less probability, make the 
“first gate’ and the “‘corner gate’ the same and place it on the northwest 
corner. 

The idea is that the city is to have its former limits. Some put the 
tower of Hananel at the northeast corner and the wine presses at the south; 
others put the former at the south and the latter in the center of the city. 


Vienell 
salem. 

“The last day will end everything.”’ (Au.) 

“Temporal blessings and spiritual prosperity go hand in hand in the 
Millennium.” (F.) 

“In the nature of the case’, says Seiss, ‘“‘what is here foretold in verses 
9 to 11 can only be realized as the result of the great consummation. It is, 
moreover, prefaced with the description of judicial administrations, in 
which ‘the Lord shall go forth, . .. and His feet shall stand in that day 
upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east’.”’ 


Ver. 12. The foe that is here punished, says Fausset, is the last 
antichristian confederacy. 


This verse is used in Rev. 22.3 to describe the New Jeru- 


306 


ZECHARIAH 


Ver. 13. ‘“‘lay hold’’,—WNot for help, as some maintain, but to assail 
mm. (Fy Ch; ) 
Ver. 14. “fight at Jerusalem’’,—Not against Jerusalem (C. Ma. 


Jer. Lut. Coc. Kim.), but fight at Jerusalem against her foes. 
KI. Hen. Koe.) 


seals 


curse. 


(F. K. Ch. 


Even the beasts of the foes shall be overtaken by the divine 


16 And it shall come to pass, that 
every one that is left of all the nations 
that came against Jerusalem shall go up 
from year to year to worship the King, 
Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast 
of tabernacles. 

17 And it shall be, that whoso of all 
the families of the earth goeth not up 
unto Jerusalem to worship the King, 
Jehovah of hosts, upon them there shall 
be no rain. 

18 And if the family of Egypt go not 
up, and come not, neither shall it be 
upon them; there shall be the plague 
wherewith Jehovah shall smite the na- 
tions that go not up to keep the feast 
of tabernacles. 


19 This shall be the *punishment 
of Egypt, and the ‘punishment of all 


the nations that go not up to keep the 
feast of tabernacles. 


20 In that day shall there be upon 
the bells of the horses); HOLY UNTO 
JEHOVAH; and the pots in Jehovah's 
house shall be like the bowls before the 
altar. 


21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in 
Judah shall be holy unto Jehovah of 
hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall 
come and take of them, and boil there- 
in: and in that day there shall be no 
more a Canaanite in the house of Jeho- 
vah of hosts. 


10Or, sin 
Vers. 16-21. “THE WORSHIP AND SPIRITUALITY OF THE NEW ORDER. 
Ver. 16. “‘all the nations shall go up’’,—This of course could not 


be literally so, but they might go up by representatives. (F. He.) \ Those 
who allow only a spiritual interpretation to the prophecy see here a strik- 


Pomona of depicting the entrance of the heathen into the kingdom of 
od. 


There is a bright side to our Lord’s coming, even to the nations. 
It is clearly taught that every one that is left of the nations and kings and 
princes shall worship and serve Jesus. (See Isa. 49.7; Psa. 2.8; 72.8-11.) 


Says W. J. Erdman, “The return of Christ is followed by the con- 
version of the world, as is plainly shown by Paul in Rom, 11.25-27. A 
fullness of Gentile believers is now coming in while Israel as a nation 
remains in hardness of heart. When the number of the elect Church is 
complete, the Redeemer comes out of Zion and turns away ungodliness 
from Jacob and takes away their sins, and so ‘all Israel shall be saved’, and 
when Israel is converted, the whole Gentile world will also be converted. 
The same order of events was recognized by the apostolic Council at 
Jerusalem. (See Rom. 11.12-15 and Acts 15.13-18.)”’ 


“to keep the feast of tabernacles’’,—Why is this feast designated? 


1. Because it was held during the best season for travel. (The. Gro. 
Ros. ) 


2. Because it was the holiest and most joyful feast. (Pre. Ort. Kos.) 
3. Because of its relation to the ingathering of the harvest. (Koe.) 


307 


ZECHARIAH 


4. Because it could be held without any compromise of New Testa- 
ment principles. (He.) 


5. Because the reference being to Messianic times the other two great 
feasts (Passover and Pentecost) have had their antitypes fulfilled 
and are gone. (F.) 


6. Because of its interesting historical relation. (Ch. Mi. Hen. Dac.) 


The last is perhaps the best reason. It was a feast of thanksgiving 
after their pilgrimage through the desert. It was so kept on their return 
from Babylonish captivity, and so after their long dispersion it will be 
appropriate again for the same reason. To the Gentiles also it will be 
significant after their long wandering in their moral wilderness. 


Ver. 17. ‘‘no rain’’,—Rain is one of the greatest blessings of God 
because of the fruitfulness that follows it. 


It is true, as Chambers says, that this does not compel us to believe 
that at this period there will still be godless people. It may be taken as a 
rhetorical enforcement of the thought that there will be none. It may 


however be used with some propriety as authority for the view that there 
will be. 


Fausset, referring the fulfillment of the prophecy to Millennium times, 
says, ‘“That there shall be unconverted men during and under the Millen- 
nium appears from the outbreak of Gog and Magog at the end of it (Rev. 
20.7-9), but they, like Satan their master, will be restrained during the 
Millennium.” 


Ver. 18. “Egypt’’,—Even Egypt, who is not dependent on the 
rain for her fertility, but on the Nile, is mentioned to show that not even 
she shall escape. However, the Nile depends at its source on rain, and so 
the better reason for this special mention of Egypt might seem to be the 
fact that she was Israel’s old hereditary foe. Not even she shall escape. 


Vers. 20,21. Every thing holy. Even the pots of the temple 
(used for boiling the sacrificial flesh) shall be as holy as the “bowls before 
the altar’’ (which receive the blood of the victim), yea, and “every pot’, 
(pots even for ordinary use) shall be as holy as them. 


“no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah’’,—The word does 
not mean ‘‘merchant’’, as in Prov. 31.24 (Aq. Tar. Jer. Gro. Hit. Bun.), 
nor literal Canaanite by birth (KI. Hof. Dru.), but as Chambers and others 
say, it is an emblematic designation of godless members of the covenant 
nation. Canaan was cursed among Noah’s children. It means here no 
unclean or ungodly person. 


“holiness, etc., on the bells’’,—-This does not mean that these bells 
should be used for religious purposes or worship or used to make sacred 
vessels (Cy. Gro.), nor that horses and other means of warfare should be 
consecrated to the Lord (Mi. Ma. Ew. Hit.), but that the distinction be- 
tween holy and profane should cease and all things should be sacred. 


308 


MALACHI 


THE BOOK OF 


MALACHI 


(BeGA3975 


SrAbave Re DORER 


1 Behold, I send my messenger, and 
he shall prepare the way before me: and 
the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly 
come to his temple; *and the *messenger 


of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, 
he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. 2 
But who can abide the day of his com- 
ing? and who shall stand when he ap- 
peareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, 
and like fuller’s soap: 3 and he will 
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, 
and he will purify the sons of Levi, and 
refine them as gold and silver; and they 
shall offer unto Jehovah offerings in 


righteousness. 4 Then shall the offer- 
ing of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant 
unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, 
and as in ancient years. 5 And I will 
come near to you to judgment; and I 
will be a swift witness against the sor- 
cerers, and against the adulterers, and 
against the false swearers, and against 
those that oppress the hireling in his 
wages, the widow, and the fatherless, 
and that turn aside the sojourner from 
his right, and fear not me, saith Je- 
hovah of hosts. 6 For I, Jehovah, 
change not; therefore ye, O sons of 
Jacob, are not consumed. 


1Or, even 
2Or, angel 


Vers. 1-6. THE MISSION OF JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE COMING OF 
THE LORD. 


Ver. 1. The answer to the last question of the last verse of the 
preceding chapter. 


“my messenget”’,—i. e., the one familiar to them from Isaiah’s proph- 
ecy. (Isa. 40.3.) The reference is of course to John the Baptist. 


“the Lord’,—The word here used is applied only to God, but this 
same person is called in this same verse “the messenger (angel) of the cove- 
nant’, and therefore by “‘the Lord’’ it is evident that here the Christ is 
meant, thus setting forth the deity of the Son of God. 


“whom ye seek’’,—i. e., whom ye desire—spoken perhaps ironically 
with reference to “‘where ts the God of justice’ of the preceding verse. 

“suddenly’’,—i. e., unexpectedly. (F. Wo. Poc.) 

“covenant’’,—This is understood by Keil and others of the Old 
Covenant, but by most commentators it is taken as a reference to the New 
Covenant. Perhaps the chief thought is that of the New Covenant, but we 
see no reason for restricting it either to the one or the other exclusively. 
The first clause of this verse is quoted of John the Baptist (Matt. 11.10; 
Mk. 1.2; Lu. 7.27), but the second clause, “the Lord whom ye seek”’, etc.. 
is nowhere quoted in the New Testament. With reference to this Scofield 
says, ‘“The reason is obvious: in everything, save the fact of Christ’s first 
advent, the latter clause awaits fulfillment (Hab. 2.20). Verses 2-5 speak 
of judgment—not of grace. Malachi, in common with the other Old 
Testament prophets, saw both advents of the Messiah blended in one 
horizon, but did not see the separating interval described in Matt. 13, con- 
sequent upon the rejection of the king (Matt. 13.16,17). Still less was 
the Church-age in his vision. The “‘messenger of the Covenant’ is Christ 


309 





MALACHI 


in both of His advents, but with special reference to the events which are 
to follow His return.”’ 


Ver. 2. “who can abide’’,—The day of the Lord is “‘great and very 
terrible’, (Joel 2.11). It is aday of judgment. That the two comings 
of Christ seem to be blended in one is quite the universal opinion of schol- 
ars both ancient and modern. 


Augustine says, ‘“The first and second advents of Christ are here 
brought together’. 


Fausset says, ‘‘His mission is here regarded as.a whole from the first 
to the second advent’’. He further says, ‘The process of refining and sep- 
arating the godly from the ungodly beginning during Christ's stay on 
earth, and going on ever since, is to continue until the final separation 
(Matt. 25.31-46). The refining process whereby a third of the Jews is 
refined, as silver of its dross, and a whole two thirds perish is described. 
(Zech al Bani) 


Ver. 3. “he will purify the sons of Levt’’,—These are the priests 
and judgment begins at the house of God. 


“in righteousness’’,—1. e., in a proper state of heart. 


Ver. 4. “‘offering of Judah’’,—The Hebrew word used here for 
“offering” is not that of expiation, but of prayer, thanksgiving and self- 
dedication. 


“as in the days of old’’,—1i. e., in the days of David. 
Ver. 5. “‘near to you to judgment’’,—Not only will the priests be 


judged, but all the people also. The sins mentioned are those of which 
the Jews were then and later guilty. 


16 Then they that feared Jehovah 
spake one with another; and Jehovah 
hearkened, and heard, and a book of re- 
membrance was written before him, for 


them that feared Jehovah, and_ that 
thought upon his name. 
17 And they shall be mine, saith 


Jehovah of hosts, even mine own pos- 
session, in the day that I *make; and I 
will spare them, as a man that spareth 
his own son that serveth him. 

18 Then shall ye return and discern 
between the righteous and the wicked, 
between him that serveth God and him 
that serveth him not. 


1Or,do this 
Vers. 16-18. “THE REWARD OF THE FAITHFUL REMNANT. 


Verses 7 to 15 are taken up with the complainings of the ungodly 
which was the occasion for “‘they that feared the Lord’’ to talk to one 
another in defense of God. 


Ver. 16. “a book of remembrance was written’’,—A book written 
for their advantage against the day of judgment when those found faithful 
are rewarded. 


Were lia 


treasure’. 


“tn the day that I make’’,—With the reading of our text agree most 
of the authorities (Pa. Ma. Jer. Tar. Sep.), except that they differ some- 
what as to the word “‘make’’. Literally this word means ‘‘do’’, as in 
Chap, 4.3. 


“mine own possession’’,—Literally, ‘‘“mine own peculiar 


310 


MALACHI 


Calvin translates, ‘“‘in the day in which I will do it’, i. e., fulfill 
the promises made. 

If the word “‘make”’ is retained the meaning is doubtless, as Grotius 
says, ‘‘in the day that I make those things come to pass foretold in verse 5”’. 


Ver. 18. ‘“‘ye’’,—1. e., the wicked murmerers. 


“return’’,—1i. e., to a better state of mind. “The word may be taken 
as an adverb and rendered ‘‘again’’, and the ‘‘and’’ omitted, i. e., ‘“Then 
shall ye again discern’’, etc. (K. Pa. He. Ges. Koe.) 


GHAPTER:FOUR 


1 For, behold, the day cometh, it 
burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, 
and all that work wickedness, shall be 
stubble; and the day that cometh shall 
burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, 
that it shall leave them neither root nor 
branch. 2 But unto you that fear my 
name shall the sun of righteousness arise 
with healing in its *wings; and ye shall 

10r, beams 


‘go forth, and gambol as calves of the 


stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the 
wicked; for they shall be ashes under 
the soles of your feet in the day that I 
*make, saith Jehovah of hosts. 

4 Remember ye the law of Moses my 
servant, which I commanded unto him 
in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and 
ordinances. 

“Or, do this 


Vers. 1-4. THE DAY OF THE LORD AND THE SECOND COMING OF 
CHRIST. 


Ver. 1. “the day cometh’’,—This is the “‘great and terrible day” 
mentioned in Joel 2.31. There are those who refer this to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem while others of course refer it to the last great day. “hat 
there may be a reference here to the destruction of Jerusalem cannot be 
denied but certainly this does not exhaust the meaning of the verse unless 
we confess to a gross exaggeration. It would seem that we have here again 
the principle of successive fulfillment, the destruction of Jerusalem being 
but an earnest of the later coming day of judgment. 


“leave neither root nor branch’’,—Not one shall escape, the expression 
being one of utter destruction. 


Ver. 2.. “the sun of righteousness’’,—Jewish commentators and 
many others (K. Hen. Koe. Rei. Moo.) agree with the text of the American 
Revised Version and make the idea that of “‘righteousness as a sun’’, i. e., 
the consummation of salvation. But from parallel passages such as Isa. 9.1; 
49.6, etc., from exegetical tradition and from internal evidence, it is, as 
Packard says, better to understand it personally of Christ. (Pa. He. Eu. 
Cy. The., the Fathers, the early and a majority of the modern commen- 
tators. ) 


“healing’’,—i. e., salvation. “The beams of the sun are here com- 
pared to the outstretched wings of a bird. 


Ver. 3. “the wicked’’,—1. e., those who have troubled them. 

“they shall be ashes’’,—1. e., after having been burnt with the fire of 
judgment. | 

Fausset thinks the reference is to the righteous who shall be the army 
attending Christ in His final destruction of the ungodly. (Mic. 7.10; 
eee tO, s tL Cor. 6527 Reve 2:26)27.) 


311 


MALACHI 


Ver. 4. “Remember ye the law’’,—The way in which the coming 
judgment is to be averted. They would be apt to forget it in the absence 
of living prophets of whom Malachi was the last for four hundred years. 


5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the and the heart of the children ‘to their 


prophet before the great and terrible day fathers; lest I come and smite the “earth 
of Jehovah come. 6 And he shall turn with a “curse. 
the heart of the fathers to the children, 

1Or, with 20Or, land 


83Or, ban Or, devoting to destruction 


Vers. 5,6. ELIJAH TO COME BEFORE THE DAY OF THE LORD. 


Ver. 5. This seems to be a repetition of the promise of Chap. 
3.1 in more specific form. 


Christ said that John the Baptist fulfilled both of these prophecies in 
Malachi and that he was the fore-runner meant in each of them.’ 


“This ts he of whom tt ts written ‘Behold I send my messeng:r before 
thy face and he shall prepare the way before thee’.”’ 


“And if ye will receive tt, this ts the Elijah who was to come.” 


“Elijah ts come already and they knew him not.” “‘Then under- 
stood they that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.”’ 


The angel said to John the Baptist’s father before the birth of his son, 
“And he shall go before him (Christ) tn the spirit and power of Elijah.”’ 


This is enough to prove that John the Baptist was meant by the 
““messenger’’ in Malachi 3.1, and by “Eltjah’’ in Malachi 4.5, so far as the 
first coming of Christ is concerned. 

When John the Baptist in John 1.21 denied that he was Elijah he 
meant only in the sense to which the Jews had reference, because he knew 
they were naturally thinking of a literal, personal Elijah, according to their 
interpretation of Malachi’s prophecy. But John in fact said that he was 
the Elijah of Malachi, in this other sense, when he affirmed, “I am the 
ee of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the 

ord’, 

The Jews hold that a literal, personal Elijah was meant by Malachi 
in Chap. 4.5 and that it referred to Christ’s first coming, and therefore 


they say that Christ has not yet come because the literal, personal Elijah 
has not yet come. 


Most of the Fathers, Cy. Or. Chr. The. Jer. Ter. Aug. Theo., the 
Romish interpreters and many modern Protestant commentators hold also 
that a literal, personal Elijah is meant in Chap. 4.5, but these teach that 
the prophecy has a double fulfillment; that John came in the spirit and 
power of Elijah before Christ’s first coming, but that the real, literal, per- 
sonal Elijah will come before the second coming of Christ. (S. A. O. F. 
Ma. Ry. Ew. Hit. Sco.) ; 

Alford says, ‘‘John the Baptist only partially fulfilled the great 
prophecy which announced the real Elijah (the words of Malachi will 
hardly bear any other than a literal, personal meaning) who is to fore-run 
the second and greater coming.” 

Now Christ said in Matt. 17.10, “Truly Elijah shall first come and 
restore all things’. Some commentators explain this by saying that Christ 
put Himself back in Malachi’s time and uses these words with a future 


212 


MALACHI 


reference from there, but it is far more in keeping with careful exegesis to 
refer them to a future and second coming after the time when the words 
were uttered by Christ, as do all the expositors mentioned above, except 
of course the Jewish commentators. 


Therefore that Elijah will come before the second coming of Christ 
seems quite certain, although it is not determined with absolute certainty 
whether he will be the personal Elijah (against which, however, no strong 
objection can be urged) or another John, as it were, in the spirit and 


power of Elijah. The natural inference is that he will be the real, personal 
Elijah. 


Ver. 6. Some refer this to a restoration of family harmony. (He. 
Ma. Ew.) It is better, however, to refer it to the reconciliation to be 
effected between the unbelieving, disobedient children and their godly, 
believing ancestors. They had been estranged from the piety of their ances- 
tors and the bond of union which had been broken will be restored. If 
this reconciliation is not thus effected Messiah’s coming would prove a 
curse and not a blessing. 


HE: GOSREISOR 


MATTHEW 


(A. D, 37) 


CHAPTER TEN 


23 for verily, I say unto you, Ye 
shall not have gone through the cities 
of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 


Ver. 23. “THE COMING OF THE LORD IN THE DESTRUCTION OF JERU- 
SALEM. 


“gone through’’,—This means literally ‘“‘to make an end of’, i. e., 
you shall not have finished your mission to the cities of Israel. 


“till the Son of man be come’’,—This expression here is most cer- 
tainly a direct reference to the destruction of Jerusalem which historically 
put an end to the old dispensation and which is of course a type of the final 
coming of the Lord. It is what Alford calls ‘‘an immediate literal and 
distant foreshadowing fulfillment’. This interpretation has more in its 
favor and less against it than any other. (A. R. Eb. Mi. Glo. Moe. Ges. 
Schot.) Indeed every other view is either entirely gratuitous and far- 
fetched or if it has any due regard at all for the accepted meaning of the 
phraseology it becomes the subject of insurmountable difficulty. 


Meyer says the personal second coming of Christ is meant. He says 
the phrase, “‘the Son of man cometh’’, always has a definite doctrinal sig- 
nification, and always refers to Christ’s personal coming, and that Jesus 
here speaks of this coming as being thus near, even as He does in Chap. 
16.28. But this is hardly in keeping with Christ’s own statement that 
He Himself did not know the day of His coming, inasmuch as a prophecy 
that it was so near at hand would imply that He did know somewhat as 
to the time, while furthermore it is difficult to conceive of Christ being the 
author of any such misconception as to the time of His personal second 
coming at the end of the age. 


It will be interesting to note the various expedients to which com- 
mentators have committed themselves in attempting to resolve the difficulty 
of the passage before us. One of the most curious is that of Blackstone, 
who, with Meyer, says the reference is to the personal second coming of 
Christ, but who escapes the embarrassment this view involves.by declaring 
that not even yet in this twentieth century have the followers of Christ 
gone through the cities of Israel. The work, begun in the day of the 
Disciples, has been interrupted, but will be resumed in the last days and 
then Christ will come. But this cannot appeal with any great force to 
the impartial exegete, being, as it seems, rather something of a convenient 
makeshift which avoids the real issue of the text. 


The expression is explained by some as a vague “‘coming of the Son 
of man to their help’. (Chr. Bez. Kui. The. Eut. Zig. Theo.) , This view 
is advanced from the feeling that the connection demands reference to 
something that was to happen very soon. But such explanation does not 


on 


MATTHEW 


suit the earnest “‘veri/y’’, nor the fact that in reality it was they who came 
back to Jesus. (Lu. 9.10.) 

Others make “‘gone through” mean “‘finish’’ in the sense of bringing 
to Christian perfection, and thus in this way remove the time for Christ’s 
coming far into the future. (Hi. Hof. Mal. Jan. Zeg.) This Meyer 
rightly calls ‘“‘an erroneous makeshift’. 

Neither must the expression be explained as a coming through the 
Holy Spirit (C. Ca. BI. Gro.) ; nor allegorically, i. e., until the victory of 
Christ’s cause comes (B-C); nor yet, “until the Son of man overtake you’, 
seeing that the Disciples in their mission only preceded Christ. (L. Heub.) 

Olshausen says the Resurrection, the coming through the Holy Spirit 
at Pentecost and even the destruction of Jerusalem were all too remote 
from the Disciples during the first period of their ministry, and he says 
the words involve by way of anticipation a wider range of vision and 
blend the early mission of the Disciples with their subsequent one. But 
is such liberty of extension of the thought of Christ on the part of Mat- 
thew altogether warranted with reference to any teaching? 

Says Campbell Morgan, ““This was the first reference that Christ ever 
made to His coming in any other sense than that of His presence with them 
in the world at the time. It was an incidental word, and I personally 
feel that there can be no escape from the conviction that upon that occasion 
His reference was not to the coming with which He dealt at a later period, 
but to His visitation of Jerusalem in judgment at her destruction a genera- 
tion after His Cross.”’ 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


18 Behold, my servant whom I have 19 He shall not strive, nor cry aloud; 
chosen: . Neither shall any one hear his voice 
in the streets. 

20 A bruised reed-shall he not break, 

And smoking flax shall he .not, 


My beloved in whom my soul is 
well pleased: 


I will put my Spirit upon him, quench, 
And he shall declare judgment to the Till he send forth judgment unto 
Gentiles. victory. 


Vers. 18-20. THE END-TIME JUDGMENT UPON THE GENTILES. 


Practically all scholars are agreed that by “declaring judgment to the 
Gentiles’ reference is made to Christ as Judge announcing final judicial 
sentence to the Gentiles at the day of judgment. All are equally agreed 
that by “until he send forth judgment unto victory” is meant “until He 
cause His judgment to end in victory in the day of final decision, so that 
no further conflict will remain’’, 1. e., ‘“‘until He shall have led forth unto 
victory at the last day the judgment announced by Him’. The holding 
of the final assize is the victory of the judgment. 

Alford has rightly said of the last clause of verse 18 that “it con- 
trasts the majesty of His future glory with the meekness about to be spoken 
a he 

Verses 19 and 20 then refer to the disposition of the lowly Christ in 
His day and ours. in the present day’, as Morgan says, ‘“‘He does not 
strive nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets: neither will He break 
the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, t1//—there is an emphasis 
on that word which we must regard if we are to understand the passage— 


315 


MATTHEW 


till He send forth judgment unto victory.’’ Verse 20, in fact, has nothing 
to do with the dispensation in which we live, and the “bruised reed’ and 
“smoking flax’’ do not refer, as is usually supposed, to ‘‘men and women 
whose aspirations after Him are weak but will not be despised’’, because 
there is a time coming when He will break the bruised reed and quench the 
smoking flax. These expressions, therefore, refer to His enemies, as will 
be seen by referring to the original of the quotation in Isa. 42.1-4. In 
His day of grace and mercy He is longsuffering with those who stand out 
against Him, but in the time yet to come beyond this day of grace and 
mercy, ‘He will break and quench His enemies, and He will sweep before 
the majesty of His coming, as chaff of the threshing floor, the evil things 
which so affright us by their tremendous hold upon our age. In that day 
He will send forth judgment unto victory.”’ 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


Vers. 24-30. (See explanation under verses 38-43.) 


31 Another parable set he forth be- seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater 
fore them, saying, The kingdom of than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so 
heaven is like unto a grain of mustard that the birds of heaven come and lodge 
seed, which a man took and sowed in his in the branches thereof. 


field: 32 which indeed is less than all 
Vers. 31,32. “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN LIKE UNTO A MUSTARD SEED. 


Ver. 32. “‘less than all seeds’’,—This is not to be pressed in its 
literal sense, the mustard seed being a well-known Jewish type for any- 
thing exceedingly small. 


It is quite natural to interpret this parable in harmony with the min- 
gling of good and eyil as set forth by the previous ones. Thus Morgan 
says, ‘A tree, in Scripture, is always the figure of power. Our Lord simply 
teaches that Christendom shall become a great power and force—nothing 
more. I suggest for your consideration that the fowls of the air are 
emblems of evil and not of good; and that their lodging in the branches 
of the tree teaches the corruption of even Christendom itself.’ 


Most pre-millennial scholars agree in general with this interpretation, 
and we are not prepared to say that such an explanation is not in accord 
with the general teaching of Christ concerning the kingdom. ~ 


Assuredly, however, there is an aspect of the kingdom which por- 
trays the growth of Christianity from small beginnings, and it would seem 
to be far more natural for any mind not warped by doctrinal prejudice to 
think of this parable as representing the insignificant beginning of the 
kingdom and then its increase and growth and progress while the nations 
of the earth are drawn into it, whether we think of these nations as mere 
external adherents, mere nominal Christian nations, or as representing 
those who are sincerely coming into the kingdom. The fact is it would 
be better not to press either of these views concerning the “birds of heaven’’ 
too far. The idea of growth as represented by a tree is the central teaching 
of the parable, and the birds lodging in the branches quite naturally 
belong to the picture, without attaching to themselves any particular 
significance as a part of the parable. Any picture, as a whole, may stand 


316 


MATTHEW 





for a truth, without calling for a definite significance of every detail. ‘The 
parable represents, says Erdman, Alford, and other ardent pre-millen- 
narians, ‘‘the small beginnings and wide extension of the message of the 
kingdom and of its effects’. 


33 Another parable spake He unto hid in ‘three measures of meal, till it 
them; the kingdom of heaven is like was all leavened. 
unto leaven, which a woman took, and 14 little more than a bushel 


Ver. 33. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN LIKE UNTO LEAVEN. 


“tke unto leaven’’,—Because leaven, in the Scriptures, usually repre- 
Senee ansevilminiuence il Ux l2. b> ol Cora: 64/7 s1Matts)16:6;-Galm5.9); 
many take it thus here and explain it of the progress of the corruption and 
deterioration in the outward visible Church. (Gab. Mor. Sco. Bla. and 
most pre-millennial scholars. ) 


_ But there are strong arguments, as set forth by Lange, against so 
taking it. 


1. It is contrary to the rules of hermenutics to treat an allegorical 
figure like a dogmatic statement. Thus a lion is used as a figure 
of Satan but also as a figure of Christ. 


2. All the other parables in this section, and especially the preceding 
one, bear upon the development of the kingdom of heaven, and 
so this parable would be quite out of place if taken otherwise. 


3. It is impossible to conceive of the kingdom of heaven as leavened 

by evil and thus hopelessly destroyed. 
(We might also remark that the passage does not say that the 
kingdom is like unto three measures of meal with which the leaven 
becomes mixed up, but it says the kingdom is /1ke unto leaven, and 
says Alford, a pre-millennarian, ‘“‘How are we to explain that it is 
said that the kingdom of heaven is [tke this leaven, and if it is like 
it in the sense of corruption, then there is an end of all the bless- 
ings and healing influence of the Gospel?”’ 

4. Leaven may indeed be employed as a figure of sin and evil in the 
sense of being stronger than the individual Christian when left in 
his own strength to combat with error, but not in that of being 
more powerful than the kingdom of heaven itself. 

5. Leaven as such is nowhere in the Bible a figure of evil, but a 
neutral figure of an all-pervading, contagious power. (See Leviti- 
cus 23.17, where it says, ““They shall be baken with leaven; they 
are the first fruits unto the Lord.’’) 


We find therefore on the other hand that many take the leaven here 
not as an evil principle but as a gracious influence. Thus Alford, Lange, 
Trench, Stier, Meyer, Olshausen and Godet among pre-millennialists, as 
well as all post-millennialists. 

Trench says that because leaven was as a rule used in an evil sense, 
Christ was not therefore the less free to use it in a good sense, while Stier 
says that the growth of the kingdom like a mustard seed doubtless brought 
to the mind of Jesus the thought of the corrupting influences that would 
creep into the Church like an evil leaven, and having this in mind, He 
purposely placed in opposition to it His good leaven, the kingdom of 


317 


r MATTHEW 


heaven. “The kingdom of heaven is thus seen to be the good leaven pene- 
trating by degrees the whole mass of humanity, as seen in the general 
world improvement. 


Trench, followed by Meyer, limits the parable to an individual refer- 
ence as indicating the regenerating and transforming of the soul. Meyer 
is'worth quoting here, although the limitation mentioned is hardly a per- 
missible one. He says, ““The parable of the mustard seed is designed to 
show that the great community, consisting of those who are to participate 
in the Messianic kingdom, 1. e., the true people of God as constituting the 
body politic of the future kingdom, is destined to develop from a small 
beginning. The parable of the leaven on the other hand is intended to 
show how the specific influence of the Messiah’s kingdom gradually pene- 
trates the whole of its future subjects until by this means the entire man is 
brought intensively into that spiritual condition which qualifies it for 
being admitted into the kingdom.”’ 


“until the whole be leavened’’,—This of course is never true of the 
entire dough of humanity, for what then would be made of the tares and 
the separation at the end? Just to what degree it is true individually and 
personally of the elect is also a question, even though one limit the parable 
to its individual reference. 

No allegorical explanation of the “three measures’ is to be sought, 
and those advanced are far-fetched and unwarranted. It was the amount 
usually taken for a batch. 


Vers. 37-43. (See Vers. 24-30.) 


37 And he answered and said, He that fire; so shall it be in *the end of the 
soweth the good seed is the Son of world. 41 The Son of. man shall send 
man; 38 and the field is the world; and‘ frth his angels, and they shall gather 

out of his kingdom alt things that cause 
the good seed, these are the sons of the 


stumbling, and them that do iniquity, 
kingdom; and the tares are the sons of 


the evil one; 39 and the enemy that 
sowed them is the devil: and the har- 
vest is ‘the end of the world; and the 
reapers are angels. 40 As therefore the 
tares are gathered up and burned with 


42 and shall cast them into the furnace. 
of fire: there shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the 
righteous shine forth as the sun in the 
kingdom of their Father. He that hath 
ears, let him hear. 


1Or, the consummation of the age 
Vers. 37-43. THE KINGDOM AND THE TARES. 


Ver.. 38. “‘sons of the kingdom’’,—Not by the old covenant as in 
Chap. 8.12, but by the effectual grace of adoption. 


“sons of the evil one’’,—Their ethical nature being derived from the 
Devil. 


“the field 1s the world’’,—-Stier says, and rightly, that Christ could 
not have possibly said anything else here than “‘world’’, and that all who 
without reason substitute “‘Church’”’ lose thereby a highly important 
ground feature of the parable. 


Others think of the world here as the Church, 1. e., the visibie Church, 
nominal Christendom seeking to pervade and occupy the whole world. 
(R. A. M. O. Tr.) The sense, however, in the ultimate is practically 
the same. ‘The kingdom of heaven began with Christ’s incarnation, the 
good seed being sowed by the Gospel. 


318 


. 
, 
; 





MATTHEW 


Ver. 39. ‘“‘the end of the age’’,—The reference is to the end of the 
dispensation or period of time in which we are now living. This expres- 
sion is not found in any other Gospel. The Jews said in substance, 
“When the Messiah comes, this age will end.’’ Christ and His Disciples 
took this phrase of the Jews and referred it to the second coming of. the 
Messiah which is to introduce the Messianic judgment. (M.L.O.R. A.) 

“the reapers are angels’’,—This is not a figure of speech any more 
than the Devil is a figure of speech. (See Chap. 24.31.) 

On the words, “‘let both grow together’’, in verse 30, Trench says, 
“Pregnant words, which tell us that evil is not, as so many dream, gradu- 
ally to wane and disappear before good; the world is to find itself in the 
Church, but each is to unfold itself more fully out of its own root, after 
its own kind.’ ‘There is to be the intermixture of good and evil until the 
end of time. 


Ver. 41. “gather out of His kingdom’’,—Meyer says this judg- 
ment is to take place as soon as the earth has undergone that process of 
regeneration which is to transform it into the scene of the Messiah’s king- 
dom. ‘The words “gather out’’, says Lange, ‘‘clearly show that the end of 
the age must be regarded as a period of time, an interval of time, and 
hence indicates that there is a. period intervening between the Second Com- 
ing of Christ and the first resurrection connected with it, and the last 
resurrection.” 

“things that cause stumbling’’,—Men who by their unbelief and sin 
put temptation in the way of others. 

“furnace of fire’’,—Gehenna, hell. (Chap. 25.41; Rev..20.15.) 


Ver. 43. “shine forth’’,—This conveys the idea of a sublime dis- 
play of majestic splendor like the glory of Christ at the transfiguration. 
They shall shine forth “‘ltke the sun’’ when the clouds have rolled away. 
ane.) 


“who hath ears’’,— The conclusion is in keeping with the importance 
of the parable. It behooves men to heed a prophecy respecting the destiny 
of all men. 

44 The kingdom of heaven is like 
unto a treasure hidden in the field; which 
a man: found and hid; and ‘in his joy 
he goeth and selleth all that he hath, 
and buyeth the field. 


1Or, for joy thereof 


Ver. 44. “THE KINGDOM LIKE A TREASURE HID IN A FIELD. 


The kingdom of heaven can become ours only on condition that we 
are prepared joyfully to surrender for its sake every other earthly treasure. 
The field is the outward visible Church, and this man, says Alford, with- 
out any earnest seeking unexpectedly finds in some part of it the treasure 
of true faith and hope. 

45 Again the kingdom of heaven is 
like unto a man that is a merchant seek- 
ing goodly pearls; 46 and having found 


one pearl of great price, he went and 
sold all that he had, and bought it. 


Vers. 45,46. “THE KINGDOM LIKE A MAN SEEKING PEARLS. 
This is a parable not merely of a finder but of a seeker, a seeker after 


truth. The Pearl of Great Price is Christ Himself. 


29 


MATTHEW 


“one’’,—There is only one such pearl. 


47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is bad they cast-away. 49 So shall it be 


like unto a ‘net, that was cast into the in “the end of the world: the angels shall 

sea, and gathered of every kind: 48 come forth, and sever the wicked from 

which, when it was filled, they drew up among the righteous, 50 and shall cast 

on the beach; and they sat down, and them into the furnace of fire: there shall 

gathered the good into vessels, but the be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 
1Gr. drag-net 2Or, the consummation of the age 


Vers. 47-50. THE KINGDOM LIKE A DRAG-NET. 


The ultimate separation of the holy and the unholy in the Church. 

The net is the Church, the outward visible Church, gathering from 
the sea of nations. The parable teaches the development side by side of 
good and evil in this Church and the world. 

“they sat down’’,—Intimating perhaps that some time is to be taken 
in the work of separation. 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


27 For the Son of man shall come in say unto you, There are some of them 
the glory of his Father with his angels; that stand here, who shall in no wise 
and then shall he render unto every man taste of death, till they see the Son of 
according to his *deeds. 28 Verily, I man coming in his kingdom. 

1Gr. doing 


Vers. 27,28. “THE COMING OF THE LORD IN THE DESTRUCTION OF 
JERUSALEM. 


Ver. 27. Christ at His Second Coming is to appear as Judge and 
His attendants shall be His angels. 

“shall come’’,—This is not a simple future, ne Lange i is inclined to 
see in it the meaning that the event is impending, i. e., He shall come—is 
about to come. 

“tn the glory of his Father’’,—The same glory as that which belongs 
to God and which He now shares with God. 

““deeds’’,—The total outward manifestation of his inner life as a 
believer or an unbeliever. 


Ver. 28. Olshausen says, ‘‘This saying, which the first three evange- 
lists have with such unanimity preserved in the same connection, was one 
of the strongest supports of the Apostolic age that there would be a speedy 
and visible return of Christ.”’ 

“some of them that stand here’’,—The Disciples and the people 
standing about Him. (Mark 8.34.) This much we must accept as cer- 
tain, namely that it presupposes that the majority of them will have died 
previous to the event in question. 

“coming in his kingdom’’,— 


Many commentators refer this to the following transfiguration. 


(Be. Va. Fa. Chr. Ken.) 
But, 


(a) “‘some not tasting death’ implies a distant event, at least 
one more distant than six days. 


320 


MATTHEW 


(b) The evangelist could not have applied this expression to 
such an exceptional and transitory incident. 

(c) The transfiguration could not, save in the sense of a fore- 
taste, be called a coming in His kingdom. 


. Lange refers it to His resurrection, to the coming in the glory of 


His kingdom within the circle of the Disciples, which took place 
when He arose from the dead and revealed Himself in their midst; 
the moment being close at hand when their hearts were to be set 
at rest by such manifestation of His glory. | 
But the first objection (a) to the view above applies equally 
here. 


. Godet refers the expression to a spiritual coming of Christ, to an 


inner experience of the soul in accordance with the inward nature 
of the kingdom itself (the kingdom of God is within you); in 
order to enjoy this sight a new sense, a new birth, is needed, which 
some of them standing there should receive with the coming of 
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, when they were to behold with their 
inward eye those wonderful works of God which Jesus calls His 
kingdom, or the kingdom of God. 

But the objection just recorded obtains here. It is. further- 

more an altogether too easy method of resolving a difficulty. 


. Many other authorities refer the expression to the progress and 


conquests of the Gospel, especially between Pentecost and the 

Destruction of Jerusalem. (AI. Fa. Whe. Dor. Era. Klo. Schen.) 
But there is the same fatal objection to this view, as without 
doubt practically all of them saw at least the beginning of 
such a fulfillment. 


. Barnes interprets the passage spiritually and refers it to the day of 


Pentecost and the founding of the Church. But, 

(a) The same common objection applies equally to this view. 

(b) Jesus and the Holy Spirit are two distinct persons. Jesus 
said, “‘I will send you another Comforter’, and if the Holy 
Spirit be “‘another’’ Comforter, He cannot then be Christ 
Himself, and it is therefore inconsistent to confound this 
event with the coming of the Son of man. 

(c) Furthermore, it will not do to identify the Church with the 
Kingdom. +The Church is to suffer and to reign with Christ 
in His Kingdom. (Rom. 8.17.) 


. Wordsworth substitutes, ‘‘shall not taste of the bitterness of 


death’’, i. e., shall not taste of the death of the soul until, etc., 

much less shall they after He comes! 
But this is an interpretation altogether too fanciful. Black- 
stone says the words may have this significance, as in the 
sense of John 8.51 and Hebrews 2.9, but he merely suggests 
this explanation, and is quite convinced that the word “till” 
more than intimates that some of them standing there should 
taste death, and that therefore natural death or the separation 
of soul and body was meant. 


. Meyer and Olshausen refer it to His ultimate glorious Parousia. 


321 


MATTHEW 


They say the kingdom cannot come without the King, and that 
the coming of this verse and the one just before it are one and the 
same, the former verse emphasizing the certainty of the Second 
Coming and the latter one the nearness of it. 

But— 


(a) This coming can hardly be the same as that mentioned in the 
preceding verse because there He comes in the glory of His 
Father, while here He comes in His kingdom. 


(b) How could Christ, not knowing the time of His Parousia 
Himself (Mark 13.32) utter such a determinate prophecy 
of it? 


(c) Christ could not have labored under such a misapprehension. 
Olshausen says Christ thought His personal return was really 
so near at hand. But this is equivalent to saying the Lord 
was mistaken. 


(d) Stier says, “not tasting death until! He comes’ implies that 
they will taste it after He comes, and that therefore this 
cannot refer to His final Parousia. 


8. Blackstone maintains that it is at Christ’s coming in His king- 
dom that He is to be manifested in His glory, and that the expres- 
sion here means His coming in the Parousia at the end of this age, 
even as do Meyer and Olshausen, but, in a manner hardly con- 
sistent with sound interpretation, he refers the prophecy of this 
passage to the visions given to the three Disciples on the Mount of 
Transfiguration, to Paul when caught up into the third heaven, 
and to John when in Patmos, as set forth in the Book of Revela- 
tion. But apart from the fact that the nearness of the Trans- 
figuration is, as we have already so often stated, fatal to this part 
of the explanation, it will not do to deprive in this way the thing 
prophesied of its actuality and to fill up its meaning with a vision. 
Whatever they were to see must have been in some sense a real 
coming of Christ in His kingdom, and not merely a vision of it. 


9. Still others refer the expression to the Destruction of Jerusalem 
(Chap. 10.23) as a type and an earnest of the final Second 
Coming of Christ. (A. E. R. S. Ow. Oo. Eb. Bl. Gro. Wet. Cap. 
Kui. Glo. Schot.) With this view we are inclined to agree. It 
has against it none of the objections enumerated and Chap. 25 
seems to support it. 


CHAPTER NINETEEN 


27 Then answered Peter and said un- lowed me, in the regeneration when the 
to him, Lo, we have left all, and fol- Son of man shall sit on the throne of 
lowed thee; what then shall we have? his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve 
28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
say unto you, that ye who have fol- Israel. 


Vers. 27,28. THE DISCIPLES TO JUDGE ISRAEL AT THE LORD’S RETURN. 


Ver. 27. A question doubtless prompted by the words, “‘shalt have 
treasure in heaven’”’ spoken to the rich young man. 


322 


MATTHEW 


“what shall we have therefore?’’—This is a question of reward. 


Not ‘‘What therefore will there be for us still to do?’’ (Pau.) ; nor ‘‘What 


is waiting for us? Are we, too, to be called upon to undergo such a test as 
the young man has just been subjected to?’’ (O.) 


Ver. 28. “in the regeneration’’,—Some (Aug. Eut. Fri. Theo.) 
interpret this expression of the Resurrection; but this sense is too restricted 
and is besides contrary to regular New Testament usage. 


Hilary, Hammond and others apply the expression to the first regen- 
eration, and, connecting it with “followed me’’, render, ‘““Ye who have 
followed me in the regeneration, or as regenerated persons’. Similar to 
this is the view which takes the words as referring to the state of things 
on earth after Christ’s resurrection, when He had sat down, after His ascen- 
sion, upon His throne. (C. Bl. Li. Gro. Whe.) But the Disciples could 
only have conceived of the renovation of the world as something taking 
place contemporaneously with the actual setting up of the kingdom at the 
return of the Lord. Others accordingly and rightly take them as signify- 
ing the change by which the whole world is to be restored to that original 
state of perfection in which it existed before the fall and which is to be 
brought about by the coming of the Messiah, at which time it seems, in 
the minds of the Disciples, there would take place the setting up of His 
kingdom. (M. D.) Lange combines the last two views. 

“judging the twelve tribes of Israel’’,—There are two views of this 
passage: 

1. The symbolical view, i. e., that the expression applies to the 
spiritual administration and rule of the Disciples in subordination 
to the will of the Master. Lange says that it is a figurative repre- 
sentation of Christ’s presence and power in the infant Church, 
laying down rules and sitting in judgment through His vice- 
regents, the Disciples. The Disciples appear here therefore in 
the ideal rather than in their individual capacity, and that there- 
fore the twelve tribes of Israel must be taken in a symbolical sense 
as applying to the whole body of believers. (L. D.C. Bl. Gro. 
Whe. ) 


But against the symbolical view the following good reasons 
obtain: 

(a) The period after Christ’s resurrection was not the time of 
their reward but of trial and persecution. 

(b) It does not furnish a pertinent reply to Peter's question. 

(c) Godet says that in the parallel passage in Luke 22.30, the 
expression, ‘“‘eat and drink at my table’, almost compels one 
to go further than the-spiritual or symbolical interpretation, 
and interpret “in my kingdom” as in Luke 22.16,18, and 
so it would seem that the reference is to a kingdom He was 
to establish in the future. 

(d) Meyer says that the Disciples could: only conceive of the 
renovation of the world contemporary with the setting up of 
the Messianic kingdom. 


2. The literal view, which attaches to the word “‘judging’’ its usual 
literal significance. It must at least have so appeared to the minds 


of the Disciples. (M. O. G. PI. Ow. Carr.) 
323 


MATTHEW 


Ellicott well says, “Whatever approximations to a literal fulfillment 
there may bein the far-off future lies behind the veil.’ That is, we do 
not know exactly what is the nature of this function, but the arguments © 
all seem to strongly favor the literal view of the same. Judging, it would 
seem in the minds of the Disciples, would refer not alone to judging every 
man according to his works, as assessors of the divine King; but judging 
in the old sense of the word as well, i. e., redressing wrongs, ruling, gov- 
erning. 

Owen would have us think of a mere “‘concurring’’ in the sentence 
of the Judge. in 


Ellicott says, ““The words receive at least an adequate fulfillment if 
we see in them the promise that in the last triumphant stage of the redeem- 
ing work the Apostles should still be recognized and held in honor as 
guiding the faith and conduct of their countrymen. So I Cor. 6.2 refers 
in like manner not solely nor chiefly to any share which the Disciples shall 
have in the actual work of the final judgment, but to the assured triumph 
of the faith, the laws, the principles of action of which they were then the 
persecuted witnesses.”’ ‘ 

Meyer, advocating the literal view, says, “‘Believers generally are to 
share in the future glory and reign of Christ (Rom. 8.17; II Tim. 2.12) 
and to have part in judging the non-Christian world (I Cor. 6.2), but 
to the Disciples the special prerogative is here accorded of having part in 
the judgment of the Jewish people, it being evident from I Cor. 6.2 that 
the Jewish people will then still form part of the unconverted world.” 


CHAPTER TWENTY 


21 She saith unto him, Command 
that these my two sons may sit, one 
on thy right hand, and one on thy left 
hand, in thy kingdom. 


Ver. 21. “THE KINGDOM MISINTERPRETED. 


This request seems to have arisen from the promise given in Chap. 
19.28, and this mother was doubtless one of those who thought that the 
kingdom was immediately to appear. (Matt. 27.56; Mark 15.40; Luke 
LO slay) 


CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 


43 Therefore say I unto you, the 44 And he that falleth on this stone 
kingdom of God shall be taken away ~- shall be broken to pieces; but on whom 
from you, and shall be given to a soever it shall fall, it will scatter him 
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. as dust. 


Vers. 43,44. THE REJECTION OF THE JEWISH NATION. 


Ver. 43. Returning to the parable, our Lord announces more plainly 
than ever to them their rejection by God. 


“a nation bringing. forth the fruits thereof’’,—The reference is no 
doubt, as Alford says, to the holy nation, the peculiar people of God, the 
Church of the truly faithful. (1 Pet. 2.9 and Acts 15.14.) It is quite 


324 





MATTHEW 


true, as Whedon says, that our Lord here predicts again the fall of the Jews 
and the call of the Gentiles, but as Meyer, Olshausen and Fausset say, the 
community of believers referred to consists not of the Gentiles in par- 
ticular (Eu. Vol. Keim.), but of the whole of the future subjects of the 
kingdom, conceived of as one people, consisting chiefly of Gentiles of 
course until “‘all Israel should be saved’’. 


Gaebelein objects to the view just stated by saying that the Church is 
called “‘the body of Christ’’, “‘the Bride of Christ’’, “the habitation of God 
by the Spirit’, “‘the Lamb’s wife’, but never a nation. He therefore refers 
the expression to the believing remnant of the Jews, but there is hardly 
sufficient argument in support of his objections and of his view. 


Ver. 44. There is no doubt here a reference to the second chapter 
of Daniel. The idea is, Whoever falls on Christ, i. e., stumbles over Him 
as a ‘‘rock of offense’ (I Pet. 2.8; Isa. 8.14,15) in the days of His humilia- 
tion shall be broken, i. e., shall have great sorrow; but to incur His wrath, 
to have Him fall on them at His Second Coming to judgment means ‘utter 
destruction. 


“scatter him as dust’’,—Literally, ‘‘shall winnow him’’, suggested by 
Dan. 2.35 where the image broken to pieces became as the chaff of the 
threshing floor. The idea is that of being thrown off like chaff from 
the winnowing fan. 


Ellicott, Whedon and others, who refer both parts of the expression 
to the present dispensation which began with the first coming of Christ, 
say the second part of the verse refers to Christ, or the Church with which 
He identifies Himself, coming into collision with the powers that oppose 
Him, when it shall grind them to pieces and scatter them like dust. 


While the reference is a general one, Gaebelein says with propriety that 
the first part of the verse refers to the Jews and the second part to the 
Gentiles. The first part has been fulfilled and the second part will be 
when. at His coming He falls on the world-powers, the Gentile govern- 
ments, and grinds them to powder. 


Godet, who seems to agree with Gaebelein, says, “It is dangerous to 
encounter this stone whether by dashing against it while yet it is laid on 
the ground, as Israel is doing, or whether when it shall be raised to the 
top of the building, men provoke it to fall on their own heads as other 
nations shall one day do.” 


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 


39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not 
see me. henceforth, till ye shall say, 
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of 
the Lord. 


Ver. 39. THE GLAD WELCOME OF OUR LORD AT HIS SECOND COMING. 


You shall not see me henceforth until that day, the subject of all 
prophecy, when the repentant Jewish nation shall turn with true and 
loyal Hosannahs and blessing to greet Him whom they have pierced. 


Pent, 4:3.0/3:191sa/'66:20;*Hos. 3°4,5;"Zech 12.10; 14.8411.) 


“he that cometh’’,—Not in the destruction of Jerusalem (Wet.), 
because Christ was not then hailed as here predicted; but that Second 


325 


MATTHEW 


Coming when He shall appear in the glory of the Messiah. (M. E. A. G. 
S. B. L. Au. Oo. Ew. Hof. Whe. Theo. Sche.) It is a mistake therefore 
to take the verse as the conversion of Israel in her development down to 
the Second Coming. 


Ellicott says, ‘‘There can be little doubt that our Lord points to the 
Second Advent and to the welcome that will then be given Him by all 
the true Israel of God. For the generation of His day and for the outward 
Israel as such the abandonment was final.”’ 


Owen, who will not think of a visible, bodily return of Christ, says, 
“Prophecy discloses to us the fact that the Jewish nation as such will 
eventually acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. He will then come, not in 
bodily form, but in the Spirit to sit upon the throne of His father, David, 
and then shall be uttered this ‘blessed’.”’ 


CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 


1 And Jesus went out from the tem- but the end is not yet. 7 For nation 


ple, and was going on His way; and 
his disciples came to hirn to show him 
the buildings of the temple. 2 But he 
answered and said unto them, See ye 
not all these things? verily I say unto 
you, There shall not be left here one 
stone upon another, that shall not be 
thrown down. 3 And as he sat on the 
mount of Olives, the disciples came unto 
him privately, saying, Tell us, when 
shall these things be? and what shall be 
the sign of thy ‘coming, and of “the end 
of the world? 4 And Jesus answered, 
and said unto them, Take heed that no 
man lead you astray. 5 For many shall 
come in my name, saying, I am the 
Christ; and shall lead many astray. 6 
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors 
of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for 
these things must needs come to pass, 


IGr. presence 
*Or, the consummation of the age 


shall arise against nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom; and there shall be 
famines and earthquakes in divers places. 
8 But all these things are the beginning 
of travail. 9 Then shall they deliver 
you up unto tribulation, and shall kill 
you: and ye shall be hated of all the 
nations for my name’s sake. 10 And 
then shall many stumble, and shall “de- 
liver up one another, and shall hate 
one another. 11 And many false 
prophets shall arise, and shall lead many 
astray. 12 And because iniquity shall 
be multiplied, the love of the many 
shall wax cold. 13 But he that endur- 
eth to the end, the same shall be saved. 
14 And ‘this gospel of the kingdom 
shall be preached in the whole °world 
for a testimony unto all the nations; 
and then shall the end come. 


8See ch. 10.4. 
4Or, these good tidings 
5Gr. inhabited earth 


Vers. 1-14. THE COURSE OF THIS PRESENT AGE. 


It is difficult to exegete this twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew and 
the parallel chapters in Mark and Luke intelligently without knowing 
whether the various parts refer to the Destruction of Jerusalem or to the 
Parousia. Some say that this chapter refers exclusively to the invisible 


return of Christ at the Destruction of Jerusalem; but verses 29-31 contra- 
dict this. 


Godet says, ‘‘Matthew combines in the answer of Jesus the two sub- 
jects indicated in the question as Matthew has expressed it, and he unites 
them in so intimate a way that all attempts to separate them in the text 
from Chrysostom to Ebrard and Meyer have broken down.” 

It must be remembered that we have here only a partial report of the 
discourse of Jesus, and even when taken with the account in Mark and 


326 


MATTHEW 


Luke, it is quite probable that only a fraction of all that Jesus said has 


~ been preserved for us. 


Prof. Erdman, too, thinks with Godet that the Lord is describing 
not one event, but two, “‘prophesying’’, as Erdman says, ‘‘the literal over- 
throw of the holy city by the armies of Rome, but using the colors of this 
tragic scene to paint the picture of His own coming in glory.”’ 

The question of the Disciples in Mark and Luke refers presumably 
only to the Destruction of Jerusalem, and so, presumably, the answer of 
Jesus as well. 


Alford says the events in this chapter run parallel; 


Verses 4 to 28 describe the Destruction of Jerusalem primarily and 
the Parousia secondarily. 


Verses 29 to 44 describe the Parousia primarily and the Destruction 
of Jerusalem secondarily. 


Verses 45 to 51 describe the Parousia alone. 


Ebrard gives us much the same division except that he ascribes verses 
4 to 14 to the Parousia. 

Owen refers verses 4 to 44 to the Destruction of Jerusalem and with 
Alford and Ebrard refers verses 44 to 51 to the Parousia. 

Others again refer the first 14 verses to the Destruction of Jerusalem 
and verses 15 on to the Parousia. 

Gaebelein and his school, on the other hand, refer the entire chapter 
to the Parousia and contend that no reference is to be had to the Destruction 
of Jerusalem in this part of the Lord’s discourse, this being set forth wholly 
by Luke in his Gospel. 

The first section of the discourse, the one with which we are now 
concerned, ends with verse 44, and we have accordingly four different ways 
of viewing the content of this remarkable passage: 

(a) Those who think it was all fulfilled in the past at the time of 
the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


(b) Those who think it is all to be yet fulfilled during the time of 
the great tribulation just before the coming of the Lord in glory and in 
judgment on the antichristian forces of the world after the Church has 
been caught up according to the fourth chapter of I Thessalonians. 


(c) “Those who think it is being fulfilled in this present dispensation 
and is to find its final and more awful fulfillment in the great tribulation 
through which the Church herself will pass in the time of the end. 

(d) Those who see part fulfillment in the Destruction of Jerusalem 
and the other part in the Parousia which is still in the future. 

We shall endeavor to deal fairly with all these views, carrying them 
along side by side, that the student may the more easily resolve the situa- 
tion, if indeed it can be done with unquestioning satisfaction. 

Some say that Jesus thought of the Destruction of Jerusalem and His 
Second Coming as at the same time, but, 

1. This denies His infallibility. 

2. It is a contradiction of His own words in Mark 13.32. 

3. Luke 21.24 proves conclusively that He did not so think, nor 

think of His Second Coming as so near at hand. 


Bi 


MATTHEW 


Ver. 1. In pointing out the magnificence of the temple they doubt- 
less had in mind the reference made to it by Christ in Chap. 23.38. 


i “his disctples’’,—Luke says ‘“‘some’’, while Mark says, “one of his © 
disciples’, probably Peter. 


Ver. 2. ‘See ye not’’, etc..—This sentence in Luke is an affirmation, 
but whether it be taken as an affirmation or a question the sense is the 
same, serving to call attention to the prophetic doom awaiting the city. 


Ver. 3. “the disciples’’,-From Mark we learn that it was Peter, 
James, John and Andrew. 


There are only two questions here; they wanted to know when the 
destruction foretold would take place, and then they wanted to know the 
sign of two things, namely, His coming and the end of the world, which 
two things in their minds were to occur at the same time. (Gab.) 


“the sign of thy coming’’,—The word here is ““Parousia’’ (presence) 
and is the ordinary expression for the Coming of the Lord. 


Whedon says, “the word ‘Parousia’ never in the whole New Testa- 
ment signifies anything else than a bodily presence, and the Destruction 
of Jerusalem ts never implied by this term.” 


Olshausen says this Parousia is synonomous with “‘appearing”’ 


(I Tim. 4.14) and “his revelation” (I Cor. 1.7). 


Olshausen further maintains that as the Old Testament prophets 
made no distinction between Christ’s coming in humiliation and His com- 
ing in glory, i. e., His first and second coming; so the Gospel makes no 
distinction between His coming in glory at the end of the age and the 
end of the world, supposing as they did that both would. take place at 
the same time. So also Meyer says, ‘‘In the Gospels we find no trace of 
the Millennium idea of the Apocalypse.” ; 


“the end of the world’’,—Literally, “the end of the age’, which in 
their minds were the same. It means, as Alexander says, ““‘When will this 
existing state of things, this system of dispensation be completed, wound 
up or brought to a conclusion.” 

‘Alford says, “Christ gave them enough to guide them from error in 

supposing the Second Coming to be near at hand and at the same time from 
carelessness in not expecting it as near.”’ 
Meyer says, this age is to have a stormy and a wicked end during 
the time calledin I Peter 1.5, “‘the last time’’, and in Acts 2.17 and II Tim. 
3.1, “‘the last days’. He warns us, however, against confounding these 
designations with the expression, “‘the last day’’ of John 6.39 and 11.24, 
at which time, he says, the advent, the resurrection and the judgment are 
to take place. 


Ver. 4. According to a large number of authorities verses 4 to 14 
record the answer of Jesus as it relates, primarily at least, to the Destruction 
of Jerusalem. (A. O. E. B. G. Ow. Ca. Hof. Whe. Ros. Gro. Krebs.) 

This is quite the natural view inasmuch as the first question of the 
Disciples relates to this event, and besides in Luke the only question asked 
concerned the Destruction of Jerusalem and in answering it Jesus made 
use practically of the very same language as that found here in Matthew. 

Gaebelein, on the other hand, says this part of the discourse is a pre- 
diction of how the Jewish age will end, the age following the Rapture of 


328 


MATTHEW 


the Church, the age which therefore has not ended but which has been 


“‘interrupted”’ by this present dispensation, “‘until the times of the Gentiles 


be fulfilled’, the end of the age referring to the seventieth week of Daniel, 
and verses 4 to 14 referring to the first three and one-half years of that 
period. This author calls attention to the fact that there is not a word 
in this discourse about Jerusalem or the Destruction of the temple: that 
this is reserved for Luke; that Luke says that after the siege the Jews were 
led away captive and Jerusalem was trodden down, whereas in Matthew, 
instead of a scattering of the elect people, we have a gathering of them 
(verse 31), the word “‘elect’’ referring to literal Israel. But this is hardly 
fair, because this passage about the elect may be and is referred to the 
Parousia even by the majority of those who take the former portion of the 
chapter as referring to the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


There is, however, no strong reason why the passage may not be 
taken here, as it may also in Luke, as a brief summary of the course of this 
present age (L. Er. Sco.) , and there are some statements in the passage that 
can be thus resolved with less difficulty than otherwise. We shall there- 
fore so explain it here, carrying along with the explanation, however, 
such reference as incline others to apply the passage to the Destruction of 


Jerusalem, or even yet to the time after the Rapture of the Church, as some 
contend. 


Ver. 5. “itn my name’’,—Not in the name or authority of Jesus, 
but claiming the title of Jesus, claiming to be the Messiah, the Christ 
Himself. 


“T am Christ’’,—History records no such pretenders before the De- 
struction of Jerusalem, although doubtless there may have been. Bar- 
cochba did not appear until after the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Simon 
Magus, Theudas, Meander and Dositheus, who have been referred to as 


cases in point by those referring the passage to that event, did not pretend 
to be the Christ. 


Olshausen admits that the fact no such false Messiahs are recorded 
prior to the Destruction of Jerusalem indicates that the whole prophecy 
was not fulfilled at that time, but points further on to the coming of the 
Lord at the end of the age. 


_Gaebelein says that the false Christs of other days and of today are but 
faint shadows of what will take place in the end time soon to come. 


Ver. 6. “‘wars and rumors of wars’’,—Not perhaps as Meyer says, 
“Wars in the neighborhood and wars in the distance of which only the 
rumors are heard’, but rather the rumors of wars are the conflicting, exag- 
gerated and frightful rumors which precede the approach of war and which 
cause so much panic. 


Lange says that all wars are meant down to the Parousia, while 
De Wette, Meyer, and others say that history records no such wars prior 
to the Destruction of Jerusalem. Alford, on the other hand, makes men- 
tion of these wars as well as divers earthquakes and famines. 


“these things must come to pass’’,—In pursuance of the divine pur- 
pose. The words are calculated to inspire a calm and reasonable frame of 
mind. 


329 


MATTHEW 


“but the end is not yet’’,—The “end”’ referred to is doubtless ‘‘the 
end of the age’ mentioned in verse 3 (L. D. Ow. BI. Eb. Au. Cre. Hoe. 
Chr. Ges.), although others refer it to the end of the tribulation before 
the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


Ver. 7. De Wette says that no particular instances can be enumer- 
ated, but Lange on the other hand, who contends that the passage com- 
bines in one view the whole period down to the end, says, ‘“These insur- 
rections, famines, earthquakes and other plagues which are here adduced 
were before the Destruction of Jerusalem by no means so insignificant as 
for instance De Wette asserts.”’ 


Godet says, ‘“The time which preceded the Destruction of Jerusalem 
was signalized in the east by many calamities, a dreadful famine which took 
place under Claudius, and by the earthquake which destroyed Laodicea 
and other cities in A. D. 68. At Czsarea 20,000 Jews were massacred in 
a fight with the Gentiles, and 30,000 died in Rome of a pestilence.” 
‘Tacitus gives us a narrative full of earthquakes, wars and crimes, and 
describes the period as one “‘rich in calamities, horrible with battles, rent 
with seditions, and even savage in peace itself.’ 


This passage could therefore be made to refer to the Destruction of 
Jerusalem as well as to this present age or the times at the end of this age. 


Gaebelein says the “‘pestilences and earthquakes’’ of our times are but 
harbingers of the far greater ones during the actual “‘end of the age’ still 
to come. 


Ver. 8. “the beginnings of travatl’’,—They stand in relation to 
what is to follow as the beginnings of the birth-pangs do to the much 
severer pains which follow. 


Ver. 9. “‘Then’’,—Not after the things of verses 6 and 7 have 
taken place, but during that time. (L. A. M.) 


In Luke it says, “before all these things’’,— his seems to present a 
contradiction which Godet escapes by taking the word “‘before’’ not in 
the sense of time but in the sense of importance, i. e., above all things else. 
Meyer, however, says the word “‘before’’ can only be taken in the sense of 
‘“‘previous to’’, and certainly this is its more natural meaning. ‘There is 
no contradiction between the account of Luke and that of Matthew and 
Mark, and in order to see this we need not take the preposition | in any 
other than its natural sense, ‘‘before—previous to”. Matthew says “‘then’’, 
and this seems to imply, as does the narrative in Mark, that the persecu- 
tions would follow the signs, but in verse 6 of Matthew we are told 
what shall take place before the end comes and this verse corresponds 
to verses 8 and 9 in Luke. ‘Then verses 7 and 8 in Matthew correspond 
to verses 10 and 11 in Luke, and these verses both in Matthew and Luke, 
which tell of certain things which are “the beginnings of sorrow”’’, are in 
each case a parenthetical warning of what shall happen before the end, 
Then having stated that “these things are the beginnings of sorrow’’, the 
chronology is resumed in all three accounts, the ‘“‘then’’ in Matthew going 
back to verse 6 while in Luke the word “‘before’’ refers back to the same 
time, the word itself meaning “‘before the things mentioned in the paren- 
thetical statement’. The whole difficulty arises from not pep appre- 
ciating the force of the expression, “‘the beginnings of sorrow’ 


330 


__ MATTHEW 


“hated of all nations’’,—They were slandered by Jewish enemies 
and considered as atheists and devourers of children. Tacitus charged them 
with being the enemies of the human race. 


This verse may apply with equal fitness to either of the three times 
under consideration. Gaebelein of course refers those “‘delivered up and 
killed” to the martyrs of the Jewish remnant during the great tribulation 
after the rapture of the Church as mentioned in Rev. 6.9-11. 


“Certainly”, says Lange, “‘this must refer to religious persecutions of 
modern times as well as to those of earlier times, the Disciples being in this 
the representatives of all Christians.”’ 


Ver. 10.  “’Then’’,—As in verse 9. 

“many’’,—Christians. 

““stumble’’,—Renounce Christ and become apostate because of perse- 
cution, or, especially if the verse be applied to this age, because of new 
phases of truth presented, or because of the delayed coming of the Lord, 
the first reason being, however, the chief one. 


“deliver up one another’’,—The apostates shall deliver up the Chris- 
tians, says Meyer, while Lange thinks of the persecutions inflicted by one 
Christian sect upon another. 


Ver. 11. ‘“‘false prophets’’,—False teachers. “hey should not be 
more precisely defined as to the nature of their prophecy or their particular 
teaching. 


Wate 4, “the love of many shall wax cold’’,—Doubtless of the 
majority. 


Ver. 13. “he that endureth to the end’’,—The “‘end”’ here is not 
death (Eb. Ow. El. Kui.), which the context forbids; but the end of the 
period of which the Lord was speaking. 


If the passage be referred to the Destruction of Jerusalem, then the 
being “‘saved’’ will doubtless refer to escape through flight to Pella from the 
doom of those involved in the destruction of the city. (E. Hof. Ros. Kre.) 

If, on the other hand, it be referred to the end of the age, then the 


deliverance is that which comes to the faithful who go through the Great 
Tribulation before the coming of the Lord. (M. L. Whe.) 


Ver. 14. “‘this Gospel of the kingdom’’,—The Gospel which Christ 
was then preaching, i. e., the Gospel of the Messianic, universal kingdom. 


“in all the world’’,—Mark reads, ‘‘among all nations’; Alford and 
Ellicott limit this to? the Roman Empire, but it refers rather to the then 
inhabited earth. 


Olshausen says that this preaching is now going on and this verse 
opposes the view that refers this part of the discourse to the Destruction of 
Jerusalem alone, because such a proclamation of the Gospel he declares did 
not take place before that event. Owen and others, on the other hand, 
maintain the very opposite. 

The fact is it is impossible for any one to say when this witness is 
complete. (Er. Bla.) When the Gospel was preached at Pentecost there 
were present ‘devout men out of every nation under heaven’’. The Dis- 
ciples ““went forth and preached everywhere’ (Acts 8.4 and Mark 16.20). 


Ee a 


MATTHEW 


In Romans it says, ‘‘their words went unto the ends of the world’”’ (same 
word as in our text). Paul says in Col. 1.23 that the Gospel. had already 
been “‘preached to every creature which ts under heaven’’. 


Again there are those who make a distinction between the Gospel of 
grace to which we have just been referring, and the “Gospel of the king- 
dom’’ mentioned in our text, declaring that this latter is to be preached 
not for the purpose of gathering the Church, but “‘for a witness to all 
nations’, and. that it is the Gospel mentioned in Rev. 14.6 as preached by 


the Jewish remnant during the time of the great tribulation. (Sco. Gab. 
Mack.) 


But there is scarcely sufficient warrant for this limitation,.nor is it 
a necessary part of the general view of the Lord’s coming which the author- 
ities just quoted maintain. 


“for a testimony’ ,— 


1. Owen says it was that the whole world might be acquainted 
with the fact of the Jewish rejection of Christ by reason of which Jeru- 
salem was to be destroyed. But this is quite too limited. 


2. Ancient expositors largely agree with Meyer in making it mean 
for the conviction and condemnation of the Gentile nations. It does not, 
however, say “‘against’”’ the nations but “unto” them. 


3. Whedon says it was in order that all might believe and be con- 
verted, but Dorner says, and we think rightly, that it was in order that all 
might accept or reject the Gospel thus preached, resulting accordingly in 
either life or death. 


“then shall the end come’’,—The “‘end’’-is unquestionably “‘the end 
of the age’ about which the Disciples asked in verse 3, and seemingly the 
end of the troubles that are to precede the Messianic advent. Owen and 
others of course apply it to the overthrow of Jerusalem. Others (L. Bl. 
Eb. Whe. Dor. Hof. Cre.) say the reference here, as in verse 13, is to the 
end of the world proper. It is not said in this verse that all shall be 
converted. 


15 When therefore ye see the abomi- 
nation of desolation, which was ‘spoken 
of through Daniel the prophet, standing 
in “the holy place (let him that readeth 
understand), 16 then let them that are 
in Judea flee unto the mountains: 17 
let him that is on the housetop not go 
down to take out the things that are 
in his house; 18 and let him that is in 


with child and to them that give suck in 
those days! 20 And pray ye that your 
flight be not in the winter, neither on a 
sabbath: 21 for then shall be great 
tribulation, such as hath not been from 
the beginning of the world until now, 
no, nor ever shall: be. 22 And except © 
those days had been shortened, no flesh 
would have been saved: but for the 


the field not return back to take his elect’s sake those days shall be short- 
cloak. 19 But woe unto them that are ened. 


2 Dany 9.2/7 cmelty sare ene 
“Or, a holy place 


Vers. 15-22. "THE GREAT TRIBULATION. 


This section is made to refer to the Destruction of Jerusalem by per- 
haps the great majority of commentators. (L.M.B.D.S.E. A. O. BI. EL. 
Wi. Eb. Ev. Ow. Chr. Eut. Hug. Whe. Gro. Wet. Wie. Kui. Pau. Fri. Jer. 
Wor. Theo. Nast, and most Fathers.) There are three principal reasons 
why it is so taken by the authorities just mentioned: , 


S22 


1-1, 


MATTHEW 


The same instruction about fleeing to the mountains are given in 
Luke where the reference is without doubt to the Destruction of 
Jerusalem and it is only natural to think of these words being 
used in the same sense in the passage in Matthew. .The destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem would then be a type of the final catastrophe, 
and, says Olshausen, ‘“‘whatever the abomination of desolation 
was, it is a type of what is recorded in II Thess. 2.4, to which this 
prophecy properly and finally refers’. There is considerable force 
in this argument. 


It was to this, they say, that the question of the Disciples chiefly 
referred and it is but natural to think that Christ is answering the 
question proposed to Him. But it is by no means clear that this 
was the principal question of the Disciples. It was this of course 
that led to the questioning, but the latter question about the end 
of the age was fully as prominent and important and a matter 
about which the Disciples were far more concerned than they could 
possibly be about the Destruction of Jerusalem. ‘The reason 
would have more force in it if it were true, as so many maintain, 
that the three events mentioned in the third verse of this chapter 
lay in the minds of the Disciples as occurring at one and the same 
time. 


But Luke 21.24 shows conclusively that Luke at least did not so 
think of these events. We must so conclude or concede that the 
last part of the verse is an interpolation, or that Luke wrote after 
the Destruction of Jerusalem, neither of which opinions we are 
inclined to think of as tenable. If then Luke did not conceive of 
the three events as being simultaneous what right have we for 
concluding that the other writers did? 


There are, on the other hand, some arguments of considerable worth 
against so taking the passage and in favor of referring it to the great tribu- 
lation period just before the coming of the Lord: 


ae 


The quotation from Daniel 12 says, “At that time thy people 
shall be delivered’’, and most assuredly they were not delivered in 
the days of Titus when Jerusalem was destroyed—they were 
massacred by the millions and dispersed in every direction. It 
must be true therefore that Daniel speaks of an end far later than 
that of the Destruction of Jerusalem. 

The difficult connection with the words of verse 29, “Immediately 
after the tribulation of those days’, is altogether resolved by this 
explanation. 


Alford, who parallels the two events in his explanation, says, ‘This 
citation from Daniel has in the Destruction of Jerusalem its immediate 
fulfillment, but its final fulfillment is yet future; for Daniel is speaking of 
the end of all things.”’ 


Ver. 15. “‘Therefore’’,—This is not to be taken, as Wiesler says, as 
“resuming the thread broken by verse 3’’, but rather signifying a transition 
to the announcement which follows, and so to be taken, with De Wette 
and Meyer, as meaning ‘‘therefore’’, i. e., in consequence of these sorrows 
which are but the beginning of the greater calamity now about to be an- 
nounced. It seems to connect what follows with that which went before 


333 


MATTHEW 


as something following in natural sequence, and it would seem therefore 
that if this section be referred to the Destruction of Jerusalem, so ought 
the former one; and so too if this section be referred to the great tribulation, © 
then ought the former one be referred to the course of this present age down 
to its close, or to the earlier part of the Great Tribulation itself, as Gaebe- 
lein takes it. 

“abomination of desolation’ ,— 


Among the views of those referring the passage to the Destruction of 
Jerusalem are the following: 


Ly 


The statue of Titus or Hadrian erected on the sight of the deso- 
lated temple. (Chr. Eut. Theo., and most Fathers.) But this 
was after the destruction of the temple; and furthermore it was 
not in the temple. 

The Roman army with its standards planted on the sacred soil 
which surrounds the city (G.), an abomination because pagan and 
a desolation because conquering and devastating (Whe.). 


The internal desecration of the temple by the Jewish Zealots 
under pretense of defending it. (A. E. S. Bl. El. Hug. Wer. 
Nast. ) 


Alford says that the first two evangelists were writing as Jews to 
the Jews, and therefore give the inner or domestic sign of the ap- 
proaching calamity which was to be seen in the temple and which 
was to be the abomination which was to cause the desolation; but 
that Luke, writing for the Gentiles, gives the outward state of 
things corresponding to this inward sign, the inward sign being 
the profanation of the temple by the Zealots and the outward sign 
being the approach of the army under Cestius. 


Olshausen says that neither the work of the Zealots nor the 
Roman army can be the thing in mind for three reasons: 
(a) Neither has a religious character, which character is indi- 


cated by the term “‘abomination’”’ as used in connection with 
the Holy Place. 


(b) The term “‘holg place’’ must relate only to the temple and 
cannot relate to the holy land nor to the land around the 
temple. 


(c) The word “‘standing”’ is incompatible with either of the two 

explanations mentioned. 
There is little if any force in the first objection of Olshausen, while 
the second certainly has no bearing on the inward sign, and the 
third puts a construction on the word “‘standing’’ which ought 
not to be unduly pressed. 


Meyer says the expression refers to the ‘‘vile and loathesome abom- 
inations practiced by the conquering Romans on the place where 
the temple stood,’’ while others (B. D. L. Gro.) refer it to the 
“Roman eagles, as military ensigns, rising over the site of the 
temple’. 
There are those who oppose this view because the expression 
refers to something that took place before the destruction of 
the temple; nor will they permit it to refer to the besieging 


334 


| 


MATTHEW 


legions of Cestius because it is said to be “‘standing’’ in the 
holy place. But Luke’s account, where the reference to the 
Destruction of Jerusalem is unmistakable, says, ““when ye se 
Jerusalem encompassed with armies’. ; 


The words simply say, “‘the abominable desolation in the holy 
place’, and the safest interpretation is that which sees reference to the 
doings of the heathen conquerors during and after the siege of the temple 
(B. D. L. Eb. Gro. Wet. Wie.), although the reference to the Zealots in 
the temple may reasonably be included. 


“the holy place’’,—This refers to the temple or the place of the tem- 
ple, and not to Palestine nor the neighborhood about Jerusalem (B. Wie. 
Schot.), nor to the mount of Olives (Gro.), these interpretations having 
been adopted on the ground that it would be too late to flee after the 
temple was taken. 


Those who refer the passage to the time of the Parousia, with which 
is connected the great tribulation, refer the expression to the Antichrist of 
II Thess. 2.4. (Ew. Sco. Gab. Ori. Lud. Klo. Mack.) It is under his 
rule that the great tribulation is to take place. 


“let him that readeth understand’’,—T hese are the words of Matthew 
himself, intimating the near approach of the signs and warning his readers 
to note the admonition to escape. (M.B. L. Ow. Whe.) This is by far 
the most preferable explanation and is favored by Mark 13.14. It is not 
therefore to be considered as a marginal note by the copyist (A.), nor as 
the words of Jesus Himself, pointing to the reading in Daniel, ““Know 
therefore and understand’. (E. S. Ba. Chr. Wor. Hen. Eut. Pau. Nast.) 
If they were the words of Jesus would He not have used “‘heareth’’ instead 
of “‘readeth’’? 


Ver. 16. “In Judea’,—Not perhaps Judea in distinction from 
Jerusalem (M. Whe.), but both Jerusalem and the contiguous places 
(Ow.) as is plainly indicated in Luke. Those in the city were to get 
out and those out of the city in Judea round about were not to enter the 
city but to flee also. 


Those who refer the passage to the Destruction of Jerusalem find the 
fulfillment of this and the following verses in the flight of the Christians 
to Pella, while Gaebelein and his school refer it to admonition given to 
the Jewish Christians who will be in Judea at the time of the appearing 
of the Antichrist. It could hardly with appropriate sense be applied to 
the Church in general which some are inclined to think is to pass through 
the great tribulation. The fact also that the admonition is to those “‘in 
Judea’ points strongly to one or the other of the other views. It is quite 
certain also that if the Church is not to pass through the great tribulation 
there could then be no propriety whatever in advising Christians to flee at 
the coming of their Lord or to pray that their flight be not in winter when 
the days were short and severe or on the Sabbath day when the gates of 
the towns were closed and food could not be procured or that a woman 
might not be giving suck to a child. 


Ver. 17. A man could run on the top of the flat-roofed houses to 
the walls of the city and so escape (E. Mi. Fri. Win. Pau. Kui.) ; the 


-primary thought, however, being as others say (L. B. Ow. Gro. Wet.), 


Deo 


MATTHEW 


that they should not come down to go into the house for any household 
goods but should escape at once. 


Ver. 19. The tone is of pity rather than denunciation. Christian 
mothers would find escape harder. Jewish mothers, it developed, during 
the siege of Jerusalem ate their own children in their awful extremity. 


Ver. 20. In the winter the days were short, the roads were bad 
and it was cold. On the Sabbath day the gates of the towns would be 
closed and the securing of provisions would be difficult. Should the same 
conditions prevail concerning the Sabbath during the time of the great 
tribulation as prevailed during the time before the Destruction of Jerusa- 
lem their flight might be hindered in either case by the Jews if they in 
any way disregarded the Jewish law about travel on the Sabbath, which 
was to be only five furlongs. 


Ver. 21. If the verse be referred to the Destruction of Jerusalem it 
is a fact that over one million Jews perished. Josephus says nothing like it 
was ever known before, and Bloomfield says, ‘““Never to this day has it 
been paralleled.”’ 


Ver. 22. ‘“‘those days’’,—To be taken either as the days of the 
destruction of Jerusalem (L. M. E. A. Ow. Whe.) or of the great tribula- 


tion at the end of the age yet to come. 
“had been’’,—i. e., by the decree of God. Their length had been 


fixed in the eternal counsels of God. 


“shortened’’,—It is not that the length of the days themselves were 
shortened (Li. Fri.), but that the number of the days were shortened. (L. 
Melos 


“no. flesh’’,—1. e., no man.. This verse may be explained appropri- 
ately according to either view. How the siege of Jerusalem was provi- 
dentially shortened is a matter of history, else the whole nation would have 
perished. 


“fot the elect’s sake’’,—If the great tribulation be thought of as 
before the rapture, the elect here mentioned must refer to all of Christ’s 
followers then living; if it be thought of as after the rapture, with the 
Church having been caught away, the elect must refer to the elect remnant 
of the Jews, whereas if it be thought of in connection with the Destruction 
of the Jews the elect will refer to the Christians then among the Jews (M. 
E. Whe.), although some (A. L. Eb. Ow.) include those who were in 
bas ae to be converted and gathered in from among the Jews and 

entiles. 


Gaebelein declares that the term “‘elect’’ in the Epistles always refers to 
the Church, but that in this chapter, as well as throughout the Gospels, 
always means His earthly people, the Jews. ; 


23 Then if any man shall say unto as to lead astray, if possible. even the 
you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here: elect. 25 Behold, I have told you be- 
believe ‘it not. 24 For there shall arise forehand. 26 If therefore they shall 


say unto. you, Behold, he is in the 
false Christs, and false prophets, and wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is 


shall show great signs and wonders; so in the inner chambers; believe *7t not. 
1Or, him “Or, them 


336 


MATTHEW 





27 Por as the lightning cometh forth Son of man. 28 Wheresoever the car- 
from the east, and is seen even unto the case is, there will the eagles be gathered 
west; so shall be the “coming of the together. ; 


3Gr. presence 
Vers. 23-26. PREDICTION CONCERNING THE FALSE CHRISTS. 


It is at this point that such expositors as Alford and Olshausen, who 
find the twofold reference in the prophecy, think that the narrative begins 
to point more to the future Second Coming and less to the Destruction 
of Jerusalem, while Lange says the transition is here marked without 
doubt to the Parousia at the end time. It will under no circumstances do 
to say with Calovius that Christ here passes to His spiritual advent through 
the Gospel. 


Ver. 23. “‘Then’’,—1. e., when the desolation and flight shall take 
place. Christ is still speaking of the time of that period of distress in 
verse 21. It will hardly do therefore with Lange to say that the word 
“then” refers to the New Testament interval between the Destruction of 
Jerusalem and the Parousia. 


“believe tt not’’,—He shows them in verse 27 that His Second Com- 
ing was to be from the sky, while these false Christs appear on earth. “The 
fact that history knows little if anything of such false Christs prior to the 
Destruction of Jerusalem and the fact that these words could have no 
possible application to Christians of this age who are instructed to “wait 
for the Son of God from heaven’ lends some support to the view that the 
time in question is that after the rapture of the Church and that the 
warning is intended for the Jewish believing remnant, although it may 
have a possible reference to the time of the overthrow of the holy city. 


Ver. 24. “false Christs’’,—i. e., Antichrists,—pretenders. 


“false ptophets’,—Not perhaps false Christian teachers (L.), nor 
apostles of the false Christs (Gro.), nor giving themselves out as prophets 
raised from the dead, Elias, and others (Kui.), but rather false prophets 
among the Jews pretending to be sent from God and trying to impose upon 
their fellow countrymen as had been done during national misfortunes of 
other days. 


“great signs and wonders’’,—The reference here is to miracles per- 


formed by Satanic agencies as in II Thess. 2.9. Meyer, Lange, Owen and 


others think here of “‘lying wonders’’, pretended miracles, but not real. 


“the elect’’—To be taken either as the Christians in Judea and Jeru- 
salem who had been converted from among the Jews, or as the believing 
remnant of the Jews during the times of the Great Tribulation, in keeping 
with one or the other of the two views under consideration. 


Ver. 26. Olshausen and Alford say this verse and the following 
can have no sense whatever except as applied to the coming of Christ in 
the clouds of heaven, the reference to the Destruction of Jerusalem being 
but a very faint one indeed. 


It is in the openness of Christ’s coming to universal observation as 
contrasted with the secrecy and deception that the words of this verse and 
the next find their real force. 


337 


MATTHEW 


Ver. 27. The coming of the false Christs shall be more or less 
concealed in the wilderness or in the secret chamber, the quiet of the desert 
and the secrecy of the chamber being convenient places for the fomenting of - 
new movements or of rebellion, but the Coming of Christ shall be open 
and discernible like an all-illuminating flash of light which no one can 
mistake, its presence to be announced everywhere from east to west over 
the whole world. 


Whedon suggests the splendor of the Coming Son of man suspended 
in the heavens while the earth makes one complete revolution. 


If this verse were to be interpreted allegorically it could afford no 
protection whatever against the wiles of the false Christs, because if the 
coming of Christ was to be invisible and figurative and could be fulfilled 
in the coming of the Roman armies or of Titus, how then could the warn- 
ing of verse 26 have any force? No, it is the contrast between the per- 
sonal coming of a false Christ and the personal coming of the true Christ; 
the first earthly and lurking, the second heavenly and lightning-like. 


Owen, of course, insists that the primary reference here is still to the 
Destruction of the Holy City while its secondary, though higher sense, he 
says, is to the final Coming of Christ. 


Ver. 28. “‘eagles’’,——The reference is to carrion-kites, a species of 
vulture. 


Some would have us believe there is an allusion here to the eagles of 
the legions of Cestius. It is better perhaps to think of Christ adopting 
the term to designate the enemy falling upon its prey, thus founding His 
expression upon the same symbol that led the armies to adopt the eagles 
for their standard. 


““W heresoever’’, etc..— That is, says Meyer, ‘‘Wheresoever there is a 
carcase there will Christ come in vengeance.”’ 


It is quite generally accepted that this explanation of the eagles is 
the proper one, i. e., Christ coming to judgment, but to what must we refer 
the “‘carcase’’? Among the different views the following may be noted: 


1. The carcase is Christ crucified and the eagles are His saints hasten- 
ing to meet Him at His Second Coming. (C. Ca. Ze. Jan. Cla. 
Fri. Fle. Chr. Jer. Eut. Lut. Mue: Era. Bez. Theo.) 


2. The carcase refers to the Christian Jews, the elect of Israel, and 
the eagles to the Messiah. (Witt.) But this overlooks the uni- 
versal character of the Advent, and besides the carcase can hardly 
be conceived of as something Christian. 


3. The carcase is Jerusalem and the eagles are the Roman army. (Li. 
Ow. Wol. Cle. Wet. Ham.) There is some merit in this view if 
in the Roman army we recognize the judgment of God and con- 
sider the same as a figurative coming of Christ in judgment upon 
the Jewish nation at that time. 


4. The carcase is Jerusalem and the eagles Christ and His angel 
host at the Parousia, at His coming in glory and judgment at the 
end of the great tribulation. This is quite similar to the view 
of Gaebelein, who takes the carcase as the unbelieving portion of 
the Jewish people living at that time. 


338 


MATTHEW 


5. The carcase is by some referred to corruption in general and the 
eagles to the false Christs who always gather wherever this is 
found. But the conjunction “‘for’’ connects the expression directly 
with the Coming of Christ. Others think of the eagles as the 
Church, or a certain class of ‘“‘advanced believers’. But this is 
weak and fanciful and deserving of little if any attention. 


6. There are others who think that whether we make the primary 
reference of the carcase to Jerusalem at the Parousia and the sec- 
ondary one to Jerusalem at its destruction by Titus, or vice versa, 
such interpretation is too narrow and localized for such a far- 
reaching comparison, and that what the Disciples saw fulfilled in 
the Destruction of Jerusalem is to repeat itself scores of times in 
the world’s history and to be fulfilled on the largest scale at the 
Second Coming of Christ. This is all the more true, they seem 
to think, since it is this advent which seems to be here in question, 
and furthermore verses 23 to 27 would seem to be against referring 
this primarily to any definite locality. This, they say, is a con- 
firmation of the truth of verse 27 that the Advent will announce 
its presence everywhere, and that from the point of view of the 
retributive punishment which the Coming One will be called upon 
to execute. The carcase, therefore, while having doubtless a 
specific reference to Jerusalem, seems to be a metaphorical expres- 
sion denoting that which is spiritually dead and doomed to 
Messianic destruction. (M. G.) 


29 But immediately after the tribula- 
tion of those days the sun shall be 
darkened, and the moon shall not give 
her light, and the stars shall fall from 
heaven, and the powers of the heavens 
shall be shaken: 30 and then shall ap- 
pear the sign of the Son of man in 


the earth mourn, and they shall see the 
Son of man coming on the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory. 31 
And he shall send forth his angels ‘with 
7a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
shall gather together his elect from the 
four winds, from one end of heaven to 


heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the other. 


4Many ancient authorities read with a great 
trumpet, and they shall gather &c. 
*Or, a trumpet of great sound 


Vers. 29-31. THE RETURN OF THE KING IN GLORY. 


Ver. 29. “immediately after the tribulation of those days’’,—We 
are now to deal with the difficulty anticipated when we took the section 
beginning with verse 15:-as a reference to the Destruction of Jerusalem. 
Nearly every expositor takes the words now before us as a reference to the 
Parousia of Christ at the end-time. Perhaps no portion of Scripture 
has been the subject of more widely divergent opinions as to the time 
element included in it than this one. It would seem that we have in each 
of the three Gospels but a partial report of this great discourse of the Master, 
and we must therefore compare the accounts one with the other, and we 
must also bear in mind that even then we may not have before us the 
prophecy in its entirety. 

Charles R. Erdman has said, ‘‘It is evident that our Lord is describing 
not one event, but two; He is prophesying the literal overthrow of the Holy 
City by the armies of Rome, but He is using the colors of this tragic scene 
to paint the picture of His own coming in glory. So interwoven are these 
two series of predictions that it is extremely difficult at times to be certain 


339 


MATTHEW 


whether the reference is to the nearer or to the more remote of these great 


events.” 


Among the various explanations of the words under consideration are 
the following: 


1; 


Zz 


Weber says that the word “tmmeduiately’’ belongs to the preceding 
verse. But all manuscript authority is against such connection. 

Nast refers verse 29 to the Destruction of Jerusalem, and, to avoid 
the difficulty, proposes a figurative interpretation of verses 29-36, 
and sees here a picture of ‘‘a judicial visitation on nominal Chris- 
tendom by Christ in order to destroy all ungodly institutions and 
principles in Church and State, of which visitation the overthrow 
of the Jewish polity was but a type and which is itself in turn 


the full type of the final and total overthrow of all powers of 


darkness on the great day of judgment.’’ This makes the Lord’s 
coming in verses 29 to 36 a providential one and without refer- 
ence to His final personal coming. The language, however, 
throughout the entire context is too plain to admit of a toning 
down of this kind which pulls out of it the very heart of its 
meaning. 


. Hammond and Schott say that the translators have made a mis- 


take and that instead of “‘tmmediately’’ it should have been “‘sud- 
denly’’, or, ‘“‘unexpectedly’’, the nature of the Advent being de- 
scribed as swift and surprisingly sudden. But the word used can 
hardly be made to bear this meaning. Olshausen calls this inter- 
pretation a ‘“‘makeshift’’. 


. Owen refers the preceding verses to the Destruction of Jerusalem, 


and says that the word “‘immediately’’ may be taken in the sense 
of ‘‘very soon after’, and refers to the comparative brevity of the 
intervening centuries between the Destruction of Jerusalem and the 
final Parousia as compared with eternity. But this is not at all 
satisfying, and something of the objection just made to the ex- 
planation preceding this one applies to this one. 


. Wetstein and others do not allow any reference here whatever to 


the final Parousia but refer the entire context to the Destruction 
of Jerusalem. They think that verses 32 to 34 refer undoubtedly 
to the Destruction of Jerusalem and ask, therefore, why verses 
29 to 31 should be interposed if they refer to a different and more 
distant and more august event. They contend also that a refer- 
ence here to the Parousia would make Christ reply to the simple 
question of the Disciples in a very confused and perplexing way. 
‘They explain the language used as that of prophetic imagery. 
But the marvelous signs and the details as here presented hardly 
seem suited to the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


Then, again, if verses 29 to 31 be referred to the Destruction of 
Jerusalem, how can the tribulation of verse 21 be represented as 
past, since the Destruction of Jerusalem, in this case, is the very 
culmination of that tribulation? 


. Ellicott and many others (M. D. Cl. Rob. Erd.) say the Parousia 


is here represented as following immediately upon the Destruction 
of Jerusalem. Meyer says that all fanciful interpretations of the 


340 


MATTHEW 


word “immediately”? come from the supposition that Jesus could 
not have possibly so spoken; but this, he says, is contrary to all 
exegetical rule, considering that Jesus repeatedly makes reference 
elsewhere to His Second Coming as an event that is near at hand. 
Ellicott, in defense of his explanation, explains the word “imme- 
diately”’ in three ways: 


(a) By II Pet. 3.8, where a thousand years are said to be as one 
day with God. Olshausen says this is not permissible here 
because the representation is evidently adopted to human 
conception. 


(b) God often postpones or hastens His plans, even as man’s 
purposes are oftentimes modified. 


(c) Christ, as He has assured us, in His human nature did not 
know the time of His coming, and so here He spoke in the 
telescopic sense with the vision of two mountain peaks before 
him, one beyond the other, but with no intimation of the 
time intervening between them. This last explanation is 
the one preferred by Ellicott. 


. Alford, Lange, Gordon and others (Au. Cre. Whe. Kel.) get rid 


’ 


of the difficulty by transporting Luke’s account into Matthew’s 
and so making “‘those days’’ cover all the time mentioned in Luke’s 
passage, namely, the times of the Gentiles during which Jerusalem 
is downtrodden, immediately after which, etc. 

Alford then says, in agreement with Ellicott, as above, “‘All the 
difficulty arising from the word ‘immediately’ comes from con- 
founding the partial fulfillment (the destruction of Jerusalem) 
with the ultimate one (the Parousia), of which latter He now 
speaks directly and mainly.” 

A. J. Gordon says, “After using language that can only apply to 
that appalling event (the Destruction of Jerusalem) (verses 19 
and 20), He adds, ‘For there shall be great tribulation, such as 





ever shall be’. How long shall this tribulation continue? Until 


Christ’s Second Coming. For our Lord declares that ‘tmmedt- 


ately after the tribulation of those days’ the signs of the advent 
shall be witnessed, when ‘they shall see the Son of man coming 
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’. So closely 
are these two events connected in the prediction that some have 
argued that Christ’s advent must have actually occurred at the 
Destruction of Jerusalem in a spiritual or providential sense. But 
a careful examination of the language used proves beyond question 
that it is a literal coming that is here described, and that a literal 
immediateness after the great tribulation is affirmed by the word, 
‘immediately’. If we turn to Luke’s Gospel, however, and read 
his parallel report of our Lord’s words, all becomes plain (Luke 
21.23-27). For he makes the tribulation to include the disper- 
sion of the Jews among all nations, and the treading down 
of their Holy City by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles 
be fulfilled. In other words, the Great Tribulation covers the 
entire age from Zion’s captivity to Messiah’s coming.” 


341 


MATTHEW 


8. Gaebelein, Scofield and others find no reference at all in this 
entire chapter to the Destruction of Jerusalem, but refer it all to 
the final Parousia at the Second Coming. ‘“‘It is important’, 
says Gaebelein, “‘to see that the record of the discourse, as given 
by the Holy Spirit, passes over the answer to the first question, 
‘When shall these things be?’ This is evident by the fact that 
the Lord says not a word in the discourse about Jerusalem or the 
destruction of the temple; while in Luke we hear that Jerusalem 
is to be besieged by armies, and the inhabitants are seen falling 
by the edge of the sword and led away captive into all the nations, 
and Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles—in Matthew we 
do not find a word of this at all; instead of a scattering of the 
elect people at the close of the Great Tribulation, we have a gather- 
ing of the elect.”’ 


We frankly confess that none of the above explanations, to our mind, 
fully meet the situation; and we just as frankly confess that we have no 
better explanation of our own. Our choice lies between the last three. 
The difficulty with the last explanation is not only that it leaves the main 
question of the Disciples unanswered, but the similarity of language, as 
used in both Matthew and Luke, certainly must have some reference to 
one and the same thing. Compare the statements and the words of Matt. 
24.4 to 9 with those of Luke 21.8 to 12 and also the words of verses 16 
to 20 of the former with those of verses 21 to 23 of the latter, and it 
certainly must appear that it looks like an utter wresting of language to 
make these accounts refer to two entirely separate and distinct occurrences. 
If this last explanation be set aside the choice must then rest between that 
of Ellicott (view number 6) and that of Gordon (view number 7). Yet 
it becomes apparent that if either one of these views be accepted, the other 
must also be taken as a supplement to it, and consequently these two views 
become in reality one, and perhaps are to be taken as the best solution of 
the problem we have been endeavoring to solve. 


“the sun shall be darkened’’ ,— 


1. Dorner says this is a prophetical, figurative delineation of the fall 
of heathenism, the sun, moon and the stars signifying the nature 
worship of the heathen. 


2. Hengstenberg says the language is figurative and merely illustrative 
of sad and troublous times. 


3. Meyer, Olshausen and others (B. Ow. B-C. Pau. Schot.) contend 

that the language must be taken literally in the sense of obscura- 
tion. This is much to be preferred, the obscurations finding their 
explanation in II Pet. 3.10-12. 
Owen explains the expression as a total eclipse of the sun as the 
result of a smoky, lowering atmosphere such as usually precedes 
earthquakes and similar convulsions of nature, the description 
being a frequent one in Scripture. 


“the moon shall not give her light’’,—To be explained similarly with 
the expression concerning the sun. 
“the stars shall fall from heaven’’,— 
1. Allegorically: ; 
(a) The downfall of the Jewish commonwealth. (Wet.) 


o42 


MATTHEW 


(b) The downfall of heathen star-worship. (Dor.) 

(c) The downfall of those who shone brightly in the Church. 
(Wor.) Wordsworth also refers the darkening of the sun 
to the solar light of Christ’s truth being dimmed, and the 
moon not giving its light he refers to the lunar orb of the 
Church being obscured by heresy. Augustine also refers the 
expression to the obscuration of the Church. 

2. Stars literally falling, according to the notion that they were 
fixed in the heavens. Meyer says, “The falling of the stars, i. e., 
the whole of the stars, as the expression must be taken, is im- 
possible; but it need not surprise us to see such an idea introduced 
into a prophetic picture so grandly poetical as this. But this seems 
to ascribe an error to Christ or at least His acquiescence in one; and 
furthermore we must surely see something more than mere poetry 
in this description. 

3. Phenomenal appearances, shooting stars and meteors popularly 
mistaken for real stars. (C. Ow. Fri. Kui.) 

4. Literal obscuration finding explanation in II Pet. 3.10-12, as 
above. (B. O. L. Pau.) Lange says the reference is to the 
planets becoming disassociated from the solar system and taking 
their places in heavenly constellation according to II Pet. 3.10-12. 
But there is too much surmise about this phase of this last explan- 
ation. 


The fourth view is perhaps the more acceptable. 


“the powers of heaven shall be shaken’’,— 


1. The host of stars. This is a very common view (Isa. 34.4), 
but it is a bit tautological after the words, “‘the stars shall fall’. 


2. The angel world. (O. Jer. Chr. Eut.) But this is somewhat 
inconsistent with the word “shaken’’, and besides the whole refer- 
ence is to the physical domain. 


3. The laws and forces by which the sun, moon and stars are kept 
in the courses, i. e., the powers which uphold the heavens, which 
stretch them out and produce the phenomena. (E. A. L. M.) 
This is by far the better view. 


“shaken’’,—The word refers to a literal tossing to and fro as a ship 
on the waves. 

Ver. 30. Says Ewald, ‘““While the whole world is being convulsed 
the heaven-sent Messiah appears in glory.” 


“then shall appeat’’,—Not merely to the elect (Cre.), but universally, 
to be in keeping with what follows. (M.) 

“the sign’’,—i. e., the sign inquired about in verse 3. 

_ Perhaps this sign cannot be imagined until it comes, but among the 

various views the following will be of interest: 

1. The star of the Messiah. (O. BI. Fle.) 

2. The rending of heaven and the appearing of angels. (Heb.) 

go feGrosse (Hi. Cy. Wor: Chr. Jer. Aug. and Alford. with some 


reserve. ) 
343 


MATTHEW 


4. A lightning flash. 

5. The signs of verse 29. (Hui. Schot.) -But the definite article 
“the’’ requires a definite sign. The word “‘then’’ is also apparently ~ 
against this view. 

6. The Son of man Himself. (Dan, 7,13.) (E. B. Ew.‘Hen. Hof. 
Fri.) But this is seemingly inconsistent with the following, 
“They shall see the Son of man’’, and it is inconsistent also with 
the question of the Disciples who asked for a sign of His coming. 


7. The dawning of the Messianic glory, growing brighter and 
brighter until Christ appears in the midst of it. (M, D. L. Whe.) 
This is the better explanation. 


“all the tribes of the earth’’,—In Zech. 12.10 this seems to be con- 
fined to the tribes of Israel, but here it seems the rather to be universal. 


“mourn’’,—The words, it would seem, apply to the inhabitants of 
the whole earth. The reference is primarily to those who have done evil, 
who pierced Him then and in every age since. (E. L. M. Ew. Dor.) 
Ewald rightly says that penitence is not to be excluded from the mourning. 

It may be interesting just here to note the words of Owen, who in- 
sists that these verses together with all that has gone before refer to the 
Destruction of Jerusalem. He says the appearance is not a literal one, but 
virtually so; Christ’s vengeance was to be so real that they would recog- 
nize His hand in it just as though they had really seen Him with their 
own eyes, 


“coming on the clouds of heaven’’,—The clouds are doubtless literal 
clouds lighted by His glory. It seems to indicate with evident clearness 
that this coming of Christ is to be a visible one. 

Alford says that the coming of this verse is the same as that in I Thess. 
4.16-17, and that it is a coming for judgment which occurs at the com- 
mencement of the Millennium when Christ first establishes His Millennial 
Kingdom. Alford furthermore says the reference is not to the judgment 
in Matt. 25.31, which judgment he refers to the end of the Millennial 
Kingdom. 


“with power and great glory’ ’,—The power and glory of the king- 
dom which is displayed in the accompanying angel hosts of verse 31. 


Ver. 31. ‘“‘he shall send forth’’,—1i. e., from the clouds of heaven. 


“with a. great sound of a trumpet’’,—It is not that the individual 
angels blow each one a trumpet, but what is meant is the trumpet of God, 
which is sounded while Christ is sending forth His angels especially em- 
ployed in His service. 

When is this trumpet sounded? 

According to Scofield, Torrey, Morgan, Gaebelein, Pettingill and 
others of this school it is the trumpet sounded at the close of the supposed 
seven years and at the beginning of the Millennium, when Christ comes 
with His saints (the raptured and resurrected Church), and the elect, who 
are gathered out, refer especially to the believing Jews who have been con- 
verted during the seven years of tribulation, the resurrection of other be- 
lievers and the transformation of living believers having taken place at, 
or just before, the beginning of the seven year period. 


344 


MATTHEW 


Most pre-millennial expositors do not seem to make any place for the 


‘seven year period just mentioned, but say that this passage refers to the 


time of the resurrection of believers, commonly called the First Resurrec- 
tion, and they refer the trumpet to the one blown in I Thess. 4.16. (M. 
A. G. L. E.) Meyer and Lange identify this trumpet also with that of 
I Cor. 15.52, but Alford refers this latter to the great trumpet of what 
he calls the general resurrection at the end of the Millennium. 


“his elect’’,—These elect are, of course, according to the authorities 
just quoted, the chosen of God of all ages who are caught up at the coming 
of the Lord, but according to Scofield, and those of his school, they must 
refer to certain elect ones, the Jews, who have believed during the time of 
the tribulation, the supposed seven year period. 


“they shall gather together’’,—This is to be interpreted according 
to the reference to be found in the word “‘elect’’, as just discussed. The 
“gathering together’ is toward the place where He is in the act of appear- 
ing on earth. (M, L.) 


Those who will hear nothing of a Millennium on earth refer these 
verses to the final end of the world, and say that while these angels gather 
the Christians to the right hand of the judgment seat, the evil angels will 
bring the wicked to the left hand. (Whe.) 


Owen, of course, refers this passage primarily to the Destruction of 
Jerusalem, and in a higher sense to the final end of the world. He says 
the “angels’’ refer to the guardian angels who in the Destruction of Jeru- 
salem protected and guided the Christians to a place of safety; and with 
Kuionel, he says the “four winds’’ and the ‘from one end of heaven to the 
other’’ means from all parts of Judea and from one horizon to the other in 
Judea. 


Lange says that as between Christ, the first-fruits and the first resur- 
rection there is a long period, so probably between the first resurrection of 
the Christians and the end there is another period, as intimated in John 
5.28,29, In this second period Lange places the judgment on the clerical 
office (verse 45); then upon the collective Church (Chap. 25.1); then 
upon its individual members (Chap. 25.14), and finally upon all nations 
(Chap. 25.31). This, says Lange, points to the judgment of Christ 
upon earth during the 1000 years of Revelation 20, and the sending of 
the angels is to collect around Christ on earth His elect, although the 
greeting and reception is to be regarded as conducted in the air. 


Olshausen says the passage cannot refer to Palestine alone because of 
the expressions, “from the four winds’ and “‘from one end of heaven to 
the other’, both of which phrases metaphorically denote the widest extent 
of the earth. He says that since the Disciples only asked for the time and 
the signs of His coming, the passage before us must refer to something prior 
to that coming itself and prior to the resurrection of the Christians and the 
transformation of the living saints. Therefore, he says, it does not apply 
to the general union of all the saints in the kingdom of God after Christ’s 
coming, or at His coming; but it applies to the dispersed of Israel who are 
to be gathered together just before the resurrection of the just, in order 
that they may be separated from the mass of unbelievers and be united so 
they can all see the coming of the Son of man. Only thus, he says, do the 
exhortations to watchfulness and fidelity have any true significance; for 


345 


MATTHEW 


this implies the possibility of escaping the dreadful events at the Parousia 
and being taken to a place of safety. The angels, he says, are human 
messengers of the Lord, the sound of the trumpet being the power of the 
Holy Spirit. (Tho.) 


32 Now from the fig tree learn her 
parable: when her branch is now become 
tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye 
know that the summer is nigh; 33 even 
so ye also, when ye see all these things, 
know ye that *he is nigh, even at the 
doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This 
generation shall not pass away, till all 
these things be accomplished. 25 
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
my words shall not pass away. 36 But 
of that day and hour knoweth no one, 
not even the angels of heaven, *neither 
the Son, but the Father only. 37 And 
as were the days of Noah, so shall be the 
‘coming of the Son of man. 38 For as 
in those days which were before the 
flood they were eating and drinking, 


10r, it 
2Many authorities, some ancient, omit xeither 
the Son. 


marrying and giving in marriage, until 
the day that Noah entered into the ark, 
39 and they knew not until the flood 
came, and took them all away; so shall 
be the *coming of the Son of man. 40 
Then shall two men be in the field; 
one is taken, and one is left; 41 two 
women shall be grinding at the mill; 
one is taken, and one is left. 42 Watch 
therefore: for ye know not on what 
day your Lord cometh. 43 *But know 
this, that if the master of the house 
had known in what watch the thief was 
coming, he would have watched and 
would not have suffered his house to be 
“broken through. 44 Therefore be ye 
also ready; for in an hour that ye 
think not the Son of man cometh. 


4Or, But this ye know 
5Gr. digged through 


3Gr. presence 
Vers. 32-44. THE SECOND COMING TO BE SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED. 


Ver. 32. “‘putteth forth its leaves’’,—i. e., about Passover season, 
about the last of March. The fruit of the fig tree accompanies the mature 
leaf. : 

“the summer ts nigh’’,—1i. e., the harvest time of fruit in general. As 
surely as the leaves of the fig tree are the sign of summer so shall the signs 
of which He speaks portend most certainly the coming of the Son of man. 
Alford says that as the withered fig tree, which the Lord cursed, repre- 
sented the Jewish race in their unfruitfulness, so this fig tree represents the 
reviviscence of that race. 


Ver. 33. “all these things’’,—(1) the signs in verse 30 (L.); (2) 
the signs in verses 29 to 31 (M.); (3) all that Christ said in answer to 
the question of the Disciples (O. Ow.). The second reference is the 
more preferable. 

“he is nigh’’,—Meyer says the subject is ““the summer’ of verse 32, 
i. e., the summer time, the harvest reward in the Messianic kingdom. This 
extending of the subject “‘summer’’ from verse 32 is permissible, but it 
seems more direct to supply the subject “he” as in our text; or it is quite 
as proper to supply the subject “‘it’’ as in the margin of our text and in the 
Authorized Version, and make it refer to the Parousia, the end of the age, 
inasmuch as that is what the Disciples were inquiring about. 

In Luke it reads, “the kingdom of God’’, and if this idea be read into 
the narrative here, with Olshausen, Auberlen and others, then the word 
“Tt’’ as in the margin must be supplied. 

Olshausen says, ‘““The kingdom of God isa state of things commenc- 
ing at the second coming of Christ, i. e., the kingdom of the saints upon 
the renovated earth as in Revelation 20.” 


346 


MATTHEW 


Ver. 34. “‘This generation’’,—Here again opinions are widely 
divergent: 


1. The people then living. (E. O. D. M. F. G. Ow. Al.) 


2am hne Jewish race (1 Aso, Ca, Au. Dor Rig: Jan. Sto.. Heu: 
Heb. Sco. Gab. Pet. Mor. Wor. Tor. Bla. Mack. Nast.) 


3. Creation. (Mal.) 
4. The human race. (Jer.) 
5 


. There is a sudden shift here to the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


(Schot. ) 


6. The generation of believers, i. e., “the body of my dtsciples’’. 
iS GlaPausGlaebut.;Gbr.. Ori. <Pheo. } 


7. “All will begin to take place now tn this time while you live’ ,— 
i. e., you will survive the beginning of these things. (Lut. Ger. 
Sta. ) 


8. The rationalizing interpreters say the prophecy has failed. 


There does not seem to be any foundation whatever for views 3 and 
4. View 7 is a mere expedient, and view 8 is of course not to be thought 
of. Such a sudden change as is suggested in view 5 cannot be supposed, 
as there is nothing whatever to support the supposition. View number 6, 
like view number 7, seems to be an evasion of the issue, and the choice 
must therefore rest as between views number | and number 2. 


In regard to the second view it must be said that there is much objec- 
tion to it on the part of commentators. 

Ellicott says there is not the shadow of authority for this interpre- 
tation. Olshausen says the word here employed (genea) is not once used 
in the sense of “‘race’’, either in the New Testament, nor in profane writers, 
and only once in the Septuagint. 

Godet says the interpretation is a forced one; Whedon says it has 
met with little favor among scholars; while most German critics treat the 
explanation as a sheer invention without the shadow of authority either in 
classical or Hellenistic usage; they say that some lexicons do not mention * 
it, even to condemn it. 

On the other hand those who accept view number | must refer the 
passage to the Destruction of Jerusalem. But then we will have difficulty 
with the expression, “all these things’’. These words look back to the 
preceding verses, and however far back it might seem necessary to carry 
their reference, the words of verses 29 to 31 must be included in it. But 
when we ask the question as to whether “‘all these things’ really did take 
place at the time of the overthrow of Jerusalem by Titus in A. D. 70; 
whether the Gospel of the kingdom had been preached in all the world, 
whether the Son of man had come in the clouds in visible glory, and 
whether the elect had been gathered from the four winds, history answers 
that nothing of the kind ever occurred at that time. 

Whedon and Owen refer “‘all these things’’ to the “these things’ of 
verse 3; but this is hardly fair in view of all that has come between that 
verse and the one before us. 

Now, if the reference here be to the Parousia at the end-time, then 
the word must be taken in the sense of “‘race’’. “The fact remains that 
many of the lexicons do give as the primary meaning of the word, Race, 


Kind, Family, Stock, Breed. 
347 


MATTHEW 


Says Alford, ‘‘Meyer, who strongly contends for the meaning ‘gener- 
ation’, states in a note that the word (genea) never absolutely means 
‘nation’, but that it may by the context acquire this sense accidentally from 
its meaning as ‘race’, This is exactly what is here wanted. Never was a 
nation so completely one genea (race) in all accuracy of meaning as the 
Jewish people.” 

Dorner, with especial truth and force, notices that verses 34 and 36 
would contradict each other if Christ announced everything still for the 
same generation—as well as that the first Christians, nay, the Apostles, 
could not possibly have continued to wait for Him, when Israel was not 
converted and Christ did not come, therefore that they cannot have so 
understood the words in the sense’ merely of the generation then living. 

Alford in his commentary, and Stier in his ‘““Words of the Lord 
Jesus’, set forth practically incontrovertible arguments for the use of the 
word genea here in the sense of “race’’, and to these writings the student 
will do well to refer. 


Ver. 35. He claims for His words the eternity which belongs to 
the word “Jehovah’’. (Psa. 102.26.) 


“my words’’,—i. e., generally, but with special reference here to the 
prophetic utterances preceding. 

“shall not pass away’’,—1i. e., in any way whatever fail of their 
accomplishment. 

Meyer rightly observes that the first clause of this verse cannot be 
regarded as a leading idea of it, but only as a subsidiary one by way of 
background for what is immediately after said of ““my words’. 


Ver. 36. ‘“‘of that day and hour’’,—i. e., the exact time; as we 
would say, “‘the hour and the minute’. 

“neither the Son’’,— 

1. This is referred to Christ’s human nature as consistent with the 


statement that He increased in wisdom. (Lu. 2.52). (A. M. 
ES Cr Des .Alv Ow, Gro, Fre) 


2. He knew personally, but not officially, i. e., Christ was using 
hyperbolical language as showing the great event was to be kept 
a profound secret, the knowledge not having been given Him as 
regards to us, i. e., for the purpose of being communicated to us. 
(B. L. W-W. Wor. Lut., and many of the Fathers.) But this 
seems something of an attempt to evade the plain meaning of the 
expression, the ignorance referred to being the same as that of man 
and angels with which it is connected. 


3. Schaff, who does not like this dualistic separation between Christ’s 
two natures, assumes a voluntary self-limitation of knowledge on 
the part of Christ, i. e., a sacred unwillingness to know. ~ 

Of the three views the first is by far the most satisfactory. 

Meyer does not hesitate to say that Christ taught that His second 
coming was to take place in the lifetime of the generation then living but 
that no one knew upon what day or hour. But this makes Christ to be 
the author of erroneous prediction. 


Ver. 37. The comparison here is not alone with the ignorance of 
348 


MATTHEW 


the exact time, but also with the sudden and unexpected manner in which 
the two events took place. 


Ver. 38. ‘They were living in thoughtless security and gross sensu- 
ality. That the reference in the section before us is not to the Destruction 
of Jerusalem, but to the end time, is seen from the fact that no such day 
of surprises came upon Jerusalem; she died by inches. 


Vers. 40,41. “one ts taken’’,—The verb is the same as that trans- 
lated “‘recetve’’ in John 14.3. 


The reference is to the Destruction of Jerusalem, and while one 
is seized and put to death or led away captive, the other provi- 
dentially escapes. (Wet. Kui. ) This, however, is ungram- 
matical inasmuch as the verb “taken’’ cannot be the equivalent 
of “capture in war’’; while furthermore the reference to the De- 
struction of Jerusalem is, at this point, as we have already seen, 
hardly warranted. 


2. Alford refers this to the Millennial dispensation and to the gather- 
ing of the elect at that time, as set forth in I Thess. 4.16-17. 


3. Ellicott and others (M. Whe.) refer it to the last day, to the final 
judgment when the holy angels will come and snatching one will 
bear him to the right hand of Christ, while the other is left to be 
borne by evil angels to his doom at the left hand of Christ. 


Meyer refers it to verse 31 and says if it pointed to I Thess. 4.16- 
17 the preposition ““up’’ would have been used in the make-up of 
the verb instead of “‘along side of’’, as is the case. But there is 
little if any force in this, and the view of Alford seems much 
the simpler. 


Ver. 42. If the second coming of the Lord were not possible in 
our day; if it is still distant by the lapse of a thousand years of Millennial 
glory, or must wait until a good part of the world has been converted, 
this injunction, it would seem, could hardly have any significance for us 
of this day; as it could not have had for them to whom it was directly 
spoken. 


Ver. 43. If the master of the house had been warned, as you have 
been, he would have been watching, the exact time of the thief’s coming 


not having been included in the warning. 


Owen, who applies the preceding verses to the Destruction of Jeru- 
salem, says the prediction here passes to the day of final judgment. 


Ver. 44. The same remarks are to be made under this verse as 
those made under verse 42. 


45 Who then is the faithful and wise tarrieth; 49 and shall begin to beat his 


*servant, whom his lord hath set over fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink 
his household, to give them their food with the drunken; 50 the lord of thit 
in due season? 46 Blessed is that *ser- ‘servant shall come in a day when he 
vant, whom his lord when he cometh expecteth not, and in an hour when he 
shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say knoweth not, 51 and shall *cut him 
unto you, that he will set him over all asunder, and appoint his portion with 
that he hath. 48 But if that evil the hypocrites: there shall be the weep- 
‘servant shall say in his heart, My lord ing and the gnashing of teeth. 
IGr. bondservant *Or, severely scourge him 


349 


MATTHEW 


Vers. 45-51. THE WATCHFUL AND THE CARELESS SERVANTS. 


Ver. 45. The image changes from a householder watching for a 
thief to a servant watching for his master. 


“Who then’’,—i. e., considering the necessity for watchfulness. 
“set over his household’’,—To dispense and apportion food. 
“food tn due season’’,—i. e., suitable food and at the proper time. 


_ The verse applies especially to the ministers of the Gospel, but it has 
a wider reference to all of God’s ministering servants. 


Ver. 46. Here is the answer to the question of verse 45. Instead 
of saying, “It is he who,” etc., prominence is given to the blessedness of 
such a servant. 


“find so dotng’’,—1i. e., in accordance with the duty assigned to him 
in verse 45. It is our duty, not to be idly looking at the clouds in radiant 
expectation of His appearance, but to be found “‘so doing’’, i. e., busy at 
our appointed task, even though we knew the hour of His coming. 


Ver. 47. This statement is not to be pressed too strongly in its 
spiritual application and so give the sense of one saint being placed over 
another. It gives completion to the story, but in the diffusion of love, the 
more each one has the more there is for all. 


__ Ver. 48. The conduct of the evil servant springs from unbelief 
with regard to the coming of his Lord. 


“that evil servant’’,—i. e., on the supposition that he is evil. He 
also was set over the household, but proved unfaithful. - 


“My Lord tarrieth’’,—Lange says the expression marks an internal 
mocking frivolity. It describes a temper identical with that portrayed in 
II Pet. 3.3-4——he is a long time in coming. 


Ver. 49. “his fellow servants’’,—1. e., such as are faithful servants 
of their absent master. 


“eat and drink with the drunken’’,—1. e., with his drunken com- 
panions, guests and outsiders and such fellow servants, who like him may 
have been evil. 


Ver. 51. “‘shall cut him asunder’’,—Owen says the reference is to 
“severe flagilation’’, pointing out that he survived the punishment. _ 


On the other hand, Meyer, Whedon and others adopt the literal inter- 
pretation, i. ¢., actually cut him to pieces, in two parts. 


There is little force in the objection of Owen to the literal interpre- 
tation, because what follows, “‘portion with the hypocrites’, is only a state- 
ment of the thing itself which the likeness of that terrible punishment is 
intended to illustrate, and we, therefore, see no reason to depart from the 
literal sense of the expression, this sense of course, as applied to the parable, 
not being intended to be carried over into the thing it illustrates, i. e., the 
future judgment. 


Ellicott gives the expression a figurative sense, i. e., his lord with the 
sharp sword of judgment smites through the false apparent unity of his 
life and reveals its duplicity. 


350 


MATTHEW 


Among other interpretations are the following: ‘“‘scourge’’ (D. O. 
Pau. Schot.), “‘mutilate’’ (Mi.), “exclude from service’ (Bez. Gro. Mal.), 
“withdraw from him his spiritual gifts’’ (Theo.), “‘extreme punishment”’ 


PChr:), 


_ “with the hypoccites’’,—1i. e., such as he had proved himself to be, 
being in reality in the service of the world but professedly in that of Christ. 


‘there —t.-e,,.1n bell; 


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 


1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven 
be likened unto ten virgins, who took 
their ‘lamps, and went forth to meet 
the bridegroom. 2 And five of them 
were foolish, and five were wise. 3 
For the foolish, when they took their 
‘lamps, took no oil with them: 4 but 
the wise took oil in their vessels with 
their ‘lamps. 5 Now while the bride- 
groom tarried, they all slumbered and 
slept. 6 But at midnight there is a 
cry, Behold, the bridegroom! Come 
ye forth to meet him. 7 Then all those 
virgins arose, and trimmed their ‘lamps. 
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, 


Give us of your oil; for our ‘lamps 
are going out. 9 But the wise answered, 
saying, Peradventure there will not be 
enough for us and you: go ye rather 
to them that sell, and buy for your- 
selves. 10 And while they went away 
to buy, the bridegroom came; and they 
that were ready went in with him to 
the marriage feast: and the door was 
shut. 11 Afterward came also the other 
virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 
12 But he answered and said, Verily I 
say unto you, I know you not. 13 
Watch therefore, for ye know not the 
day nor the hour. 


1Or, torches 
Vers. 1-13. “THE FIVE WISE AND THE FIVE FOOLISH VIRGINS. 


Some authorities say that the affair took place according to the Jewish 
custom that the bridesmaids should wait at the bridegroom’s house while 
he brought his bride from her father’s house, usually after sunset. (E. 
Whe.) Others say the ordinary custom is reversed and that the wedding 


took place in the home of the bride, because the thing signified is the coming 
of the Lord to the bride, the Church. (M. L. D.) 


Still others say the bridesmaids were with the bride at her father’s 
house waiting for the bridegroom to come for her from whence they would 
all go to his house for the marriage supper. 


It is better perhaps to adhere to this last explanation, the ordinary 
custom, and interpret accordingly where we can. 


Ver. 1. “‘Then’’,—1i. e., at the period spoken of at the end of the 
preceding chapter, the coming of the Lord. 

All pre-millennialists, of course, refer this to Christ’s personal coming 
to establish His reign on earth, while all post-millennialists refer it to His 
final coming in judgment at the end of the world. 


“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened’’,—1. e., in respect to 
the principle of admission and exclusion that will be followed when that 
kingdom shall be set up. 


“ten’’, This represents perhaps only a definite number. It was the 
usual number of bridesmaids, although sometimes, in case of rich marriages, 
as many as seventy were used. 


= ho 


MATTHEW 


“virgins’’,—1i. e., unmarried females, but not necessarily representing, 
as Whedon would have us believe, holy character. ‘They refer to all be- 
lievers, faithful souls bearing their lamps. (A. Scha.) 

“went forth’’,—Not perhaps from the bride’s house (M.), but a 
their own homes to go to the bride’s house, from whence they were to go 
out to meet the coming bridegroom and escort him and the bride to his 
house. 

Alford says that the bride here is, in strict interpretation, the Jewish 
Church and the ten virgins are the Gentile congregations accompanying her. 


Ver. 2. ‘There is no contrast here between chastity and its opposite, 
as Cremer suggests; nor does it represent the foolish as having a dead faith 
(lamps without light). All this is quite beside the parable. “he lamps 
were all burning at first and for a certain length of time. 


Vers. 3,4. The foolish seem vain and thoughtless, going forth 
through excited feeling. 


Ver. 5.. “‘tarried’’,—This is the same word as that in Chap. 24.48, 
“My Lord tarrieth’’, where the Lord seems to hint that the real time of His 
coming might be more distant than the words predicting its nearness liter- 
ally expressed. 


“they all slumbered and slept’’,—The first word implies the nodding 
and the second the continual sleeping. 

Some apply this to sleeping in death. But this will not fit the 
machinery of the parable (verse 8), and it also assumes that none of the 
faithful (“‘they all’) would be living on the earth when the Lord comes. 


Ver. 6. The approach of the bridegroom was made known by the 
light of the torches they carried. “The hour was ates fae the virgins 
expected. 


“a cry’ ,—1. e., by the porter (A.), by the waiting spectators (M. We 
or possibly by the bridegroom’ s party (E. L. Ow, Whe.). 

Owen says the bride is the Church of which the virgins are the mem- 
bers, the representatives, and that the cry is identical with the blast of the 
last trumpet at the final day of judgment. This is of course consistent 
with his exegesis of the whole of this section of Scripture. 


Ver. 7. All now seem alike; all wanted their lamps trimmed. 


Ver. 9. “‘Peradventure there will not be enough’’,—No man can 
have more of this provision than will supply his own wants. 


“go ye rather’’,—Spoken not in mockery, but in earnest. 


Vers. 10,11. Alford says this feast is the marriage supper of 
Rev. 19.7-9, after which the foolish will be judged in common with the 
rest of the dead. 


Ver. 13. Olshausen, Alford and others suppose the foolish virgins 
to be excluded only from the Millennial kingdom, but not from the ulti- 
mate kingdom of heaven. Schaff, a post-millennialist, says that “J know 
you not’ and “the door was shut’’ argues against this, and. he says Alford 
tries to evade the difficulty by making a distinction between “‘I never Rnew 
you’ of Chap. 7.23 and “I know you not”’ of this passage... (See comment 
on Chap. 24.472.) 


B52. 


MATTHEW 


14 For tt ts as when a man, going in- 
to another country, called his own 
‘servants, and delivered unto them his 
goods. 15 And unto one he gave five 


talents, to another two, to another one; 
to each according to his several ability; 


23 His lord said unto him, Well done, 
good and faithful “servant; thou hast 
been faithful over a few things, I will 
set thee over many things; enter thou 
into the joy of thy lord. 24 And he 
also that had received the one talent 
came and said, Lord, I knew thee that 


and he went on his journey. 16 thou art a hard man, reaping where 


Straightway he that received the five thou didst not sow, and gathering where 
talents went and traded with them, and thou didst not scatter; 25 and I was 
made other five talents. 17 In like afraid, and went away and hid thy 


manner he also that received the two 
gained other two. 18 But he that re- own. 26 But his lord answered and 
ceived the one went away and digged said unto him, Thou wicked and sloth- 
in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. ful “servant, thou knewest that I reap 
19 Now after a long time the lord of where I sowed not, and gather where | 
those ‘servants cometh, and maketh a did not scatter; 27 thou oughtest there- 
reckoning with them. 20 And he that fore to have put my money to the 
receiveth the five talents came and bankers, and at my coming I should 
brought other five talents, saying, Lord, have received back mine own with in- 
thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, terest. 28 Take ye away therefore the 
I have gained other five talents. 21 His talent from him, and give it unto him 
lord said unto him, Well done, good and that hath the ten talents. 29 For unto 
faithful “servant: thou hast been faith- every one that hath shall be given, and 
ful over a few things, I will set thee he shall have abundance: but from him 
over many things; enter thou into the that hath not, even that which he hath 
joy of thy lord. 22 And he also that shall be taken away. 30 And cast ye 
received the two talents came and said, out the unprofitable “servant into the 
Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two tal- outer darkness: there shall be the weep- 
ents: lo, I have gained other two talents. ing and the gnashing of teeth. 


1Gr. bondservants 
5 
*Gr. dondservant 


talent in the earth; lo, thou hast thine 


Vers. 14-30. “THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS. 


In the parable of the ten virgins the simple idea is that of waiting, 
watching, in constant readiness for the coming bridegroom. In this par- 
able of the talents it is active watchfulness that is enjoined. The first sets 
forth the contemplative side of the Christian life, while the second sets 
forth the active side of it. The foolish virgins thought their part too easy, 
while the wicked servant thought his part too hard. 


Ver. 14. “tt is’’,—1i. e., the kingdom of heaven is. 


“going into another country’’,—i. e., as our Lord ascended into 
heaven. 


“his own servants’’,—The reference is to Christians and not to the 
world at large. 


“delivered unto ee his goods’’,—1i. e., for investment; an oriental 


custom. So Christ entrusts to Christians in this world the treasure of His 
spiritual life. 
Ver. 15. Spiritual gifts are regulated by personal capacity. 


Vers. 16,17. The first two made an increase equal to the amount 
of their trust, endowment. Of each one wil! be required as much as he 
has been given. 


Ver. 18. This servant is not to be confounded with the wicked 
servant of Chap. 24.48. This is not actively an evil doer, but a do- 
nothing, a hider of talents. 


353 


MATTHEW 


Ver. 19. “‘after a long time’’,——Here, as in the previous parable, is a 
faint suggestion, as it were, of a longer delay than men looked for in the 
coming of Christ, which is the counterpart of this. 


“the lord of thos? servants cometh’’,—Says Alford, ‘This is the 
judgment of the Millennial advent, which for the servants of Christ is their 
final judgment, but not that of the rest of the world.” 


Ver. 21. “good and fatthful’’,—The genus and species of an up- 
right character. 


“enter thou into the joy of thy lord’’,—1. e., participate in the happ-- 
ness which thy master is enjoying. 

In the application of this parable this joy, according to post-millen- 
nialists, refers to the heavenly rewards in eternal glory ; but according to 
pre-millennialists it refers to the millennial joys, just as ‘set thee over many 
things’’ is by them referred to the same period. 

‘The joy of the Lord, Alford refers to that arising from the completion 
of His work and labor of love, of which the first Sabbatical rest was 
typical and of which His faithful servants shall in the end partake. 


Ver. 24. “‘reaping where thou didst not sow’’,—This is a man’s lie. 


“scatter’’,—This means to winnow, by casting grain to the wind 
which carries the chaff away. 


Ver. 25. “and I was afraid’’,—1. e., of the consequences in case he 
lost the money. The fear is a pretended one. It would have been more 
commendable if he had lost it by investing it as the others had done. 


“thou hast thine own’’,—Another lie. He did not account for his 
time and his labor which belonged to his lord, and so he did not give to the 
lord what was hts. 


Ver. 26. “‘thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not’’,—1. e., 
according to his own statement. [hese words are not, however, conces- 
sive, but hypothetical and not admitting himself to be such a hard master. 
It is as if he had said, “If thou hadst really thought me such a hard master 
thou oughtest, etc., in order to avoid utter ruin.”’ 


Ver. 28. “Take ye away the talent therefore from him’’,—This 
shows the talent to refer to external opportunity, inasmuch as a man’s 
ability cannot be taken from him. 


Ver. 29. The words of this verse justify the preceding judgment by 
appealing to a principle founded on universal experience. 


31 But when the Son of man shall tion of the world: 35 for I was hungry, 
come in his glory, and all the angels and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, 
with him, then shall he sit on the throne and ye gave me drink; I was a strang- 
of his glory: 32 and before him shall be er, and ye took me in; 36 naked, and 
gathered all the nations: and he shall ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited 
separate them one from another, as the me; I was in prison, and ye came unto 
shepherd separateth the sheep from the me. 37 Then shall the righteous an- 
goats; 33 and he shall set the sheep on swer him, saying, Lord, when saw we 
his right hand, but the goats on the thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, 
left. 34 Then shall the King say unto and gave thee drink? 38 And when 
them on his right hand, Come, ye saw. we thee a stranger, and took thee 
blessed of my Father, inherit the king- in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 
dom prepared for you from the founda- And when saw we thee sick, or in 


394 


MATTHEW 


prison, and came unto thee? 40 And 
the King shall answer and say unto 
them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch 
as ye did it unto one of these my breth- 


ren, even these least, ye did it unto me. 
41 Then shall he say also unto them on 
the left hand, *Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into the eternal fire which is 
prepared for the devil and his angels: 
42 for I was hungry, and ye did not 
give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye 
gave me no drink; 43 I was a stranger, 


and ye took me not in; naked, and ye 
clothed me not; sick, and in prison, 
and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall 
they also answer, saying, Lord, when 
saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a 
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, 
and did not minister unto thee? 45 
Then shall he answer them, saying, 
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as 
ye did it not unto one of these least, 
ye did it not unto me. 46 And these 
shall go away into eternal punishment: 
but the righteous into eternal life. 


1Or, Depart from me under a curse 


Vers. 31-46. THE JUDGMENT BASED UPON WORKS. 


There are four views of this passage which present themselves for 
consideration, and they are as follows: 


I. It refers to a final judgment of unbelievers at the end of the Millennium. 


Phi Ocho, D-C. } 


In favor of this view is adduced: 


‘Those only are judged who are distinguished from Christ’s breth- 
ren, but nothing is said of a judgment upon these brethren them- 
The strength of this argument depends largely upon who 


(a) If these brethren constitute a third audience, either Jews 
according to the flesh, as many think, or the elect saints in 
general, the Church, as others think, then both the sheep and 
the goats would represent naturally two different classes of 


(b) If, however, the brethren be conceived of as consisting of 
the sheep on His right hand, which many maintain is quite as 
natural, then the right hand group would consist of Chris- 
tians who had been kind to one another as the brethren of 
Christ, while the goats, of course, as not having been so 
disposed, would consist of unbelievers upon whom an adverse 


The verdict turns upon works and not upon faith, and therefore 


(a) However, Christians are judged also according to their 
works; not works as such, but rather as the outgrowth of the 


iF 
selves. 
are meant by the brethren. 
unbelievers. 
judgment falls. 
1% 
it does not relate to believers. 
faith and love which prompted them. 
3) 


No one but an unbeliever, such a one as never had the conscious- 
ness of a personal relation to Christ, could say what is contained in 
verses 37 to 39, because Christians do these things distinctly with 
reference to Christ and for His sake. This is the strongest argu- 
ment for the view we are now discussing. 

(a) But may not the answer have been the language of humility? 
Still it is hard to think, even as Olshausen says, of Christian 
humility devoid of consciousness in respect to a matter of 
this kind. In this case the language of the goats would be 
the language of self-justification. 


Certain things, however, militate very strongly against this view: 
355 


MATTHEW 


CLIT ns contrary to Scripture usage to call any other than 
Christians “‘sheep’’, or “‘righteous’’, or “blessed of my 
Father’’, or to say that “the kingdom was prepared for 
them from the foundation of the world’’, in which last 
expression Alford strongly maintains that the elect in 
general seem to be exclusively involved. 


(2) It would seem that Christians only would be given to 
doing the things mentioned in verses 35, 36 and 40, 
which Christ represents as done unto Him. 


(3) If they were unbelievers and heathen, to save them be- 
cause of their behaviour toward Christ’ s brethren would 
manifest not only what Keim calls ‘‘a remarkable toler- 
ation’’, but it would seem to be utterly inconsistent with 
the whole tenor of New Testament teaching. 


(4) This judgment it seems is one of works only, and if so, 
it is consistent that Christians should appear in it, as 
we have already seen; and in this case there would at 
least be included people who were converted during the 
Millennium, granted that all other Christians were 
translated and judged before the Millennium; other- 
wise it leaves only the heathen to be judged from among 
whom some are saved and that because of their works. 


II. It refers to a final judgment upon professing believers only at the end 
of the Millennium. (Gro. Eut. Lact.) 


‘This is the oldest view, and in favor of it the following is adduced: 


1. Verse 34 shows the sheep to have been real Christians, while their 
actions as set forth in verses 35 and 36 show the same thing; the 
goats by the same test proving themselves to have been unfaithful 
or false professors of the faith. 


2. Of no one but Christians would the things mentioned have Been 
expected, and only Christians do such things as those recited in 
verses 35 and 36. 


3. From any other standpoint it would establish the doctrine of sal- 
vation by works and show that some out of the heathen will be 
saved because of their works. 


4. Meyer says the expression “‘all nattons’’ proves it. He says the 
word “‘nations’’ does not necessarily exclude the Jews, and calls 
attention to Matt. 28.19; 24.9; John 11.50; II Cor. 5.10; Rom. 
14.10. He maintains that the judgment of unbelievers forms a 
distinct and separate scene. 


(a) But the expression “‘all nations’’ proves Meyer's contention 
only on the ground that the universality of Christianity is 
presupposed, everybody practically having at least professed 
faith in Christ. 


But against this second view is to be urged the fact that verse 37 
could not be the language of real Christians (A. O. E.). These 
authorities just quoted declare that the words could, however, be 
used by the merciful among the heathen. The argument used, 
however, seems weak and dangerous. For instance, Alford, much 


356 





MATTHEW 


to our surprise, says, ‘“IThese who are judged know not that all 
their deeds of love have been done to and for Christ. ‘hey are 
overwhelmed at the sight of the grace which has been working in 
them and for them and the glory which is now their blessed 
portion. It is not works as such but the love which prompted 
them—that love which was their faith—which felt its way, 
though in darkness, to Him who is love—which is commended. 
Any good that they did was the fruit of Christ’s Spirit, and this 
Spirit is purchased for man by Christ, and thus they are blessed 
of His Father and the kingdom is prepared for them. The Scrip- 
tures assure us of the Second Resurrection; the First, of the dead 
in Christ to meet Him and to reign with Him and to hold judg- 
ment over the world (I Cor. 6.2); the Second, of all the dead, to 
be judged according to their works. And to what purpose would 
a judgment be if all were to be condemned?”’ 


III. It refers to a final judgment upon both unbelievers and believers at the 
end of the Millennium. (R. Scha.) 


In favor of this is adduced the following: 


1. The expression “‘all nations’ seems to favor this interpretation. 
(a) Olshausen objects to this on the ground that “my brethren” 
is distinguished from both the sheep and the goats. It 
could, however, in this case refer to those onthe right hand, 
the righteous themselves, or to some special class of believers. 
(See notes under verse 32.) 
With regard to the expression “‘all nations’, Whedon calls 
attention to the fact that it is not a judgment of the nations 
as such any more than the twelve are commended in Chap. 
28.19:to teach “‘all nations’ as such; but the reference, he 
says, is to the individuals who compose the nations. 


2. As verse 34 would seem to refer to Christians whose answer is to 
be construed as one of humility, or of surprise as having been done 
to Christ personally; so verse 46 would seem to refer to the wicked 
and unbelieving. 

The objections to be urged against this view are: 

(1) Christians could not use the language of verses 37 to 39. 
Olshausen says it could not be the language of humility be- 
cause Christian humility cannot be thought of as devoid of 
consciousness. 

(2) The New Testament teaches that Christians shall not be 
brought into the judgment. Some, however, as we have 
seen, conceive of this as a judgment for works in which it is 
proper for Christians to have part. 


LV. It refers to a judgment of the living nations at the beginning of the 
Millennium. (Sco. Bla. Gab. Mor. Tor. Pet. Mack. ) 
Says Scofield, ‘This judgment is to be distinguished from the judg- 
ment of the great white throne. Here there is no resurrection; the 
persons judged are living nations; no books are opened; three classes 
are present, sheep, goats, and brethren; the time is at the return of 
Christ (verse 31); and the scene is on the earth. All these particu- 
lars are in contrast with Rev. 20.11-14, the scene of the final judg- 
ment at the end of the Millennium. ‘The test in this judgment is 


a57. 


MATTHEW 


the treatment accorded by the nations to those whom Christ here calls 
‘my brethren’. These ‘brethren’ are the Jewish remnant who will 
have preached the Gospel of the kingdom to all nations during the 
great tribulation. The test in Rev. 20.11-17 is the possession of 
eternal life.’’ This same author says those who are found upon the 
right hand form the Gentile nucleus of the population of the Millen- 
nial earth, while those upon the left go away into eternal punishment. 


Ver. 31. “the Son of man’’,—The Lord here identifies Himself as 
the Son of man described in the vision of Daniel. The passage which 
follows is a proof text of His divinity inasmuch as all judgment is com- 
mitted into His hands by the Father. 

“tn his glory’’,—i. e., the glory which belongs to Him as the Messiah. 
Both Alford and Olshausen say that Chap. 24.30 has to do with an earlier 
period in the revelation of His glory, which glory in Chap. 24.30 is that 
also of His saints with whom He is there to be accompanied. They are 
right, though only, of course, on the ground of their theory that the coming 
of the Son of man in our verse is to take place at the end of the Millennium, 
while that of Chap. 24.30 takes place, according to these same authorities, 
at the beginning of the Millennium. 

“all the angels with him’’,—1. e., as witnesses and executors of His 
will. 

Olshausen thinks that as verse 40 seems to imply that the saints are 
present also, the expression “‘angels’’ is here taken in a comprehensive sense 
so as to include the saints, the just made perfect (Heb. 12.33). If by 
the expression “‘my brethren’ is meant the saints in general, Olshausen’s 
idea may be conceded, 

Owen says that according to I Thess. 4.16,17 the Ghrvtan dead are 
raised first and then the Christian living are caught up together with them, 
and then the wicked are raised, and so to the wicked the saints seem to 
come to judgment with the Lord. 


“then shall he sit’’,—An expression of finished victory. 


“the throne of his glory’’,—The literal is ‘‘his glorious throne’, i. e., 
the throne which He shares with the Father, says Ellicott. 


Ver. 32. ‘and before him shall be gathered all nations’’,— (See in- 

troductory discussion as to the subjects of this judgment. ) 

1. All nations, then universally Christianized, i. e., Christendom, 
then co-extensive with all nations, all having professed the Chris- 
tianstaithsatVisiss) 

This makes the judgment refer exclusively to professing Christians. 

“my brethren’, they say, refers either 

(a) to the poor, obscured and despised who were always with 
Him on earth, and with whom He represents Himself as now _ 
surrounded. (M. Au.) 

(b) to Christians generally, and pre-eminently the least bi them. 
(Ke BAOe Keble Geowtre) 

2. All unbelievers as distinguished from the elect. (A. O. E. S.) 
“my brethren’, then refers, they say, either 
(a) to any of the great family of men. (A.) 


(b) to believers in Christ who are with Him in glory by the side 
of the throne. (O. Cre.) 


358 





MATTHEW 


3. All believers and all unbelievers of all ages and all continents— 
all stand before Him. (Ow. Whe. Ken.) 


“my brethren’, these authorities say refers either 

(a) to the Apostles and by inference to all messengers of Christ 
in all ages. (Whe. Ken.) 

(b) to one of the least of your own number, believers in Christ 
like yourselves. (Ow.) 


4. All living Gentile unbelievers to be judged at the beginning of the 
Millennium. (Mor. Sco. Gab. Tor. Pet. Bla. Mack.) 
“my brethren’ then refers to the believing Jews then present, the 
judgment taking place on earth. 


“he shall separate them’’,—The two classes are probably mingled to- 
gether up to this time; pastured together, as Meyer says. ‘The separating 
involves the idea of judging. The work is done probably by the ministry 
of the angels. 


“as a shepherd’’,—As the Shepherd of all mankind He knows how 
to distinguish them perfectly. 


Ver. 33. ‘The right hand and the left are understood, says Ellicott, 
according to the laws of what we might call a natural symbolism, as indi- 
cating respectfully good and evil, acceptance and rejection. 

The wicked are conceived under the figure of goats, doubtless, as 
Meyer and. De Wette say, because goats were considered worthless, and not 
perhaps on account of the stench and wantonness of goats (Gro.), or their 
stubbornness (L. The. Mal.), or both combined (Nast). 


Ver. 34. “‘the King’’,—-Here for the first and only time Christ gives 
Himself this name. He comes forward in all His kingly dignity since He 
has now appeared in His kingdom. (Chap. 16.28.) 

“Come2’’,—Not to be taken in a local sense but as an expression of 
encouragement and incitement. 

“ye blessed of my Father’’,—The idea is one of possession, belonging 
to the Father rather than of being blessed by Him. 

This, say Meyer, Lange and others, means blessed as the regenerate, 
renewed by the Holy Spirit, the elect of God, who by their works have 
proven their faith and profession. 

“inherit the kingdom’’,—This kingdom all post-millennialists, ee 
course, refer to heaven. 

Some pre-millennialists make it to be the kingdom of Christ here on 
earth during the Millennium (Sco. Mor. Gab. Pet. Tor.), while Alford, 
Lange and all other pre-millennialists who place this judgment scene at the 
end of the Millennium, refer the kingdom to the time of the new heavens 
and the new earth after the Millennium. 


Ver. 35. “‘ye took me in’’,—1i. e., numbered me among your own 
circle (A. Ow.), introduced me to your family (M.). 


Vers. 37-39. This is taken by some as a modest exhibition of humil- 
ity on the part of the believers in Christ. (M.D. Ow. Whe. Ori.) Meyer 
says it is a declining with humility as not having rendered the service to 
Christ Himself. 


On the other hand others maintain that believers in Christ could not 
359 


MATTHEW 


be so Pein and that this proves they were not believers, not Christians 
(E. O. A.), or as Auberlen says, “‘they have not as yet been leading con- 
sciously the New Testament life”’ { 

Olshausen remarks here, ‘“To those who have been actuated by a 
humble child-like love there will then be a disclosure of a living faith, the 
living connection that subsists between the Redeemer and His people.” 


Ver. 40. “these my brethren’’,—See exposition under verse 32 and 


the discussion introductory to this section of Scripture, to which add also_ 


the view of Ludhardt, “‘the Christian Church in distress’. 


Ver. 41. “Depart from me, ye cursed’’,—The omission of “of my 
Father’ is significant. He is not the author of the curse. (E. A. O. L. S.) 


The words, “prepared from the foundation of the earth’, are not 
repeated here, but are to be understood as known to the hearer as a matter 
of course. 

“eternal fire which ts prepared’’,— This is not followed by “for you’, 
but by “‘for the devil and his angels’, because the fall of the angels (II Pet. 
2.4) took place, as Scripture tells us, before the introduction of sin among 
men and so the fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, but as men 
became partakers of the guilt of the devil they are of course condemned to 
share in his punishment. 


Ver. 44. The ignorance here expressed is of another kind and 
closely connected with self-righteousness. Asif they would have been glad 
to serve Him (!), and thus trying to excuse themselves. 


Ver. 46. “‘eternal punitshment’’,—The punishment is as eternal as 
the reward, the death as everlasting as the life. 


Regarding the entire passage Owen says that eeondine to the pre- 
millennial view the righteous should be acquitted before the wicked are even 
raised, whereas here the wicked are raised, tried and condemned before the 
righteous enter at all upon their reward. ‘They escape, he says, somewhat 
the difficulty they confront in this judgment scene by making the scene 
1000 years long, beginning at the beginning of the Millennium, but he 
declares that there is no support in the passage for this. 

Alford says he cannot see how the features of this whole description 
can agree with the idea of this judgment being previous to the Millennium. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 


29 But I say unto you, I shall not 
drink henceforth of this fruit of the 
vine, until that day when I drink it 
new with you in my Father's kingdom. 


Ver. 29. (See exposition on Luke 22.16-18.) 


64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast 
said: nevertheless [I say unto you, 
Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man 
sitting at the right hand of Power, and 
coming on the clouds of heaven. 
Ver. 64. THE SECOND COMING IN A FIGURATIVE AND ENGR PRESENT 
SENSE. 


“Thou hast said’’,—i. e., he was what the words they had uttered 
360 


MATTHEW 


had implied. It was a solemn affirmation of the truth involved in the 
question. In other words, He said, “I am.’’ Alford thinks a reference 
is made to a previous conviction and admission by Caiaphas himself (John 
11.49,50), but this is not likely. 


“nevertheless’’,—i. e., however apart from what I have just affirmed 
ye shall henceforward have reason to be satisfied from actual observation 
that | am the Messiah who was seen by Daniel in his vision. 


“henceforth’’,—i. e., from now on, from the accomplishment of this 
trial, i. e., after my death. (M. A. Ow.) 


Says David Brown ““The word rendered ‘hereafter’ (Authorized Ver- 
sion) means not ‘at some future time’, as now the word ‘hereafter’ com- 
monly does, but what the English word originally signified, ‘after here’, 
‘after now’, or ‘from this time’. Accordingly in Luke 22.69 the words 
used mean ‘from now’, or ‘from this time’. So that though the reference 
we have given it to the day of His glorious Second Appearing is too obvious 
to admit of doubt, He would, by using the expression, ‘from this time’, 
convey the important thought which He had before expressed, immediately 
after the traitor left the supper table to do his dark work, ‘Now 1s the Son 


a oz 


of man glorified’. 


The glorification of Christ is by Himself said to begin with His 
betrayal. (John 13.31.) 


“ye shall see’’,—-1. e., in the course of experience. 


‘The expression, says Lange, must not be limited to the final appearing 
of Christ, but refers to His whole state of exaltation, i. e., to the personal 
exaltation which reveals itself in the almighty power and universal influ- 
ence exercised by Him throughout the whole course of history. 


“on the right hand of Power’’,—The power here is that of the eternal 
One, and the expression is equivalent to the right hand of God. The ref- 
erence is to His omnipotence. (Psa. 110.1.) It is “‘the’’ power, the 
abstract for the concrete, the Mighty One being conceived of as power and 
the reference is to His share in the governing of the world in which His 
glory is manifested. 


“coming on the clouds’’,—The expression looks on, as Alford says, 
to the awful time of the end when every eye shall see Him, but the reference 
is not specifically to this, as‘De Wett says, but rather, as Lange puts it, ‘“‘to 
the whole judicial administration of Christ, which commences immediately 
after His resurrection, but more especially at the destruction of Jerusalem, 
and shall be completed in the end of the world.’’ ‘The reference is there- 
fore mainly to a figurative coming in the shape of those mighty influences 
which from His place in heaven He will shed upon the earth,—His 
sovereign sway. (M.L. Bez. Nea. Holt. Weis. Ges. Schen.) 


. Meyer seems rightly to say that, “‘ “henceforth ye shall see’ can only 

be said of something that beginning now is continued henceforth’. ‘The 
sitting cannot therefore be regarded as an object of actual sight. ‘The 
“henceforth” here, says Meyer, requires for what follows the figurative 
sense. He also thinks that the expression in Mark (Chap. 14.64), 
“sitting at the right hand of Power’’, requires the figurative meaning as 
well, while Luke alone, he maintains, gives the literal meaning. 


361 


MARK 


inB GOSPBE ACCORDING, O 


MARK 


(A. D. 57—-A. D. 63) 


CHAPTER FOUR 


26 And he said, So is the kingdom of 
God, as if a man should cast seed upon 
the earth; 27 and should sleep and rise 
night and day, and the seed should 
spring up and grow, he knoweth not 
now. 28 The earth ‘beareth fruit of 

1Or, yieldeth 


herself; first the blade, then the ear, then 
the full grain in the ear. 29 But when 
the fruit “is ripe straightway he *putteth 
forth the sickle, because the harvest is 
come, 


2Or, alloweth 


°Or, sendeth forth 
Vers. 26-30. “THE KINGDOM OF GOD FROM SEED-TIME TO HARVEST. 


This beautiful parable is not merely an appendix to the preceding 
one, as Braune says; it is rather, as Stier says, an independent link in the 
chain or cycle of parables in Matthew 13. It is found here only. Weiz- 
sacker finds in this parable a proof that the Gospel of Mark was not written 
until after the Destruction of Jerusalem, when the delaying of the Parousia 
had become evident. But the establishment of the kingdom is not at all 
depicted here under the specific form of the Parousia, and nothing is said 
at all about the delaying of it. 


Stier has rightly said, ‘‘The self-inherent growth-power of the king- 
dom of God (as a whole, as well as in individuals) in its independence of 
human care and labor,—this and nothing else is the theme.” 


Ver. 26. “And he said’’,—Notice the omission of 
address probably being now to the people. 


“The kingdom of God’’,—This, says Meyer, is the Messianic king- 
dom conceived of as preparing for its proximate appearance and then (verse 
29) appearing at its time. 

“as if a man’’,—This does not refer to Christ, as Gerlach maintains; 
because the sleeping during the night is not applicable to Him, as is not 
the expression “he Rnoweth not how’’. Nor does it refer exactly to 
Christ's ministers, as the putting forth the sickle seems inapplicable to them. 
The main point, however, is the seed with its self-inherent power, the 
agent being quite in the background. ‘The “‘man’”’ therefore is anybody, 
that is, just the farmer, the sower, the idea being ee that of human 
agency. 


Ver. 27. “‘and should sleep and rise night and day’’,—1. 
usual without further care as to the seed sown. 


“he Rnoweth not how’’,—The growth of the seed depends upon a 
mysterious power implanted by God within it, the working of which is 
hidden from the human eye. 


Ver. 28. “The earth beareth fruit of herself’’,—i. e., without man’s 
assistance. Says Alford, ‘‘No trouble of ours can accelerate the growth, 
or shorten the stages through which each seed must pass.’’ ‘As a seed grows 
according to a certain inherent law, so also does growth take place in the 


362 


“to them’’, the 


e., live as 


MARK 


kingdom of grace, i. e., in the kingdom of God in general and in the 
individual. 


“first the blade’’, etc.,—A beautiful allusion to the succession of the 
stages of growth. The maturity of the kingdom or of the individual does 
not come at once. The lesson is one of patience. We must not lose heart 
because of small beginnings. 


Ver. 29. “‘when the fruit is ripe’,—The Greek may be rendered, 
‘when the fruit shall have yielded itself’’, or, according to the more usual 
sense, ‘‘when the fruit alloweth’’, i. e., when it is ripe. The thought of 
the independency of human agency is kept up. 


“he putteth forth the sickle’’,—The sower reaps the benefit, though 
God alone giveth the increase. Alford.says there is a reference in this verse 
to Joel 3.13. 


Riddle says, ‘“The parable possibly has a historical application; the 
sowing referring to the institution of the Church by Christ; the intervening 
period to His absence, during which the growth continues according to the 
laws of the Spirit’s influence; and the harvest to His return.” 


Meyer says, ““The teaching of the parable is: Just as a man, after 
performing the sowing, leaves the germination and growth, without further 
intervention, to the earth’s own power, but at the time of ripening reaps 
the harvest, so the Messiah leaves the ethical results and the new develop- 
ment of life, which His word is fitted to produce in the minds of men, to 
the moral self-activity of the human heart, through which these results 
are worked out in accordance with their destination, but will, when the 
time for the establishment of His kingdom comes, cause the righteous to 
be gathered into it (by the angels, Matt. 24.31; these are the reapers, Matt. 
59). 


Vers. 30-32. “THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED. 
(See Matt. 13.31 and Luke 13.18.) 


BHAPTER EIGHT 


38 For whosoever shall be ashamed 
of me and of my words in this adulter- 
ous and sinful generation, the Son of 
man also shall be ashamed of him, when 
he cometh in the glory of his Father 
with the holy angels. 


Ver. 38. “THE DISOWNER OF CHRIST DISOWNED AT HIS COMING. 


The reference, says Meyer, is to the Parousia. “‘And as to this mighty 
decision, how soon shall it emerge! (Chap. 9.1.)”’ 

Here the reference to his own glory is omitted. In Luke 9.26 the 
glory is threefold, His own, His Father’s, and His holy angels’. 

“Tt can scarcely be doubted’’, says Oosterzee, ‘‘that the Saviour directs 
His eye toward His last Parousia, at the end of the age. But before the 
thought of its possibly great distance could weaken the impression of the 
warning, He concludes with a nearer revelation of His kingly glory in 
the first verse of the next chapter.” 


363 


MARK 


Says Godet, ‘‘All the several glories of the royal advent of Jesus will 
be mingled together in the incomparable splendor of that great day (II 
Thess. 1.7-10).’’ (See exposition on Luke 9.26.) 


CHAPTER NINE 


1 And he said unto them, Verily I 
say unto you, There are some here of 
them that stand by, who shall in no 
wise taste of death, till they see the 
kingdom of God come with power. 


Ver. 1. THE COMING OF THE LORD IN THE DESTRUCTION OF JERU- 
SALEM. 


(See exposition on Matt. 16.28 and Luke 9.27.) 


Riddle says, ‘“The coming referred to was probably at the day of 
Pentecost, or the destruction of Jerusalem, and the consequent triumph of 
Christianity.” 

Says Meyer, ‘““‘When in this place the coming of the kingdom is spoken 
of, it is the same nearness of the Parousia that is meant as in Matt. 16.28; 
not the constituting of the Church (BI.), nor the emergence of the idea 
of the kingdom into historical realization (Wei.), nor the triumph of 
the Gospel (Schen.), and the like. With interpretations of this nature 
the specification of time, pointing, as it does, to the term of the then exist- 
ing generation, is not at all in keeping.”’ 

We are inclined to agree with Oosterzee when he says, “‘It cannot be 
difficult to decide which coming of the Saviour He wished to be immediately 
understood by this saying. He has here in mind, as in Matt. 26.64, the 
revelation of His Messianic dignity at the desolation of the Jewish state, 


which was to take place within a human generation.”” But see our expo- 
sition on Matt. 16.28 and Luke 9,27. 


CHAP TERS ELEVEN 


10 Blessed is the kingdom that 
cometh, the kingdom of our father 
David: Hosanna in the highest. 


Ver. 10. THE KINGDOM MISINTERPRETED. 


“the kingdom of our father David’’,—Whatever may be said as to 
what this kingdom is, it is certain that here the thing in mind was the out- 
wardly glorious kingdom toward which their carnal hopes were outwardly 
directed. 


Alford says, ‘The words clearly set forth the idea of the people that 
the Messianic kingdom, the restoration of the throne of David, was come.”’ 


The Lord was here recognized as the royal Messiah, who, as Riddle 
says, was to restore the throne of David. 


Lange says it refers to the kingdom of the Messiah as the spiritual 
restoration of the kingdom of David, which kingdom of David was for 
them a type of the Messianic one. The exact meaning of the word 
‘spiritual’ at this place is difficult of appreciation. (See'notes on “‘the 
kingdom’ under Matt. 3.2.) 


364 


MARK 





CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


(For the exegesis of this entire Chapter see exposition under Matthew 


24 and Luke 21.) 


10 And the Gospel must first be 
preached to all the nations. 


Ver. 10. A CONDITION OF HIS COMING. 


Riddle says the sense is the same as in Matt. 24.14, as does also Meyer. 
Says Riddle, ““Their martyrdom would spread the Gospel, and this spread 
should precede the end of the woes. A twofold fulfillment of this verse 
is most probable.’ Riddle, Lange and Meyer are agreed in their explan- 
ation. 


Says Olshausen, ‘‘In Matthew the expression is ‘the Gospel of the 
kingdom’, which is the object of the glad tidings to be proclaimed by the 
preachers; that message, however, is to be viewed as combining both the 
external and the internal; only that here the connection naturally leads to 
this, viz., that the proclamation would invite to receive the spirit of the 
new living community, so that at the Parousia, when it shall appear in 


between 9:00 P. M. and 6:00 A. M. 
13 And ye shall be hated of all men 


for my name’s sake: but he that en- 
dureth to the end, the same shall be 
saved. 


Ver. 13. REDEMPTION THROUGH ENDURANCE. 


“he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved’’,—The endur- 
ance, says Lange, refers to the entire state of trial which they should pass 


uae faithfully, confessing His name, as the context implies. (R. 
ARS 


33 Take ye heed, watch ‘and pray: 
for ye know not when the time is. 34 
It ts as When a man, sojourning in an- 
other country, having left his house, and 
given authority to his “servants, to each 
one his work, commanded also the por- 


ye know not when the lord of the 
house cometh, whether at even, or at 
midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the 
morning; 36 lest coming suddenly he 
find you sleeping. 37 And what I say 
unto you I say unto all, Watch. 


ter to watch. 35 Watch therefore: for 


1Some ancient authorities omit and pray 
°Gr. bondservants 


Vers. 33-37. WATCHFULNESS IN VIEW OF THE RETURN OF THE LORD. 


This passage is peculiar to Mark, and contains in somewhat con- 
densed form the substance of Matt. 24.43-47. 


Ver. 34. “commanded also the porter to watch’’,—It would be the 
office of the door-porter to look out for approaching travelers. The idea 
here is that the injunction was given to him at the door just as the master 
of the house was going away, i. e., the last thing he said. Does not this 
point to the official duty of the ministers of religion? 


Ver. 35. By “even” is meant 9:00 P. M.; by “‘midnight’’, 12:00; 
buescocrcrowing ,, 9:00 A. M., and'by “morning ,6:00 A. M. “These 
periods’, says Lange, ‘‘may denote the same unexpectedness:—the evening, 
the evening of the old world (Matt. 20.8); the midnight, the frame of 


365 


LUKE 


mind of the slumbering Church (Matt. 25.6); the cockcrow, the voice 
of the watchers (Isa. 21.11); the morning, the dawn of Christ’s appear- 
ing, the breaking into day of the new world (Mal. 4.2).’’ (See Matt. 
14.24.) The night-season Meyer thinks belong to the pictorial effect of 
the parable, and is in keeping with the figurative ‘‘watch’’, without exactly 
expressing ‘‘a dark and sad time’’, as Lange thinks. The coming, which 
is to be unexpected and sudden, is pictured as taking place in the night 
between 9:00 P. M. and 6:00 A. M. 


Ver. 37. “I say unto all, Watch’’,—All believers, as well as the 
Apostles and ministers of the Gospel, are to be incessantly watchful. 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 


25 Verily I say unto you, I shall no 
more drink of the fruit of the vine, 
until that day when I drink it new in 
the kingdom of God. 


Ver. 25. (See exposition on Luke 22.16-18.) 


62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall 
see the Son of man sitting at the right 
hand of Power, and coming with the 
clouds of heaven. 


Ver. 62. (See exposition on Matt. 26.64 and Luke 22.69.) 





THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 


LUKE 


(A. D. 63—A. D. 68) 


CHAPTER ONE 


32 He shall be great, and shall be of his father David: 33 and he shall 
called the Son of Most High: and the reign over the house of Jacob “for ever; 
Lord God shall give unto him the throne and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 

1Gr. unto the ages. 


Vers. 32,33. CHRIST TO BE KING FOREVER ON DAVID’S THRONE. 


Says Campbell Morgan, ‘‘Jesus will be King, in as direct and positive 
a sense as any ruler the world has ever known, but with larger empire and 
more autocratic sway. He will be Judge as well as King, and the final 
Arbitrator in any disputes that may arise among men. ‘The announce- 
ment made to Mary in these two verses concerning Jesus has never yet been 
fulfilled, but will be when the time comes for His personal reign. He will 
be the King of God’s ancient people gathered in Jerusalem; and through 
them, the Governor of the whole earth.”’ 


‘These words are but an echo of the sublime prediction of Isa. 9.6,7. 
“he shall be called’’,—This expression signifies here-that He shall be 
universally recognized as such, and that because He is such in fact. 


366 


LUKE 


“He shall be great’’,—What follows is an explanation to Mary of 
‘this greatness, although a full explanation was scarcely possible. 


“the Son of the Most High’’,—Meyer rightly says this is a description 
of His recognition as the Messiah, and as such the angel still more definitely 
designates Him as the One to whom the throne of David is to be given. 
The expression is not used in a metaphysical sense, but only in a theocratic 
one. Of course the expression denotes a personal and mysterious relation 
between this child and the Divine Being, but had the notion of the pre- 
existence of Christ as the eternal Son of God been emphasized Mary could 
not have comprehended it, and Gerlach has very wisely remarked that 
had the proper divinity of her son been definitely revealed to Mary, neither 
she nor Joseph would have been in a position to bring the child up. 


The expression points to the anointed King, so long foretold by the 
prophets, and to whom so fully apply the words of II Sam. 7.14; Psa. 2.7; 
89.28. 


“the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of Hts father David’, 
—Says Alford, ‘““This announcement makes it almost certain that Mary 
also was of the house of David. No astonishment is expressed by her at 
this part of the statement, and yet, from the nature of her question, it is 
clear that she did not explain it by supposing Joseph to be the destined 
father of her child.”’ 


In these words His Messiahship is distinctly made known. Mary, 
who was intimately acquainted with the Old Testament, would so under- 


stand them, especially in the light of such promises as II Sam. 7; Isa. 9; 
Micah 5, etc. 


Says Godet, ‘These expressions in the mouth of the ange] keep their 
natural and literal sense. It is, indeed, the theocratic royalty and the 
Israelitish people, neither more nor less, that are in question here; Mary 
could have understood these expressions in no other way. ‘The unbelief 
of Israel foiled the plan, and subverted the regular course of history; so that 
at the present day the fulfillment of these promises is still postponed to 
the future.”’ 


Ver. 33. “‘over the house of Jacob’’,—Mary no doubt understood 
these words literally according to the national expectation of the Jews. 


“The house of Jacob’, says Meyer, is not, with Olshausen, Bleek 
and others, to be idealized into the “‘spiritual Israel’. “The conception of 
the kingdom in our passage’, says this same expositor, ‘‘is Jewish-national, 
which, however, does not exclude the dominion over the Gentiles accord- 
ing to prophetic prediction.” 


Says Oosterzee, ‘“The announcement of His universal spiritual reign 
would have been, at this time, even more incomprehensible to Mary; it 
lies hidden, however, in the promise, “Of His kingdom there shall be no 
end’. We must not therefore regard these words of the angel as an accom- 
modation merely to the exclusively Jewish expectations then prevailing 
concerning the kingdom of the Messiah.”’ 


“of Hts kingdom there shall be no end’’,—Riddle says, ‘““This hints 
at the universal spiritual reign of the Messiah. But the literal sense is also 
correct. Salvation is really of the Jews and will one day return to Israel.” 


367 


UKE 
CHAPTER FOUR 


16 And he came to Nazareth where He hath sent me to proclaim release 
he had been brought up: and he entered, to the captives, 
as his custom was, into the synagogue And recovering of sight to the blind, 
on the sabbath day, and stood up to To set at liberty them that are 
read. 17 And there was delivered unto bruised, 
him *the book of the prophet Isaiah. 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of 
And he opened the “book, and found the Lord. 
the place where it was written, 20 And he closed the *book, and gave 
18 *The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, it back to the attendant, and sat 

“Because he anointed me to preach "down: and the eyes of all in the 

*good tidings to the poor: synagogue were fastened on him. 

10Or, a roll 

20r, roll 

STs Ola teits 


4Or, Wherefore 
5Or, the gospel 


Vers. 16-20. —TTHE SECOND COMING SET FORTH BY IMPLICATION. 


The fact that Christ will yet one day come in judgment glory is as 
clearly set forth by His actions on this occasion as if it had been expressly 
here declared. Turn to the place from which the quotation comes and it 
will be seen that in reading the passage from Isaiah 61.1,2 He omitted 
the words, “And the day of vengeance of our God’’. There was no stop 
after the words, “the acceptable year of the Lord’, in the roll from which 
Jesus read, but, although He had come as well to procliam “the day of ven- 
geance of our God”’, at the point indicated He ceased reading and closed the 
book. Says Morgan, ‘‘In publicly reading the words of a Hebrew prophet 
who hundreds of years before had foretold the coming of Christ, no one 
else would have ended there, for Messiah’s work included the proclamation 
of God’s day of vengeance. Christ's immediate purpose, however, was to 
indicate the first aspect of His mission, ‘the acceptable year of the Lord’, as 
then beginning in Himself. With equal certainty shall the Messiah once 
more take up that old-time prophecy, and fulfill it to the letter as regards 
‘the day of vengeance of our God’.”’ 


CHAPTER NINE 


26 For whosoever shall be ashamed 
of me and of my words, of him shall 
the Son of man be ashamed, when he 
cometh in his own glory, and the glory 
of the Father, and of the holy angels. ° 


Ver. 26. “THE DISOWNER OF CHRIST DISOWNED AT HIS COMING. 


Ver. 26. “‘when he cometh’’,—The reference is to His second com- 
ing, and the glory, says Meyer, is threefold, ‘His own, which He has of 
and for Himself as the exalted Messiah; the glory of God which accom- 
panies him as coming down from God's throne, and the glory of the angels 
who surround Him with their brightness.’’ (See Mk. 8.38.) 


27 But I tell you of a truth, There 
are some of them that stand here, who 
shall in no wise taste of death, till they 
see the kingdom of God. 


Ver. 27. THE COMING OF THE LORD IN THE DESTRUCTION OF JERU- 
SALEM. 


“the kingdom of God’’,—This is not a less definite expression but is 
368 





EVUKE 


a more simple one than that of Matthew and Mark, the reference being 


the same, 1. e., the kingdom of the Messiah—the Son of man coming in 


His kingdom. (See Matt. 18.28.) 


CHAPTER TEN 


8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, 
and they receive you, eat such things as 
are set before you: 9 and heal the sick 
that are therein, and say unto them, The 
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 


-10 But into whatsoever city ye shall 


enter, and they receive you not, go out 


into the streets thereof and say, 11 Even 
the dust from your city, that cleaveth 
to our feet, we wipe off against you: 
nevertheless know this, that the king- 
dom of God is come nigh. 12 I say 
unto you, It shall be mode tolerable in 
that day for Sodom, than for that city. 


Vers. 8-12. PARTICIPATION IN THE COMING KINGDOM THE REWARD OF 


CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY. 


Ver. 9. “the kingdom of God ts come nigh unto you’’,—A promise 
of participation in the coming kingdom of the Messiah, which they con- 
ceived as being near at hand. 


Ver. 11. “the kingdom of God ts come nigh’’,—This seems to be a 
threatening reference to their penal exclusion from that kingdom. 


Ver. 12. “tn that day’’,—This may denote either the destruction of 
Jerusalem or the last judgment. “The two punishments are blended to- 
gether in this threatening of the Lord, as doubtless in that of John the Bap- 
tist in Chap. 3.9, yet the idea of the last judgment seems to be the pre- 
vailing one from what follows in verse 14. 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


35 Let your loins be girded about, come and serve them. 38 And if he 


and your lamps burning; 36 and be ye 
yourselves like unto men looking for 
their lord, when he shall return from 
the marriage feast; that, when he cometh 
and knocketh, they may straightway 
open unto him. 37 Blessed are those 
‘servants, whom the Lord when he 
cometh shall find watching: verily I say 
unto you, that he shall gird himself, and 
make them sit down to meat, and shall 
1Gr. dondservants 


shall come in the second watch, and if 
in the third, and find them so, blessed 
are those servants. 39 “But know this, 
that if the master of the house had 
known in what hour the thief was 
coming, he would have watched, and 
not have left his house to be *broken 
through. 40 Be ye also ready: for in 
an hour that ye think not the Son of 
man cometh. 
°Or, But this ye know 


8Gr. digged through 


Vers. 35-40. CONSTANT EXPECTATION OF AND PREPARATION FOR THE 
LORD’S COMING. 


Ver. 35. The connection is with verse 32, “Jt ts your Father’s good 
pleasure to give you the kingdom’’; let that free you from anxiety, but 
let it also be the motive to labor and to watch for the King. 


“Let your loins be girded about’’,—That there may be no delay in 
opening the door, the faithful servant must have his loins girt about, with- 
out which by reason of the long, loose garments of the Orientals, activity 
and service were impossible. 


369 


E@KE 


“your lamps burning’’,—He must be in readiness for His master’s 
return in case he came at night. Both activity and watchfulness are 
enjoined. 


Ver. 36. “the marriage feast’’,—The main thought here is only 
that ne is away at a feast and will return. The marriage in question is 


not that of the master himself, but of a friend. (G.S.M.) The Master's 


own marriage is after the Parousia. 


Olshausen says the feast in question here is the heavenly marriage 
feast, i. e., His union with the Church in heaven, from which He comes to 
the marriage feast with His saints in the air. If this distinction is war- 
ranted, it is then after all the Master's own marriage feast to which 
reference is made. 


Ver. 37. “‘come and serve them’’,—John 13.1 was a foreshadowing 
of this last great act of self-abasing love. [he Lord Himself in the great 
day of His glory—the marriage supper of the Lamb—will reverse the order 
of human requirements and in the fullness of His grace and love will serve 
His brethren. 


Ver. 38. The four watches were: (1) 6:00 P. M. to 9:00 P. M., 
(2) 9:00 P. M. to Midnight, (3) Midnight to 3:00 A..M., (4) 3:00 
A. M. to 6:00 A. M. 


Jesus does not mention the first watch because in this the marriage 
feast took place; nor the fourth watch because so late a return would have 
been unusual, and in this place contrary to the decorum of the events that 
were represented. (M.A.) He does name the first watch because it would 
weaken the whole representation of the watchful servants; nor does He 
name the fourth watch simply for the reason that the Disciples from that 
should understand that His return was by no means to be expected as late 
as possible. ‘The Parousia does not come so quickly as impatience, nor 
yet so’ late as carelessness supposes.” 


Farrar says, ‘‘It is very important to observe that often as our Lord 
bade His Disciples to be ready for His return, He as often indicates that 
His return might be long delayed. He always implied that He should 
come suddenly, but not necessarily soon.”’ 


Godet says the parable teaches that the coming of Christ, the Parousia, 
may be long delayed—much longer than the Disciples imagined—and that 
this delay will be the means of testing their fidelity. The same thought, 
he says, is found in Matt. 25.5, “‘tarried’’, and in Matt. 25.19, “‘after a 
long time’. 


CHAP LERSTHICEEEIN 


35 Behold your house is left unto 
you desolate; and I say unto you, Ye 
shall not see me, until ye shall. say, 
Blessed is he that cometh in the name 
of the Lord. 


Ver. 35. THE GLAD WELCOME OF OUR LorD AT HIS SECOND COMING. 
(See Matt. 23.39.) 


Some writers have said that the time pointed to bere is Palm Sunday 


370 


LUKE 





on which Jesus received the homage of the people. (Wie. Pau. Era. 
Schm. Stein.) But surely this is what Fausset calls a ‘‘frivolous inter- 
pretation’, and is unnaturalness itself. 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 


15 And when one of them that ‘sat 
at meat with him heard these things, 
he said unto him, Blessed is he that 
shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 


1Gr. recline 
Ver. 15. THE KINGDOM MISUNDERSTOOD. 


“the kingdom of God’’,—The Messianic kingdom which was about 
to be set up. “The Jews connected the advent of the Messianic kingdom 
with banquets of food more delicious than manna, and as Riddle says, 
“It is probable that the man hearing of the resurrection of the just, at once 
thought of the great feast which the Jews expected would follow, and 
thus spoke with the common Jewish idea that his admission to that feast 
was a certainty.” 


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 


20 And being asked by the Pharisees, 21 neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, 
when the kingdom of God cometh, he There! for lo, the kingdom of God is 
answered them and said, The kingdom ‘within you. 


of God cometh not with observation: 
1Or, im the midst of you 


Vers. 20,21. “THE KINGDOM IN THE SENSE OF A PRESENT REALITY. 


Ver. 20. ‘“‘being asked by the Pharisees’’,—-Some say the question 
was a mocking one. (C. Pau. Kui. Eut. Theo.) But the more preferable 
view is that they asked the question with a view to entangle Him. (A. M. 
Rant, 


“when the kingdom of God cometh’’,—They refer, of course, to the 
actual, external kingdom of the Messiah. 


“not with observation’’,—There is no indication here of any refer- 
ence to Jewish astrology, nor is the translation, ‘“‘pomp’’ (Gro. Bez. Wet.) 
a good one, as it conveys more than the text warrants. 


Riddle says, ‘‘It will not be of such a character that men can see out- 
ward tokens of preparation for it, and determine when it is to come.”’ 


Oosterzee says, ‘‘Of this unnoticed coming of the kingdom of God the 
Saviour could not well give any more striking proof than this, that the 
kingdom of heaven had already in its incipiency appeared among them, 
without their having even yet in their earthly-mindedness observed it.” 


Ver. 21. “the Ringdom of God is within you’’,—Godet says, 
“Their question rested on a purely external view of this divine kingdom. 
His advent appeared to their minds as a sudden and great dramatic act. 
In the Gospel point of view this expectation is certainly not altogether 
false; but humanity must be prepared for the new external and divine state 
of things by a spiritual work wrought in the depths of the heart, and it is 


Sal 


LURE 


. 


this internal advent which Jesus thinks good to put first in relief before 
such questioners. Now that the kingdom is not established in a visible 
way, it might happen that it should be present without men suspecting it. 
And that this is exactly the case, Jesus is here represented as saying.”’ 


Olshausen says that the two aspects of the kingdom mutually com- 
plete each other; it shows itself spiritual in the beginning, but external in 
its perfection; it appeared in its spiritual form within men’s hearts while 
Jesus was here in humiliation; in its external manifestation it will reveal 
itself at its final Parousia. (C. Ko. Vat. Chr. Era. Lut. Fri. Hil. Theo. 
Gloe. Sche. Heub. Schau.) 


Other commentators, indeed, Godet says, ‘‘almost all modern com- 
mentators’’, explain the words in the sense of “‘in the midst of you’, 
“among you’, “in your neighborhood’”’. (M.A. B.S. D. Ew. BI. Fa. Oo. 
Ca. Pau. Kui. Bez. Gro. Wol. Hof. Fle. Bor. Kae. Schlei.), and this read- 


ing is defended by Oosterzee as follows: 


1. In this way the antithesis between the external coming and the 
being already present is kept more sharply defined. 


2. The kingdom of God was most certainly not within the hearts of 
those Pharisees to whom Jesus was talking. 


3. This same thought is expressed in another way in John 1.26; 
12.35; Luke 7.16; 11.20, while on the other hand for the appar- 
ently profound, but really not very intelligible statement that the 
kingdom of God is found within man no other proofs are to be 
found in the words of our Lord. 


4. ‘This view is favored by the context and especially by the connec- 
tion. The kingdom was already in their midst, it having come 
potentially into their neighborhood. 


Alford stands strongly for ‘“‘among you’’, although he says that this 
meaning includes of course the deeper and personal one, ‘‘within each of 
you’, but the two are not controvertible. 


Philologically either view is correct, although the rendering ““among 
you’ is much to be preferred. In either case Jesus implied that His king- 
dom had already come while they were straining their eyes forward in 
curious expectation. 


22 And he said unto the disciples, the flood came, and destroyed them all. 
The days will come, when ye shall de- 28 Likewise even as it came to pass in 
sire to see one of the days of the Son the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, 
of man, and ye shall not see it. 23 they bought, they sold, they planted, 
And they shall say to you, Lo, there! they builded; 29 but in the day that 
Lo, here! go not away, nor follow after Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire 
them; 24 for as the lightning, when it and brimstone from heaven, and de- 
lighteneth out of the one part under the stroyed them all: 30 after the same 
heaven, shineth unto the other part manner shall it be in the day that the 
under heaven; so shall the Son of man Son of man is revealed. 31 If that 

e ‘in his day. 25 But first must he day, he that shall be on the housetop, 
suffer many things and be rejected of and his goods in the house, let him not 
this generation. 26 And as it came to go down to take them away: and let 
pass in the days of Noah, even so shall him that is in the field likewise not 
it be also in the days of the Son of man. return back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 
27 They ate, they drank, they married, 33 Whosoever shall seek to gain his life 
they were given in marriage, until the shall lose it; but whasoever shall lose 
day that Noah entered into the ark, and his life shall *preserve it. 34 I say unto 

1Some ancient authorities omit ix his day. *Gr. save it alive. 


372 


LUKE 


you, In that night there shall be two men in the field; the one shall be 
men in one bed; the one shall be taken, taken, and the other shall be left.2 37 
and the other shall be left. 35 There And they answering, say unto him, 
shall be two women grinding ‘ogether; Where, Lord? And he said unto them, 


the one shall be taken, and the other Where the body is, thither will the 
shall be left. 36 There shall be two ‘eagles also be gathered together. 


8Some ancient authorities add ver. 36, There 
shall be two men in the field; the one shall be 
taken, and the other shall be left. Mt. 24, 40. 
4Or, vultures. 


Vers. 22-37. “THE SECOND COMING TO BE SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED. 


He now begins to speak of His kingdom in the sense that it will come 
with observation, and He now addresses only His Disciples, the Pharisees 
having probably withdrawn. He answers for the Disciples the question 
of the Pharisees but carries them to the actual solemn appearing of the 
Messiah in the Parousia. 


Ver. 22. “‘one of the days of the Son of man’’,—Many give the 
interpretation that the time was to come when they would long for another 
day such as they were then enjoying when they had Christ with them. 
(AEDs Kul, ) 


Others say it means that the time will come when they will long for a 
day of the Messianic period, the period when Christ has returned, the age 
to come, in order to refresh themselves by its blessedness. (M. O. D. L. 
G. Bl. Oo. Gro.) 


Oosterzee says that having said that the kingdom was already among 
them, He feared perhaps that some of the Disciples might think that He 
was therefore forever to remain with them, and “‘restore at that time the 
kingdom of Israel’’, and He is led to tell them that He is going away and 
that the days would come when they would long for His return and for a 
single day of the blessedness which that return was to bring with it. This 
latter is perhaps the better view of the matter, although there is really not 
much difference after all between them; if the days referred to were after 
He had left them, their longing would of course look forward to His 
return, and yet it might be and doubtless would be for just such a day as 
they were then enjoying that they would be looking forward to. This is 
what they would long after, although the day when realized would be far 
more glorious than any they had ever yet enjoyed. 


“shall not see it’’,Beause the day would not be there, the point of 
time of the Parousia not yet having come. 


There is a slight intimation here that in His mind the Parousia would 
not come in their day. 


Ver. 23. (See Matt. 24.36.) A warning to those who cry “Lo, 
here’ every time war breaks out. 


Ver. 24. (See Matt. 24.27.) 


The comparison seems to lie not in its unexpectedness but in its visi- 
bility, and it would seem to be an appearance that will manifest itself in a 
moment and universally. 


Godet says, ‘“The Lord’s coming will be universal and instantaneous. 
373 


DUKE 


Men do not run here and there to see a flash of lightning. It shines simul- 
taneously on all points of the horizon. So the Lord will appear at the 
same moment to the view of all living.”’ 


“tn his day’’,—The day of His Parousia. 


Ver. 25. “‘of this generation’’,—The reference is to the Jewish 
contemporaries of Christ. 


Vers. 26-30. (See Matt. 24.37.) The point of comparison 1s 
surprise in the bosom of security. 


Vers. 28, 29 are peculiar to Luke. 


Ver. 30. “tn the day that the Son of man ts revealed’’,—The day of 
His Parousia. 


Ver. 31. “In that day’’,—It is difficult because of the connection 
here to refer this to anything other than the day of His Parousia just men- 
tioned in the preceding verse. (G. R. M. Oo.) See Matt. 24.16-18, 
where the same words are by nearly all writers applied to the destruction of 
Jerusalem, although even there some (Gab.) have applied them to the 
Parousia, as here. It will hardly do with Stier and De Wette to refer the 
words here in Luke to the Destruction of Jerusalem and think of them as 
unsuitably occurring in this place. 


The reference is doubtless here to the catastrophe which immediately 
precedes the Parousia, and which is described in Matt. 24.29-31. 


“let him not go down’’, etc.—This indicates undelayed flight, but 
not, says Meyer, ‘‘as in the flight at the Destruction of Jerusalem, but flight 
for deliverance to the returning Messiah at the catastrophe which imme- 
diately precedes His Parousia, when nothing temporal should fetter their 
interest’ This is seemingly favored by the example of Lot’s wife. 
Oosterzee says, on the other hand, that the main thought is merely that 
no temporal possessions ought to engage the interest when eternal good 
must be won at any price. 


Luke has been condemned for applying to the Parousia the counsel to 
flee, but no such counsel is given according to either of the above two views. 


Ver. 33. (See Chap. 9.24 and John 12.25.) 


as are two views of the meaning of this verse: 


. The man who throughout his preceding life seeks to save his life 
shall in the catastrophe just prior to the Parousia lose it. 


2. ‘Ihe man who seeks to save his life during the catastrophe just 
prior to the Parousia will at the moment of the Parousia lose it. 


The first view is preferable and is favored by Matt. 10.39. 


Godet very appropriately explains as follows: ‘To save one’s life by 
riveting it to some object with which it becomes identified is the.means 
of losing it, of being left behind in this perishing world at the time of the 
Parousia; to give one’s life by quitting everything at once is the only means 
of saving it, by laying hold of the Lord who is passing.’’ Thus the saving 
or the losing is fixed at the Parousia. 


Ver. 34. “In that night’’,—There is no reason for thinking of the 
night as an image of misery and taking the expression in a‘ figurative sense 
as meaning “‘in that time of calamity’. (BI. Gro. Kui.) 


374 


EUKE 


On the other hand it is not with De Wette to be pressed to the conclu- 
sion that the Parousia is definitely ordained to take place in the night. 
The grinding at the mill is an occupation for the daytime. It matters 
little anyway, because for one hemisphere it will be night; for the other 
it will be day. 


Vers. 35,36. (See Matt. 24.40 and 41.) 
The best authorities omit verse 36. 


Ver. 37. ‘“‘Where, Lord’’,—The Pharisees had asked about the 
time; now the Disciples ask about the place. “[hey were doubtless entan- 
gled somewhat in the Jewish mistake that all descendants of Abraham 
would, by virtue of the same, participate in the kingdom of the Messiah; 
but now that Jesus had spoken so plainly of separation, they doubtless 
think He is referring to the heathen world and certainly not to Jerusalem. 
They utter surprise; ““Where? Surely, Lord, this cannot be true of Judea, 
of Jerusalem!’ ‘They did not understand the universality of the matter. 


The Parousia is still the subject of the discourse, although in Matt. 
24.28, we find precisely the same words and thought applied by nearly 
all writers to the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


In the Lord’s answer the universality of this judgment is shown. He 
simply says that where the corruption of death is, there will the Carrion- 
Kites come. Jesus assigns moral and religious decay as the ground for 
destruction, and in so far as this corruption had seized the people of Israel 
they too were the subjects of destruction. 


Godet says, ‘“The carcass is humanity entirely secular and entirely 
destitute of the life of God and the eagles represent punishment alighting 
on such society.” 

Alford says that here in Luke the Parousia is the only subject, and 
that this discourse is an entirely distinct one from that in Matthew where 
the reference is to the Destruction of Jerusalem. He says it is entirely 
distinct also from the discourse in Luke 21. 


HAP PER  RIGH TEEN 


1 And he spake a parable unto them widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, 
to the end that they ought always to *lest she “wear me out by her continual 
pray, and not to faint; 2 saying, There coming. 6 And the Lord said, Hear 
Was in a city a judge, who feared not what “the unrighteous judge saith. 7 
God, and regarded not man: 3 and And shall not God avenge his elect, that 
there was a widow in that city; and cry to him day and night, °and yet he is 
she came oft unto him, saying, *Avenge longsuffering over them? 8 I say unto 
me of mine adversary. 4 And he would you, that he will avenge them speedily. 
not for a while: but afterwards he said Nevertheless, when the Son of man 
within himself, Though I fear not God, cometh, shall he find “faith on the earth? 
nor regard man; 5 yet because this 

10r, Do me justice of: and so in ver. 5, 7, 8 °Or, lest at last by her coming she wear me 


out 
3Gr. bruise 
4Gr. the judge of unrighteousness 
5Or, and is he slow to punish on their behalf? 
SOr, the faith 


Vers. 1-8. THE Loss OF FAITH THROUGH THE DELAY OF THE LORD’S 
COMING. 
This parable is not an addition inserted without a motive. (Ko. 


BAD 


PUKE 


Holt.) , nor are there any intervening dialogues omitted (O. Schlei.), but it 
follows naturally after the thought of what precedes about the Parousia. 


Ver. 1. The parable was spoken to His Disciples. 


“always to pray’’,—Compare II Thess. 5.17, which refers to the be- 
liever’s prevailing frame of mind (Prayer as the breath of the inner man. 
O.), which kind of prayer Olshausen and Alford think is referred to here, 
but it is much better to refer it to the unwearied petition for the same 
object believed to be in accordance with the will of God. (R. F. M.) 


“not to faint’’,—We are not to become discouraged and give up 
through the weight of overpowering evil. 


Ver. 2. The expressions describing the judge are those indicating an 
unprincipled and depraved and reckless person. The thought is, ““Were 
God like this judge He could not resist the prayers of the Church; how 
much less, being what He is?”’ 


Ver. 3. “there was a widow’’,—The widow represents the Church, 
although there is an individual application to be found in the parable as 


WELL eC eI Can Rhea) Oa) 


The Old Testament always demanded protection for the widow. 
The condition of the Church after the Lord’s departure is like that of a 
widow, and of a widow deprived of her rights. 


““Avenge me of mine adversary’’,—The justice of her cause is im- 
plied throughout. She wants a sentence from the judge to stop the prac- 
tices of her adversary. [he word “‘‘avenge’’ does not include so much 
the notion of vengeance, as of justice rendered to the oppressed. ‘The 
margin of the Revised Version really catches more of the spirit of the 
entreaty. . 


Ver. 4. “for a while’’,—Not necessarily for a long time, and yet it 
is an indefinite indication of the comparatively long time during which all 
entreaty might appear in vain in the day of the tribulation, days which 
must be spent in prayer and which will reach an end as surely as the 


widow's trial. (Matt. 24.32,33.) 


Ver. 5. “‘lest she wear me out by her continual coming’’,—'‘lest at 
last by her coming she wear me out”’ is the better reading. (A-R-V. M. 
G. O. S.) \ This gives the more actual meaning of the word translated 
“continual” by both the Authorized and Revised Versions. Bleek and 
some others take the verb ‘‘wear out’’ in its literal sense and render, “‘Lest 
at last she come and beat my face black and blue’. The Dutch translation 
is, ‘come and break my head’’. Very few, however, adhere to the literal 
sense. 


Vers. 6,7. While there is in a sense an individual application, the 
main application is to the elect as a collective body, with reference to the 
final release from the days of sorrow at the return of the Lord. The poor 
widow is the Church, contending with her adversary, the Devil, and in 
this case she has the additional claim in that she is the elect of God. 


376 


LOK 


“yet he is longsuffering over them’’,—That the word “‘them’’ refers 
to the elect there can be no doubt, but it is not absolutely necessary to refer 
the “longsuffering” to them as well. 


1. The verb really means “‘to be slow to punish’, and would there- 
fore seem to have for its object, not the elect, but their oppressors. 


GAVIA. Ws) 
But why this longsuffering toward their enemies? 


(a) For the sake of allowing His elect time for more perfect sanc- 
tification. (B. Ew.) 


(b) For the sake of the oppressors themselves. (Romans 2.4.) 
(G.) 
Alford renders, ‘“‘And yet in their case He is longsuffering’, i. e., over 
their enemies. 


Riddle renders, ‘Though He delays His vengeance on their account.” 
Meyer renders it as a qustion, “‘And in their case does He tarry’, i. e., delay 
to take vengeance on their enemies? ‘The negative answer is implied. 


2. On the other hand the “‘longsuffering’’ is referred to the elect. 
(s8O2Oo7 Ha,) 


The first two authorities, just quoted, give the verb the exceedingly 
refined meaning of ‘‘delay’’, which, says Olshausen, is implied in the mean- 
ing of ‘longsuffering’, the object of which delay is the purification of the 
elect. ; 


Oosterzee renders, ‘‘And is it His way with reference to the elect to 
delay His help’?”’ He says the idea is not forbearance toward the elect, 
which is here not at all in place; nor is it that He for their sakes postpones 
His punishment of their oppressors, which though a truth, is not taught 
here; but He is simply saying that God cannot to the last withhold a help 
for which His elect so earnestly prayed. 


The fact of the matter is that the Lord does delay His coming, at 
which time He will take vengeance on the enemies of the elect, and the 
purpose of this delay is both that the enemies may have time to repent 
(Rom. 2.4), and the elect time for sanctification; and yet we are hardly 
justified in reading all this into the one word “‘longsuffering’’ used in this 
case. 


If, however, the root meaning of the words “slow to punish’’ be 
emphasized here and the word be referred accordingly to the enemies of the 
elect, the purpose of this delay or longsuffering may best, in view of the 
construction, the context and the preposition used, be referred to the puri- 
fication of the elect. 


Yet it is not wise to unduly press the root-meaning of the verb, in as 
much as a modified meaning in a Greek verb is quite as much the rule as 
otherwise, and in view of the evident thought of the passage and the simple 
construction of the words, it seems altogether best to take the word in 
that refined sense of delay given to it by Olshausen and Stier, and this with 
a view to the spiritual betterment of the elect themselves. 


Ver. 8. “avenge them speedily’’,—This doubtless refers to the 
shortness of time before the deliverance is to take place (M. R. A. Oo. Fa.), 
rather than to the suddenness with which the deliverance takes place when 


it doescome. (O.S. G.) 
Byer 


LK 





Meyer says it declares the speedy advent of the Parousia and that it is 
vain to weary oneself and twist about in the vain attempt to explain away 
this simple meaning of the words. 


Riddle says this avenging is still future after eighteen centuries, but 
however long delayed in man’s estimation, the Day of the Lord will 
quickly come as God regarded it. 


“when the Son of man cometh’’,—There is not the least reason for 
understanding any other here than the last coming of the Son of man. 
(MrOcRY Gide.) 


“shall he find faith on the earth’’,—It is literally, ‘‘the faith’. Not 
some faith in general; not faith that Jesus is the Messiah (M.); nor does 
it refer, as DeWette says, to the faithfulness of His Disciples in general, as 
in Chap. 12.35-48, but it is such a faith as the widow had, faith in God 
as a righteous Judge, which on account of the delay of the Parousia and 
of the hearing of their prayer, will sustain a severe conflict. (A. R. P. S. 
MG O20 Gray 


The special form of faith therefore which will be lacking is faith in 


the return of the Lord as evidenced by the lack of importunate prayer - 


for the hastening of that event. 


There is a certain intimation of doubt on the Saviour’s part that He 
will find this faith at His Parousia. (MG. Re Oe?) 


CHAPTER NINETEEN 


11 And as they heard these things, unto him also, Be thou also over five 
he added and spake a parable, because cities. 20 And ‘another came, saying, 
he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which 
they supposed that the kingdom of God I kept laid up in a napkin: 21 for I 
was immediately to appear. 12 He said feared thee, because thou art an austere 
therefore, A certain nobleman went into man: thou takest up that which thou 
a far country, to receive for himself a layedst not down, and reapest that 
kingdom, and to return. 13 And he which thou didst not sow. 22 He said 
called ten ‘servants of his, and gave them unto him, Out of thine own mouth 
ten ‘pounds, and said unto them, Trade will I judge thee, thou wicked “servant. 
ye herewith till I come. 14 But his citi- Thou knewest that I am an austere man, 
_zens hated him, and sent an ambassage taking up that which I laid not down, 
after him, saying, We will not that this and reaping that which I did not sow; 
man reign over us. 15 And it came to 23 then wherefore gavest thou not my 
pass, when he was come back again, money into the bank, and ‘I at my. 
having received the kingdom, that he coming should have required it with 
commanded these ‘servants, unto whom interest? 24 And he said unto them 
he had given the money, to be called to that stood by, Take away from him the 
him, that he might know what they pound, and give. it unto him that hath 


had gained by trading. 16 And the ten pounds. 25 And they said unto 
first came before him, saying, Lord, thy him, Lord he hath ten pounds. 26 I 


pound hath made ten pounds more. 17 say unto you, that unto every one that 
And he said unto him, Well done, thou hath shall be given; but from him that 
good “servant: because thou wast found hath not, even that which he hath shall 
faithful in a very little, have thou be taken away from him. 27 But 
authority over ten cities. 18 And the these mine enemies, that would not that 
second came, saying, Thy pound, Lord, I should reign over them, bring them 
hath made five pounds. 19 And he said hither, and slay them before me. 

1Gr. bondservants 4Gr. the other 

"Mina here translated a pound is equal to 5Or,/ should have gone and required 


one hundred drachmas. See Chap. 15.8. 
3Gr. bondservant 


378 


a a ir tae tae, 


LUKE 


Vers. 11-27. "THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS AND THE POSTPONED 
KINGDOM. 


Calvin, Meyer and Olshausen say this is the same parable as the one 
found in Matt. 25. But if this be true, then we must give up the idea 
of the historical accuracy of the Gospels and all idea that they furnish us 
with an accurate account of the words of our Lord. They are different 
parables altogether. That of Matthew is more complete and was ad- 
dressed to the Disciples alone. “The parable in Luke was the earlier of the 
two and probably furnished to the Lord’s mind the ground-work for the 
later one in Matthew. 


There is a close relation between the preceding conversation and this 
parable, the parable being given, as Riddle says, to controvert the idea that 
the kingdom would be set up at once without a previous separation of the 
Master from His servants to whom He would return as King. 


Chap. 17.34 shows that the Disciples were as yet by no means cured 
of their earthly Messianic hopes. “They imagined that the present journey 
to Jerusalem, undertaken as it had been with such publicity and accom- 
panied with such wonderful miracles, was for the purpose of revealing and 
setting up the Messianic kingdom. 


Ver. 11. “they’’,—Not the Disciples exclusively, but more espec- 
ially the murmurers of verse 7, although the Disciples may have been 
included and doubtless were. 


“these things’’,—The reference is to the things heard in verses 8, 9 
and 10 


“kingdom of God was immediately to appear’’,—The same excited 
anticipation which the Disciples had after the resurrection of Jesus. (Acts 
PeOvande7 «) 


“appear’,—Literally, “‘come to light’. The people think of the 
glorious setting up of the Messianic kingdom in which they had always 
believed, the palpable, sensuous kingdom that was now to be set up inas- 
much as the Son of man was come. 


Ver. 12. “‘nobleman’’,—This represents the Lord Jesus and a cer- 
tain intimation of His kingly descent and dignity. 


“went into a far country’’,—Archaleus, one of the governors, had 
just made such a journey to Rome to receive appointment by the Emperor, 
and perhaps from this Jesus drew His illustration. Jesus was of course 
going to heaven. 


“fac country’’,—Godet and Olshausen say the words suggest the long 
absence that would intervene between the departure of the Lord and His 
return at the Parousia, and that Christ was trying to show that His 
Parousia was not so near at hand. 


Baur and Zeller say these words remove the Parousia beyond the life- 
time of that generation, but Meyer objects to this because the return has to 
do with the same servants. ‘There is not a great deal of force in the objec- 
tion of Meyer because the setting of the parable could have taken no other 
form. ‘That there is a‘certain intimation of long absence it would seem 
necessary to grant. 


379 


LUKE 





“to receive a kingdom’ ,—The installation of Jesus into His kingly 
power. The going to receive a kingdom was not going to receive a king- 
dom which was in heaven, but a going there to receive His crown and to 
return to his kingdom here. Jesus is coming back. 


Ver. 13. ‘‘ten pounds’’,—One pound to each servant, about $15.00. 


In Matthew He committed His whole property to His servants, but 
here only a slight gift. The giving of so small an amount corresponds to 
what is so carefully emphasized in the parable, i. e., the relation of faithful- 
ness in the least to the largeness of reward for the same. It was given as a 
test of fidelity. 


The best reading gives the idea of “while I am on my journey”’ in- 
stead of ‘‘till i come’, and yet this does not fully bring out the sense of the 
word, which means ‘‘come’. It really means ‘‘while I am coming’’, and 
pictures His coming as a constant one, somewhat in keeping with the idea 
in Matt. 26.64, according to which passage His ascension was the first step 
in His return and He has always been returning ever since. 


Ver. 14. The kingdom referred to in verse 12 is that over His own 
citizens, the Jews. Here in this verse “‘him’’ in each case, and “this man” 
refers to Jesus, and the verse describes the resistance of the Jews to the 
Messianic sovereignty which still continues to this day. The citizens of 
this verse must not be confounded with the servants of verse 13. 


Ver. 15. Before He deals with the citizens, His enemies, He will 
first take an accounting with His servants. 


“what they had gained by trading’’,—The idea is rather, ‘‘what busi- 
ness they had carried on’’. It was not so much the amount gained but the 
thought of fidelity to their trust that was in the mind of the Lord. 


Ver. 16. “thy pound’’,—In deep humility the servants acknowledge 
that the gain was not their own but the Lord’s; therefore they say, “‘thy 
pound’’. In Matthew’s parable the trust was according to ability, but 
here it is the same in every case. In Matthew the gain was in proportion 
to the trust (five talents gained other five), but here the proportion was on 
a larger scale, the one pound gaining ten others, etc. 


Ver. 17. “have thou authority over ten cities’’,—The reward. is 
proportioned to the gain and corresponds with the kingly dignity of the 
returned Lord. At the coming of the Lord, at the Parousia, each servant 
will share in the power of his Master, now become a King, in proportion 
to .his activity during the time of his probation. Faithfulness in the 
smallest way becomes the source of inexhaustible blessing. 


Ver. 20. This servant doubtless argued that if he lost the pound 
he would be punished for it, and if he gained anything by investing it his 
lord would come and pluck the fruit, and thus strengthened in his natural 
slothfulness he remained idle and met his lord with the answer of this and 
the next verse. 


Ver. 21. (See Matt. 25.24,25 for the same excuse.) A typical de- 
scription of injustice forbidden alike by the Jewish and the Greek law. 


380 


aa 


LUKE 


: Ver. 22. “‘out of thine own mouth’’,—The Lord does not concede 
that he is a hard man, but only refutes the idle-servant on the position he 
himself had so arbitrarily taken. 


Ver. 23. “into the bank’’,—Literally this means “‘on a banker’s 
table’. It is not “‘the’’ bank, and this, says Riddle, opposes the view that 
the bank represents the Church and the putting of the pound there as a 
resignation of his office. Godet says the reference is to prayer, i. e., why 
did you not avail yourself of divine omnipotency by prayer? But this is 
mere surmise. It means just what it says. 


Ver. 24. “them that stood by’’,—Not the other servants (Kui.), 
but the attending officers who surround Him when He appears in majesty. 


“the ten pounds’’,— The pounds mentioned in verse 16. The pound 
Was given to the servant who had shown himself the most active. 


Ver. 25. This by many is considered parenthetical. (A. M. Oo. 
Ew. Fa. Lach.) It gives the king occasion to more particularly give the 
reason for his severe determination. 


Ver, 20. -~(See Matt? 25,29.) 


Ver. 27. ‘“‘enemies’’,—The citizens of verse 14. 


This strong expression sets forth the hopelessness and the severity 
of the judgment that shall fall upon the enemies of Christ. It was spoken 
as in verse 24 to his attending officers. His enemies, although absent, are 
spoken of as present in the idea of the speaker and the hearers. 

It doubtless has its primary reference to the Jewish nation, and then 
a wider one to the opposing world; being a figure first of the punishment 
which fell upon Jerusalem, and secondly of that which is to follow at the 
judgment when He comes again. (R. A. G.) 


CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 


5 And as some spake of the temple, great earthquakes, and in divers places 
how it was adorned with goodly stones famines and pestilences; and there shall 
and offerings, he said, 6 As for these be terrors and great signs from heaven. 
things which ye behold, the days will 12 But before all these things, they shall 
come, in which there shall not be left lay their hands on you, and shall per- 
here one stone upon another, that shall secute you, delivering you up to the 
not be thrown down. 7 And they asked synagogues and prisons, “bringing you 
him, saying, Teacher, when therefore before kings and governors for my 
shall these things be? and what shall be name’s sake. 13 It shall turn out unto 
the sign when these things are about you fora testimony. 14 Settle it there- 
to come to pass? 8 And he said, Take fore in your hearts, not to meditate be- 
heed that ye be not led astray: for many forehand how to answer: 15 for I will 
shall come in my name, saying, I am he; give you a mouth and wisdom, which 
and, The time is at hand: go ye not all your adversaries shall not be able to 
after them. 9 And when ye shall hear withstand or to gainsay. 16 But ye 
of wars and tumults, be not terrified: shall be *delivered up even by parents, 
for these things must needs come to pass and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; 
first; but the end is not immediately. and some of you “shall they cause to be 
10 Then said he unto them, Nation put to death. 17 And ye shall be hated 
shall rise against nation, and kingdom of all men for my name's sake. 18 And 


against kingdom; 11 and there shall be not a hair of your head shall perish. 


1Gr. you being brought 
*Or, betrayed 
3Or, shall they put to death 


381 


LUKE 


19 In your “patience ye shall win your 
*souls. 20 But when ye see Jerusalem 
compassed with armies, then know that 
her desolation is at hand. 21 Then let 
them that are in Judza flee unto the 
mountains; and let them that are in the 
midst of her depart out; and let not 
them that are in the country enter 
therein. 22 For these are days of ven- 
geance, that all things which are writ- 
ten may be fulfilled. 23 Woe unto 
them that are with child and to them 
that give suck in those days! for there 
shall be great distress upon the ‘land, 
and wrath unto this people. 24 And 
they shall fall by the edge of the 
sword, and shall be led captive into all 
the nations: and Jerusalem shall be 
trodden down of the Gentiles. until the 
times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 25 
And there shall be signs in sun and 
moon and stars; and upon the earth dis- 
tress of nations, in perplexity for the 
roaring of the sea and the billows; 26 
men ‘fainting for fear, and for expecta- 
tion of the things which are coming 


shell they see the Son of man coming 
in a cloud with power and great glory. 
28 But when these things begin to come 
to pass, look up, and lift up your 
heads; because your redemption draweth 
nigh. 29 And he spake to them a 
parable: Behold the fig tree, and all the 
trees: 30 when they now shoot forth, 
ye see it and know of your own selves 
that the summer is now nigh. 31 Even 
so ye also, when ye see these things 
coming to pass know ye that the king- 
dom of God is nigh. 32 Verily I say 
unto you, This generation shall not pass 
away, till all things be accomplished. 
33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: 
but my words shall not pass away. 34 
But take heed to yourselves lest haply 
your hearts be overcharged with sur- 
feiting, and drunkenness, and cares of 
this life, and that day come on you sud- 
denly as a snare: 35 for so shall it come 
upon all them that dwell on the face 
of the earth. 36 But watch ye at every 
season, making supplication, that ye may 
prevail to escape all these things that 


on “the world: for the powers of the 
heavens shall be shaken. 27 And then 


4Or, sted fastness 

5Or, lives 

‘Or, earth 

‘Or, expiring 

SGr. the inhabiled earth 


Vers. 5-36. THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 


In this discourse Luke seemingly contemplates exclusively the Destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. 


Veter i oceMiatt. 2490) 


“the time ts at hand’’,—The time meant is the time of the Stee 
ment of the Messianic kingdom. These are not the words of Jesus, but of 
the many false prophets. (M. A. R.) 


Ver. 9. (See Matt. 24.6 and 7.) (See also Meyer on II Cor. 6.5.) 


“be not terrified’’,—-This refers perhaps to the temptation of pre- 
mature flight. 


Ver. 10. Jesus could here have easily passed to verse 20, but after 
these preliminary warnings He preferred to enter a bit more upon the 
further description of the impending judgment. 


Ver. 11. “terrors and great stgns from heaven’’,—The “‘terrors’’ as 
well as the “great signs’’ belong to “‘from heaven’’. Godet thinks of 
meteors, eclipses, etc., to which was readily attached a prophetic significance. 
For seven and a half years it is said that Jesus, the son of Hanan, cried, 
“Woe, woe, woe’. Strange rumors were afloat, of monstrous births, of 
the vast brazen temple gates suddenly opening, of a sword shaped comet 
appearing in the heavens, and of fierce, fiery warriors fighting upon the 
clouds, all of which things the blind multitude would interpret in their 
own favor. 


shall come to pass, and to stand before 
the Son of man. 


382 





EWUKE 


Ver. 12. The best comment on this verse is found in Acts 4.3; 5.17- 
41 and other such passages. 


Ver. 13. “for a testimony’’,—It would give them an opportunity 
to testify for their Lord. (R. A. M.G.L.) This in itself is regarded as 
something great and honorable. (Phil. 1.28.) 


Ver. 18. “And not a hair of your head shall perish’’,—This verse, 
which seems to contradict the last part of verse 16, means, according to 
Lange, that they were not to perish as long as they were needed on the 
earth in the service of the Lord. Godet explains it, that while some indi- 
viduals were to perish, the community as a whole was to escape the exter- 
mination which was to overtake the Jewish people. 


It is far better to explain it in a spiritual sense rather than in a literal 


sense. (R. A. M. O. Fa.) 


Ver. 19. “tn your patience’’,—Your patient endurance of these 
things. 


“win your souls’’,—-By embracing the means which seems the way to 
lose everything they shall save themselves. Jeremiah says, “J will give 
thee thy life for a prey.” 


Ver. 20. “‘When ye see Jerusalem compassed with armics’’,—This 
verse gives the direct answer of Jesus to the question of the Disciples. Up 
to now Jesus has been warning believers not to give way to hasty measures; 
now He guards them against the fanatical delusions of the Jews who 
to the end will cherish the belief that God will not fail to save Jerusalem; 
but, No, says Jesus, Jerusalem is doomed; “‘When ye see’’, etc. 


Luke is writing for the Gentiles, and therefore he does not mention 
the prophecy of Daniel, as do Matthew and Mark, but speaks merely of its 
fulfillment. 

Godet says that he sees nothing to hinder us from regarding this sign 
as identical in sense with that announced by Matthew and Mark in the 
words of Daniel, “the abomination of desolation standing in the holy 
place’. 


Olshausen says that the most consistent hypothesis is that reference is 
made to some form of idolatrous worship; but the difficulty is to fix upon 
anything definite because the historical accounts respecting the attempts 
made to introduce it afford us so very little real satisfactory information 
about it. | # 


Ver. 21. “them that are in Judea’’,—The Christians. 
“*her’’,—Jerusalem. 


“them that are in the country’’,—Christians who are in the fields 
round about. (M.O.L.A. Fa.) The reference is hardly to the Provinces. 
(D. Bret.) 


Ver. 22. “‘days of vengeance’’,—Days in which the Lord accom- 
plishes His judgments upon His enemies. 


“that all things which are written may be fulfilled’’,—The prophecy 
of Daniel is meant along with the rest. 


383 


LUKE 


Ver. 23. ‘“‘Woe unto them that are with child’, etc..—(See Matt. 
24.19.) 


“upon the land’’,—This is referred by Meyer, Alford and others to 
the land in general, while ‘“‘wrath upon this people’ is referred by the same 
authorities to the Jews of Judea in particular. If the first is general, then 
the particular reference is of course to be found in the second expression. 
Riddle and Godet more accurately refer both phrases to Judea and the Jews. 


Ver. 24. ‘“‘led captive into all the nations’’,—The whole world was 
open to them, but henceforth the Holy City was closed against them. A 
million perished, while ninety-seven thousand were taken prisoners and 
dragged into Egypt and her provinces. 


“trodden down’’,—This refers to the oppression and contempt which 
always follows conquest. This has been true during all the ages since. 


“until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled’’,—-This shows that after 
the fall of Jerusalem there is still a period of indefinite duration to be 
waited. 


In the use of the plural “‘times’’ Lange sees a long interval of time 
intimated. But from this alone the idea of long duration is not to be 
concluded, there being no particular significance in the use of the plural 
form, it having doubtless been used because the Gentiles are in the plural, 
i. e., nations. 


‘There are two views of the meaning of this passage: 


1. Some say it refers to the appointed time of Gentile dominion over 
Jerusalem, i. e., until the Gentiles shall have finished this judgment 
of wrath= (VE Os ASAD) 


But with regard to this view it may be said: 


(a) The words contain no express information respecting the 
relation of Israel to the Gentiles at the termination of their 
power over her. 


(b) It would be tautology to say, ‘Jerusalem shall be trodden 
down by the Gentiles until the time of Gentile dominion 
comes to an end.” 


(c) If there is any significance at all in the use of the plural 
“times’’, this view does not account for it. 


(d) It does not account for the choice of the Greek word for 
“times’’ (kairos), which means opportunity, instead of the 
word ‘“‘kronos’’ which means merely a space of time. 


2. The second explanation, which for the reason just noted it seems 
best to accept, is that it refers to the period of grace during which 


the Gospel is offered to the Gentiles. (G. B. R. A. Eb. Fa.) 


Olshausen says, ““The time of the conversion of the Gentiles is not 
the period referred to. “The Lord here does not speak of the Gentiles in so 
far as they are the object of Divine favor, but so far as they are used as 
instruments in the divine government of the world.”’ ‘The proof, how- 
ever, Which Olshausen attempts to produce is, we feel, quite too scanty. 
‘The inference, of course, may be a legitimate one, but it would seem best 
not to read anything into the passage. 


384 


| 
i 
j 


LUKE 


Riddle says that opinions differ as to whether this dispensation of the 
Gentiles implies their conversion to Christ or their rejection of Him. He 
says, ‘All analogy points to the former and subsequent prophesies con- 
firm this view.” 


But after all the question raised by Riddle does not enter into the 
discussion here; other Scriptures must settle this. 


Alford is doubtless nearer the truth when he says that it refers to the 
fulfillment of the Gentile dispensation just as the time of Jerusalem was 
the end, the fulfillment of the Jewish dispensation, and that it more likely 
refers to the rejection of Christ by the Gentile world which answers to His 
rejection by the Jews. 


Ver. 25. It is purely arbitrary to assert, as Meyer and De Wette do, 
that Luke, writing after the Destruction of Jerusalem, omits for this 
reason the ‘“‘immediately’’ of Matthew, as he necessarily must do. For 
this reason, says Meyer, Luke could not link the Parousia onto the Destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, as Matthew and Mark did, by means of the word “‘im- 
mediately’. Jesus is simply stating what shall take place after the times 
of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled, i. e., what shall take place before His 
Parousia. (R. A. M. G. Oo.) This is plainly enough indicated by the 
consecutive “‘and’’. 


The signs are to be taken literally in keeping with the Old Testament 
representations and descriptions elsewhere, and allegorically or metaphori- 
cally; the eclipse of nations and the downfall of potentates (Fa.); the sun 
meaning Antichrist (Starke), the moon meaning antichristian teachers 
(Besser), and the roaring sea, the tumult of nations (Fa.). 


Ver. 26. “‘fatnting for fear’’,—The margin has “‘expiring’’, and 
Meyer renders, “‘giving up the ghost’’ as corresponding more to the progres- 
sive coloring of the description. ‘“‘Fainting’’, however, is a permissible 
rendering. 


Ver. 27. (See Matt. 24.30.) 


Godet says, “‘It is not said that the Lord shall return to the earth to 
remain there. “This coming can only be a momentary appearance destined 
to effect the resurrection of the faithful and the ascension of the entire 
Charcot orm. 25; Luke 1:7:31-35:.1 Thess. 4.16,17)." Godet, like 
most pre-millennial expositors, makes no provision for any period between 
the Lord’s coming for His saints and His coming with them, and conse- 
quently refers the redemption of verse 28 and the elect of Matt. 24.31 to 
the saints in general, and not to the elect of Israel, as do Scofield, Petingill, 
Gaebelein and others. 


Ver. 28. “these things’’,—The appearances of verse 25 and the facts 
mentioned in verse 26. 


“look up, and lift up your heads’’,—Their heads until then are to be 
bowed down under affliction. 


“yout redemption draweth nigh’’,—It is brought to them by the 
appearing, the Second Coming of their Lord. (M. A. G. R. O. Oo.) 


A few have thought that Jesus here returns to the pfincipal subject 
of the Chapter, the Destruction of Jerusalem. The deliverance would 


385 


LUKE 





then be the emancipation of the Jewish-Christian Church from the perse- 
cuting Jewish power, the coming of the kingdom of God (verse 31) would 
refer to the propagation of the Gospel among the Gentiles, and “‘this gen- 
eration shall not pass away’’ would indicate quite naturally the date of the 
Destruction of Jerusalem. Yet there is no evidence whatever for this 
departure from the subject of the Parousia at this point, and this subject 
is quite too solemn when once mentioned to be treated as a purely accessory 
idea. 


Vers. 29,30. The reviving of the Jewish nation is to be taken as a 
sign of the near approach of the Parousia of Christ. (See Matt. 24.32.) 


Ver. 31. ‘“‘the kingdom of God ts nigh’’,—The Messianic kingdom 
to be established at the time of Christ’s Parousia. 


Vers. 32,33. (See Matt. 24.34 and 35.) 


Ver. 34. “overcharged with surfeiting’,—This is referred by 
Oosterzee to heaviness such as drunkenness of yesterday gives. ““Drunken- 
ness’’ makes them unfit for today, and “‘cares of ltfe’’ plague them for 
tomorrow. 


Ver. 35. It is to be a universal judgment, a universal surprise. The 
idea of “‘sitting securely’ is implied in the word “‘dwell’’. 


Ver. 36. “at every scason’’,—Some join this expression to “‘watch’’, 
some to “making supplication’, and some to both. 

“escape all these things’,—The reference is to the calamities con- 
nected with the coming of the Lord; the Parousia itself no one can escape. 

“stand before the Son of man’’,—This does not exactly mean to 
stand before Him acquitted in the judgment (Kui. Bez. Gro. Era.), but 
the rather gathered there by the angels in the presence of the glorified Son 
of man where they are to stand erect. In fact it does not refer to a coming 
into judgment but standing fearlessly and composed before His throne to 
view Him, to serve and glorify Him, which is both the beginning and the 
substance of the highest happiness. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 


16 for I say unto you, I shall not 
eat it, until it be fulfilled in the king- 
dom of God. 

18 for I say unto you, I shall not 
drink from henceforth of the fruit of 
the vine, until the kingdom of God shall 
come, 


Vers. 16,18. “THE LorpD’s KINGDOM, AT His RETURN, UNDER THE 
IMAGE OF A FEAST. 


Ver. 16. “I shall not eat of it’’——Most authorities very properly 
read into the words the meaning, “‘I shall not eat of it any more’, because 
all admit that Jesus did eat of that Passover. What He means is that He 
would eat of it now, but never again until, etc. The strong desire of the 
Lord to eat of this Passover may be explained from Chap. 12.50. 


“until th (the Passover) be fulfilled in the kingdom of God’’,—The 
Lord sees in the paschal celebration a symbolic setting forth of the perfect 


386 


LUKE 





joy in the Messianic feast of the future alluded to in verse 30 and in Matt. 
27.29, and taking place at the Parousia. 


Oosterzee says very properly, ‘“To wish to conclude now from this 
that the Lord expects a literal Passover at the revelation of His divine king- 
dom is purely arbitrary, since it is plain enough that He here, as often, 
describes the joy of the perfected Messianic kingdom under the image of a 
feast. The Passover is only fulfilled when the outer form, the Passover 
celebration, is entirely broken down and the eternal idea, the perfect feast 
of deliverance, is realized.”’ 


The impersonal view which makes it mean ‘“‘until the establishment 
of the kingdom is brought about’ (Pau. B-C), is purely an evasion 
opposed by the context; while the rationalistic interpretation, ‘‘you shall 
hereafter enjoy with me in heaven more intimate and supreme joy” (Kui.), 
is purely arbitrary. 


Ver. 18. “until the kingdom of God shall come’’,—This points to 
the same event as in verse 16. 


Alford says the words of these two verses carry on the meaning and 
continuance of this eucharistic ordinance even into the new heavens and 
the new earth. He quotes Thiersch as most excellently saying, “The 
Lord’s supper points not only to the past but to the future also. It has 
not only a commemorative, but a prophetic meaning. In it we have not 
only to shew forth the Lord’s death, until He come, but we have also to 
think of the time when He shall come to celebrate His holy supper with 
His own, new, in His Kingdom of Glory. Every celebration of the Lord's 
Supper is a foretaste and a prophetic anticipation of the great Marriage 
Supper which is prepared for the Church at the second appearing of Christ.”’ 


Says Riddle, ‘He is done with earthly rites, and at this sad moment 
points them to a future reunion at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.” 


(Scha. ) 


In both Matthew and Mark it reads, “‘when I drink itt new’’, and 
Meyer thinks the reference is to a newness different in respect of quality, as 
Bengel says, ‘‘it indicates evidently a peculiar newness’. 


“This conception of the new Passover wine’, says Meyer, ‘“‘which is 
to be the product of the coming aeon and of the glorified creation, is con- 
nected with the idea of the renewal of the world in view of the Messianic 
kingdom.” 

Riddle gives the word “‘new’’ something of an adverbial sense, i. e., 
“‘on some peculiar and exalted festal occasion’. 


“until the kingdom of God shall come’’,—Matthew reads, “until 
that day when I drink it new with you tn my Father’s kingdom’’, while 
Mark reads, “until that day when I drink tt new in the kingdom of God’’. 
(See also the 16th verse in Luke’s rendering, “until it be fulfilled in the 
kingdom of God’’. 


The expression, says Meyer, can only be intended to designate the 
kingdom of the Messiah. Riddle says it points to the time of the Church 
triumphant, and our continued celebration of it is an expression of assured 
victory on the part of His militant Church. 

“He consecrates this sad moment’’, says Lange, ‘‘as the anticipatory 
festival of a common enjoyment in the world of glory.”’ 


387 


LUKE 


Kuionel says, ‘“The new wine of the glorified world is a symbol of 
the future festal blessedness of the heavenly world.”’ 


28 But ye are they that have con- 
tinued with me in my temptations; 29 
and ‘I appoint unto you a kingdom, 
even as my Father appointed unto me, 
30 that ye may eat and drink at my 


on thrones judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel. 

69 But from henceforth shall the Son 
of man be seated at the right hand of 
the power of God. 


table in my kingdom; and ye shall’ sit 


1Or, J appoint unto you, even as my Father 
appointed unto me a kingdom, that ye may eat 
and drink &c. 


Vers. 28-30, 69. "THE DISCIPLES TO JUDGE ISRAEL AT THE LORD’S 


RETURN. 
Ver. 28. The Lord does not reproach them but praises them for their — 
steadfastness. He speaks of His whole life as one of trial and temptation. 


The reference is to the many injuries, persecutions, snares, perils of life. 
etc., and the expression “‘temptation”’ is none too strong. 


Ver. 29. “‘and I’’,—i. e., I, in my turn, as a reward for their fidelity 
to Him. The meaning is, “‘I ordain for you a dominion in my kingdom 
as my Father, etc.”’ 


The word appoint has in it the idea of a disposition such as a dying 
man forms when he makes his will for those who are left behind. Meyer 
objects to this idea in the word because it could not be retained in the 
second clause where it is said that the Father hath appointed unto Christ 


a kingdom. It is nevertheless true that the verb used is applied to testa- 
mentary disposition. (G. A. Oo.) 
Ver. 30. “‘that ye may eat and drink at my table’’,—This is with- 


out doubt to be taken in the same sense as in verses 16 and 18. 


“sit on thrones’’,—Does He refrain from saying ‘“‘twelve thrones’ 
as in Matthew because of Judas? 


Godet says, “The kingdom mentioned here is the power exercised 
by man on man by means of divine life and divine truth. As Christ - 
Himself reigns over Christians, so Christians by the life and the truth 
which they possess through Him shall reign over all. Are not Peter, 
James and Paul at the present day the rulers of the world?’’ He says in 
substance that this is only another form of the thought expressed in John 
13.20, “He that recetveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that 
recetveth me, recetveth Him that sent me.’’ But this is an altogether 


uncalled-for weakening of the meaning of these profound and solemn 
words. 


Ver. 69. (See exposition under Matt. 26.64.) The words at once 
recall Dan. 7.13,14. Meyer thinks that Luke alone gives the literal mean- 
ing, while in the accounts of both Matthew and Mark the figurative sense’ 
must be maintained; in Matthew by the expression “Henceforth’’, i. e., 


from now on, and in Mark by the words, “‘sitting at the right hand of 
power’’. 


388 


JOHN 
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 


21 But we hoped that it was he who 
should redeem Israel. Yea and besides 
all this, it is now the third day since 
these things came to pass. 


Ver. 21. TITHE KINGDOM AGAIN MISINTERPRETED. 


“But we’’,—That is, on our part, as over against what the rulers had 
done. 


“hoped that tt was he’’,—It does not say they were still hoping, but 
that they had once hoped until their hopes had been checked by the events 
they mentioned. 

“who should redeem Israel’’,—This is, doubtless, to be taken in the 


sense of Acts 1.6, which redemption in their minds doubtless included both 
political and religious deliverance. 


“the third day’’,—This was spoken with reference to His promise to 
rise on the third day. Their faint hope had grown fainter. 
The subject, of course, is Jesus, and the more literal rendering is, 


“He passes this present day as the third’’, but the rendering of our text sets 
forth the meaning sufficiently clear. 





THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 


JOHN 


(A. D. 85—A. D. 90) 


CoOAPTER FIVE 


21 For as the Father raiseth the dead 
and giveth them life, even so the Son 
also giveth life to whom he will. 22 
For neither doth the Father judge any 
man, but he hath given all judgment 
unto the Son; 23 that all may honor 
the Son even as they honor the Father. 
He that honoreth not the Son-honor- 
eth not the Father that sent him. 24 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He 
that heareth my word, and believeth 
him that sent me, hath eternal life, and 
cometh not into judgment, but hath 
passed out of death into life. 25 Verily, 
verily, | say unto you, The hour cometh, 


and now is, when the dead shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God; and they that 
*hear shall live. 26 For as the Father 
hath life in himself, even so gave he 
to the Son also to have life in himself: 
27 and he gave him authority to execute 
judgment, because he is a son of man. 
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour 
cometh, in which all that are in the 
tombs shall hear his voice, 29 and shall 
come forth; they that have done good, 
unto the resurrection of life; and they 
that have “done evil, unto the resurrec- 
tion of judgment. 


*Or, hearken 
*Or, practised 


Vers. 21-29. CHRIST, THE AUTHOR OF RESURRECTION BOTH FOR THE 
RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. 


1. Some refer this whole passage to the bodily resurrection and the 
final judgment. (B. Ew. Ow. We. Bez. Ter. Era. Gro. Kui. Sto. Kae. 
Chr. Baum, Schot. Buser. ) 


389 


JOHN 


But against this Meyer rightly urges the following: 

(a) “that ye marvel not’’ (verse 20) refers to a continuous mar- 

veling. 

(b) “whom he will” is in keeping only with a spiritual reference. 

(c) “‘that ye may honor’’ expresses a result taking place in the present 

and continuing. 

(d) “out of death’ (verse 24) cannot be referred to physical death. 

(e) “‘and now ts’’ can refer only to a present spiritual awakening. 

(f) The literal resurrection is distinctly marked out by Christ in 

verses 28 and 29 as distinct and as something greater than the 
awakening He had just been referring to. 

2. Others refer the whole passage to a spiritual awakening. (Ei. Ec. 
B-C. Amm. Schw.) This is manifestly without proper support. 

3. Still others refer verses 21 to 27 to the ever continuing spiritual 
quickening and judging, and verses 28 and 29 to the final bodily resur- 
rection and judgment. (M.C. D. Le. Ca. Mai. Wor. Nea. Hun. Hen. Hil. 
Lam. Lu. and the majority.) This is the prevailing view. | 

4, There are those, however, who slightly modify the last mentioned 
view by seeing in the passage not only a progression from the spiritual to 
the bodily, but from a general to a particular; that is, they take verses 21 
to 23 as collecting in a unity the total quickening work of Christ spiritual 
and bodily, and then progressing from this general thought to the particu- 
lar, first to the spiritual quickening and judgment in verses 24 to 27 and 
then to the bodily quickening in verses 28 and 29. (L. A. G. K. Lud. 
Tho. Wei.) 

These last two views are alike as to the main portion of the passage, 
and either view as to verses 21 to 23 may be taken without violence to the 
distinction to be maintained in the main portion, but on the whole the 
third view is to.be preferred, especially since ‘“‘whom he will’ seems more 


naturally to refer to spiritual quickening than to the final bodily resur-_ 


rection. 


Ver. 21. Jesus now specifies the greater works of verse 20. 


“the Son also giveth life’’,—-The tense is present, for He was doing it 


then and is doing it now. 

“whom he will’’,—No one can doubt that these words lie implicitly 
in the first part of the verse also, but the thought is expressed only with 
reference to the Son. 


There is no suggestion here of an absolute decree; He wills to quicken © 


those who will to believe, as seen in verse 24. 


Lunneman refers the expression to the Jews who imagined that as 
descendents of Abraham they had a necessitating right to eternal life, while 
Lange finds in it a reference to the Jews who were trying to stop Jesus in 
His work of quickening and giving life, as evidenced by verse 18. But 
these are both rather far-fetched findings. It simply means that in every 
case where He wills the results invariably follow. 


‘Those who take the verse literally refer the expression to the raising 
of Lazarus and other similar cases. But for these few cases this expression 
is neither appropriate nor adequate. 


390 


; 
| 


JOHN 


Ver. 22. ‘“‘For neither’’,—This seems to mean that as the Father 
does not Himself, by His own proper act, give life to any, but commits all 
such quickening to the Son, so it is with the judging also. Indeed Christ's 
giving life to whom He will is an exercise of judgment (D. M. Lu. Tho.), 
and this verse is a justification of Christ’s giving life to whomsoever He 
wills to give it. As Godet says, ‘““To make alive is to absolve; to refuse 
to make alive is to condemn.”’ 


“judge ,—Meyer, Lange, Riddle and others refer this to the judgment 
of condemnation, the sentence of spiritual death. Godet, however, we 
think rightly prefers to take it in its general sense. It refers not only to 
the last day, but to the progress of judgment in time whereby the “whom 
He will’ is decided. 


Ver. 24. “cometh not into judgment’’,—Says Mackintosh, ‘The 
idea of Christians being arraigned at the bar of judgment to try the question 
of their title and fitness for heaven, is as absurd as it is unscriptural. How 
_ can we think of Paul standing to be judged as to his title to heaven, after 
having been there for two thousand years? If the question of our title to 
heaven has to be settled at the day of judgment, then clearly it was not 
settled on the Cross. If it be maintained that Christians shall only stand 
in the judgment in order to make it manifest that they are clear through 
the death of Christ, then would the day of judgment be turned into a mere 
formality, the bare thought of which is most revolting to every pious and 
well-regulated mind.”’ 


Ver. 25. This is quite generally referred to the spiritual awakening 
from the dead. 


“the hour cometh and now ts’’,—The first part of this expression 
doubtless refers to Pentecost (A. G.), and the whole is an expression of 
that which is to characterize the spiritual kingdom of Christ which was 
even now begun among men, but was yet to come in its fullness. 


“hear the voice’’,—His call to awake in the widest and deepest sense, 
which call was to be heard in His own preaching and that of his Apostles 
and ministers. “Ihe meaning is the same as that of verse 24, the word 
“voice’’ being used instead of ‘‘word’’ because the hearers are spoken of as 
dead. This “‘hour’’ has already lasted 2000 years. (Mack.) 


Olshausen would have us refer verse 24 to the spiritual resurrection 
and this verse to the first bodily resurrection—that of believers, he says, 
at the Parousia; and then verses 28 and 29 he would have designate the 
final; universal resurrection. 


Those who agree with Olshausen must refer the expression, “and now 
is’ to the resurrection of a few believers who appeared after the resurrection 
of Christ or, as some do, to the few miraculous resurrections wrought by 
Jesus in the course of His ministry. But these are rather narrow limi- 
tations of the words. Indeed Olshausen’s explanation of this expression 
is not open to discussion, as nothing in the text authorizes us to see here 
the indication of any resurrection different from that of verse 24. 


Godet says, ‘“Undoubtedly Jesus admits a distinction between the first 
resurrection, the resurrection of the just, and the final, universal resurrec- 
tion’, but Olshausen’s explanation he considers entirely out of the question. 


39) 


JOHN 





Ver. 28. ‘“‘Marvel not at thts’’,—Because something far more mar- 
velous you are about to hear. 

“shall hear his voice’,—i. e., the voice of the Son of God as in 
verse 25. 


Ver. 29. ‘“‘done good’’,—The Greek verb for the word “‘done’’ as 
here used refers more to the permanent good, the good which remains, 
while in the expression “done evil’’ the verb used refers more to the habit of 
action, i. e., practicing evil, as though one were, as Stier {bile it, the servant 
of evil. 

“the resurrection of judgment’’,—This, says Godet, “‘is a resurrec- 
tion leading to judgment in a condemnatcry sense, to eternal death in 
Gehenna.”’ (Thus Tholuck, Lange, Alford, Riddle, Schaff and most all 
authorities.) ‘‘It is,’’ says Lange, ‘‘a resurrection from death temporal to 
death eternal.”’ 

Tholuck says, “If ‘life’ had simply the idea of duration in it, then 
‘judgment’ here, its antithesis, would mean annihilation. “The New Tes- 
tament idea of life, however, includes happiness, and judgment here must 
be that of misery.’’ The one comes forth to a continuing life and the 
other to a continuing judgment. 


Olshausen makes verse 24 refer to spiritual resurrection and verse 25 
to the first bodily resurrection, while verses 28 and 29 he refers to the last, 
final and general resurrection in which both good and bad are involved 
(Rev. 20.12), “‘judgment’’ referring to absolute condemnation, But this 
contention can hardly be supported. 


Mackintosh argues from verse 29 that, ‘“‘We have indicated in the 
most unmistakable terms the two resurrections. True, they are not dis- 
tinguished as to time in this passage; but they are as to character. We 
have a life resurrection, and a judgment resurrection, and nothing can be 
more distinct than these. ‘There is no possible ground here upon which 
to build the theory of a promiscuous resurrection.”’ 


Hodge, on the other hand, argues from the use of the word “hour” 
in verse 28 that the resurrection of the righteous must take place at the 
same time with that of the wicked, and it would not therefore be pre- 
millennial. But if the “hour” in verse 25 has lasted now for 2000 years, 
and the “‘hour’’ mentioned in Chap. 4.21,23 has lasted quite as long, why 
may not the hour which is to be signalized by the resurrection of all the 
dead from their graves, for all these words teach, also denote. a period of 
centuries, asks Dr. pelloes, 


In these verses “‘it is as little said that ‘all’ shall be raised at the same 
time as in verse 25 it is said that all the spiritually dead shall be quickened 
at the same time. ‘The ‘orders’ which Paul in First Corinthians distin- 
guishes at the resurrection and which are in harmony with the teachings of 
Judaism and of Christ Himself regarding a twofold resurrection finds room 
also in the word ‘hour’ which is capable of prophetic extension.’ (Meyer. ) 


Alford refers the judgment here to Matt. 25.31-46. 
392 


JOHN 


CHAPTER SIX 


39 And this is the will of him that 
sent me, that of all that which he hath 
given me I should lose nothing, but 
should raise it up at the last day. 40 
For this is the will of my Father, that 
every one that beholdeth the Son, and 


44 No man can come to me, except 
the Father that sent me draw him: and 
I will raise him up in the last day. 

54 He that eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood hath eternal life; 
and [ will raise him up at the last day. 


believeth on him, should have eternal 
life; and I ‘will raise him up at the last 
day. 

1Or, that I should raise him up 


Vers. 39,40,44,54. THE BELIEVER’S RESURRECTION AT THE LAST 
DAY. 


That the bodily resurrection of the believer is here set forth is beyond 
all dispute, and it is presented here as the necessary crowning of the spiritual 
work accomplished by Christ in the believer. 


Meyer says, “‘It is the first resurrection that is meant, that to the ever- 
lasting life of the Messianic kingdom, and, as a matter of course, it includes 
the transformation of those still living.’”’ This is in keeping with his 
explanation of Chap. 5.29. 


Lange says, ‘‘It is the period of resurrection and judgment from the 
second coming of Christ to the general resurrection, Rev. 20.” 


Alford says, ‘‘It refers to the only resurrection which is the completion 
of the man in his glorified state.’’ 

Riddle says, “It is the one great period of resurrection for the whole 
Church of God, the glorious consummation, the final resurrection.” 

Blackstone says, .‘“This is the great Millennial day ushered in and 
ending with resurrection and judgment, and during which Christ shall 
rule the nations and judge the world in righteousness, as Paul says in Acts 
17.31. Some argue that if this is the ‘last day’ there cannot follow a thou- 
sand years before the unbelievers are raised; but Peter says, ‘One day ts with 


x IF 


the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day’. 


SHAPER (ELEVEN 


23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother 
shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto 
him, I know that he shall rise again in 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth 
the resurrection at the last day. 25 on me shall never die. Believest thou 
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrec- this? 


Vers. 23-26. "THE LAST-DAY RESURRECTION AND THE ETERNAL LIFE 
OF BELIEVERS. 


Ver. 23. “Thy brother shall rise again’’,—Some think Jesus refers 
to the immediate resurrection of Lazarus (G. S. M.), while others refer 
the words to the resurrection at the last day (A. L. Hen.). The words 
might easily denote either, but in keeping with what He came to do (verse. 
11) and the meaning of the answer in the next verse the former and more 
common interpretation appeals to us as the more preferable one. ‘The 
words were designedly ambiguous, so put for the trial and development 
of her faith. 


tion, and the life: he that believeth on 
me, though he die, yet shall he live; 


598: 


JOHN 





Ver. 24. Martha, it seems, failed to grasp the true meaning of the 
Master’s words. The great unqualified “‘rise again’’ was, as Godet says, 
“too strong for her thoughts to connect it with the present’. Her answer 
expresses not merely ‘‘the resignation of disappointed expectation’ (M.). 
There is a tone of inquiry in it (D. C.); she seems to be feeling her way, 
as Lange says. We must not therefore, with Riddle, think of Martha as 
“having lost the hope which the sight of Jesus had awakened”’ (verse 22). 
She is implying the rather in her answer that she was expecting something 
more, and so she gently repels, as Alford says, the insufficient comfort of 
her brother’s ultimate resurrection. She is giving Jesus a chance to explain 
Himself, as Godet says, ‘‘and to declare expressly what she scarcely dares to 
hope for in the present case.” But Martha’s faith is not as spiritual as it is 
strong, and it is to the development of that faith in a more spiritual sense 
that Jesus in the next verse gives Himself. 


“In the resurrection at the last day’’,—This “‘last day’’.in the mind 
of the Jew was the closing day of the age that then was, and the resurrec- 
tion of the pious Jews was by them thought to be the opening act of the 
Messianic kingdom, as had already been announced in Dan. 12.2 and 
II Macc. 7.9,14. This belief, says Godet, ‘‘was generally spread abroad 
in Israel, and that especially in the circles in which Pharisaic teaching 
prevailed’’. 


Ver. 25. “I am the resurrection and the ltfe’’,—1i. e., I am the per- 
sonal power of both, the One who raises and who makes alive. 


Some contend that “‘life’’ here is the positive result of the resurrection 
(M. Luc.). This it assuredly is, but it is more: it is the ground, the con- 
dition, the cause and true principle of the resurrection (S: O. G. L. Ew. 
Lud. Hun.). Christ is the Life in the highest and most absolute sense of 
the word and therefore He is the Resurrection. 


Jesus then goes on to say, He that believeth on Me, even if he shail 
have died physically, will live eternally, and every one who is still alive 
physically and believes on Me shall not die forever, i. e., ““shall never unto 
eternity die’, as the Greek has it. 


In the first clause death is physical and life is spiritual, while in the 
second clause life is physical and death is spiritual. 


Ver. 26. There is no reference here, as some maintain, to the Second 
Coming and those who are to be alive at that time, as in I Cor. 15.51. 
Such an interpretation would set aside all reference to Lazarus, or to pres- 


ent circumstances. In First Corinthians Paul is speaking of believers prima- 


rily, but that saying is to be equally true of unbelievers, on those bodies 

the change from corruption to incorruption must sometime also take place, 

in the case of those who are living when the time for that change arrives, 

po es the saying here is one setting forth the exclusive privilege. of the 
eliever. 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 


3 And if I go and prepare a place am, there ye may be also. 
for you, I will come again, and will 18 I will not leave you ‘desolate; I 
receive you unto myself; that where I come unto you, : 
10Or, orphans 


394 


ES 


JOHN 


21 and I will love Him and manifest 
myself unto him. 

23 Jesus answered and said unto 
him, If a man love me, he will keep 
my word; and my Father will love him, 
and we will come unto him, and make 


our abode with him. 

28 Ye heard how I said to you, I go 
away, and [| come unto you. 

29 And now I have told you before 
it come to pass, that, when it come to 
pass, ye may believe. 


Verses toe. | 23, 20729. 
Vera 3: 


How THE LORD IS TO COME AGAIN. 


“T will come again’ ,—Just what Jesus had in mind is by 


no means certain. 


Ly 


Ebrard finds in the words a reference to His resurrection. But 
the true reunion (where I am, there ye may be also) with His 
own did not take place then. 

(ib Gr Neel hor Gro, ReummiensKna:) 
But this would be their going to Christ rather than Christ's com- 
Nowhere does the New Testament speak of Christ 
Neither Luke 16.22, Acts 


Still others refer it to His Second Coming, the Parousia, and say 
that the disciples would be at once reminded of His words in Matt. 
(M. C. K. Ew. Lud. Wei. Ori. Hof. Lam. Bru. Tor. Mack.) 


Certain objections register themselves against this view, namely: 
(a) The present “I come’ denotes a right speedy return as calcu- 


(b) By this interpretation He would have consoled them by an 
event which not one of them ever saw and which is still 


(c) It presupposes that Christ and the Disciples conceived of the 
Parousia as so imminent in a chronological sense. Meyer 
in accepting this view indeed does so attribute this belief to 

It may have been true of the Disciples and the 

Church, but can it with confidence be maintained of Jesus? 

Did He not on several occasions at least intimate rather the 


opposite? (See Matt. 25.5; Luke 12.28, and Mark 13.35.) 


The reunion mentioned here is to be in heaven, whereas at 
the Parousia the reunion is to be rather on earth with its 


2. Others refer it to death. 
ing to them. 
coming to receive believers at death. 
7.58 nor John 21.22, as argued by Lange, is to the point. 
> 
24. 
lated to console the sorrowing Disciples. 
future after 2000 years. 
them. 
(d) 
future destiny of glorification. 
4. 


Again there are those who see in the words a reference to the 
return of Jesus through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and thereafter 
abiding with them. It is claimed that this view is favored by the 
fact that the whole chapter deals with the coming of the Com- 
PortcemneG.Oo Re Lu. Nea. ) 

The chief objection to this view is that Christ is speaking of com- 
ing to fetch them to a prepared place whose locality is determined, 
and as Torrey says, “‘Jesus at the coming of the Holy Spirit does 
not receive us unto Himself to be with Him, but the rather He 
comes to be with us.”’ 

Both Godet and Riddle relieve this embarrassment by affirming 
that the two promises contained in the words must not necessarily 
refer to the same time. ‘The “J come’’ is put in the present tense, 
while the “J will receive’ is future, the first referring to something 


395 


JOHN 


soon to take place, while the second refers to the introduction of 
the believer into the Father‘’s house either at death or at the 
Parousia if he be then still living. 


5. Alford and Stier take a comprehensive view. They would have us 

bear in mind what Stier calls the “‘perspective’’ of prophecy and 
refer this coming not to any single act, but to the great complex 
of them all. 
Alford says, ‘““The coming is begun in His Resurrection (verse 18), 
carried on in the spiritual life (verse 23), further advanced when 
each by death is fetched away to be with Him, and fully com- 
pleted at His coming in glory when they shall be with Him 
forever.” 


This last view is rather an amplification of the one just preceding it, 
and it would seem that between these two views and the third the decision 
must lie. All things considered the objections to the third view appear to 
us as the less formidable. Manifestly the words mean that having gone 
to prepare a place for them, His coming was to take them away to that 
place where they were henceforth to be with Him. 


Ver. 18. “J come unto you”,—This expression plainly applies to 
the coming by the Spirit, who is one with Christ. (A. S. M. C. O. R. G. 
Lu. Tho. Baum.), although some (Be. Lud. Aug. Hof.) refer it to the 
Parousia, and others (Ew. Chr. Ori. Eut. Era. Gro. Rup. Theo.) to the 
manifestations subsequent to His resurrection, while still others (L. D. 
Bez. Lut. Lam.) claim that Christ had in view both His corporeal and His 
spiritual return, upon the former of which (His corporeal return at His 
Resurrection) the latter (His spiritual return) depended. 


Ver. 21. “I will manifest myself unto him’’,—The reference is to 
the manifestation of Christ through the Holy Spirit (L. A. S. G. M.), 
and not to His manifestation at the Parousia (Lud.), nor to His appearings 
after His Resurrection (Gro. Hil.). 


Ver. 23. “and we will come unto. him and make our abode with 
him’ ,—This is to be taken in the same sense as in verse 18, i. e., a coming 
and an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 


Ver. 28. “I come unto you’’,—These words are of course to be 
interpreted in ase with those of verse 3. 


Ver. 29. “‘come to pass’’,—This refers not to His coming again, 
but to His going to His Father, His exaltation by means of His death, His 
Resurrection and His Ascension, 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of 
truth, is come, he shall guide you into 
all truth; for he shall not speak from 
himself; but what things soever he shall 
hear, these shall he speak; and he shall 
declare unto you the things that are to 


come, 
Ver. 13. “THE REVEALER OF THINGS TO COME. 
“things to come’’,—This is said no doubt with a reference to verse 


396 


JOHN 


‘12, being especially the eschatological references scattered through the Acts 
and the Epistles and most fully in the Apocalypse where the “‘things to 
come’ are distinctly the subject of the Spirit’s revelation. 


These ‘“‘things to come’, properly interpreted, are not, as Milligan 
says, so much revelations wholly new, as new applications of what had 
already been revealed. “That Christ had the Disciples alone in mind Tho- 
luck thinks is clearly proven by Chap. 14.26 and Chap. 15.26,27, and 
therefore it will not do to think with the Quakers and the Mystics that this 
special revelation of the Spirit goes on now in the illuminated in general, 
that is, in all spiritually-minded followers of Jesus. Godet, too, thinks the 
reference is to special revelation granted to the Apostles, distinct from that 
which every Christian receives by means of theirs. The expression “‘all 
the truth’? contains the thought, says Godet, ‘‘that during the present 
economy no new teaching respecting Christ will come to be added to that 
of the Apostles’. 


16 A little while, and ye behold me ful, but your sorrow shall be turned 


no more; and again a little while, and into joy. 

ye shall see me. 22 And ye therefore now have sor- 
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, row: but I will see you again, and your 

that ye shall weep and lament, but the heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one 

world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrow- taketh away from you. 


Vers. 16,20,22. ‘THE COMING OF CHRIST THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


“a little while’’,—The first “little while’ refers of course to His 
death, and the “‘not seeing’’ refers of course to physical sight. But to what 
does the second “little while’ refer and what kind of sight is involved in 
“ye shall see’? There are three views: 


1. That which refers the second “‘little while’ to the Resurrection. 
(L. Eb. Ew. Hen. Wei. Lut. Aug. Tho.) But this not only seems 
inconsistent with verse 23, because in that day they did ask Him 
questions (Acts 1.5,6), but the sequel, as seen in verses 25 and 
26, seems to prove the impossibility of this explanation. 


2. That which refers the second “little while’ to the Parousia. (Hof. 
Lud. Brow.) But this hardly seems consistent with the expression 
“a little while’. The first “little while’ was only one day, and 
the second one would then be at this present time 2000 years long. 
Luthardt thinks that because of the expression, “‘yet a little while’, 
the Disciples were to see in the transitory return of the Risen One a 
pledge of the future Parousia. But of this Jesus certainly says 
nothing, either here or in what follows. 


3. That which refers the second “‘little while’ to the coming of 
Christ through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and makes the 
“seeing aspiritual vision. (M.G.O.R. Tho. Mil. Scha.) That 
this is its main reference, even as in Chap. 14.18, there can be little 


doubt. 


Alford and Stier concede that the expression receives its main fulfill- 
ment at the day of Pentecost, but in all these prophecies assumes a per- 
spective of continual unfolding fulfillments beginning at the Resurrection 
(at which time their spiritual vision might be said to have really begun) 


397 


JOHN 


and going on through Pentecost to its final completion in the great return 


of the Lord. 


The Disciples were perplexed; they could not reconcile this “‘little 
while’ with what the Master had said in verse 10 about going to His 
Father. Jesus therefore proceeds in verses 20 and 22 to describe the not 
seeing and the yet seeing again by their effects. 


Ver. 20. “‘ye shall weep and lament’’,—They would mourn for 
Him as dead. 

“the world shall rejoice’, This rejoicing was first seen in its derision 
at the Cross. : 

“turned to joy’’,—1. e., when the “‘ye shall see me’ takes place. Says 
Godet, ‘“The appearance of the Risen One only half healed the wound; the 
perfect and enduring joy was given only on the day of Pentecost.” 


Alford, in keeping with his method of interpretation, says with 
refined insight that “‘ye shall be sorrowful’ goes deeper than the “‘weeping 
and lamenting’’ just mentioned, and shows that the whole refers not only 
to the grief while Christ was in the tomb, but to the grief continually mani- 
festing itself in the course and conflict of the Christian, which grief is 
turned into joy by the advancing work of the Spirit of Christ and into the 
perfect consummation of joy at the Second Coming of the Lord. 


It is here that David Brown says, ‘he transport of joy of the 
widowed Church at the personal return of her Lord is certainly here 
expressed.” 


Ver. 22. “but I will see you again’’,—This is only a correlate 
designation of the same fact expressed in verses 16-and 19, and the refer- 
ence is mainly no doubt, as in the previous verses, to the communion with 


them through the Holy Spirit. (M. G. Mil.) 


Lange, with others of like view, refers it to the Resurrection exclu- 
sively, as seen in their exegesis above, while Alford, consistent with his view 
throughout, says, ‘“‘at My Resurrection—by My Spirit—at My second 
coming’’. 


CHARTER SEIGH LEBEN 


36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is 
not of this world; if my kingdom were 
of this world, then would my ‘servants 
fight, that I should not be delivered to 
the Jews: but now is my kingdom not 
from hence. 

1Or, officers: as in verses 3,12,18,22 


Ver. 36. CHRIST'S KINGDOM NoT A WORLDLY ONE. 

“not of this world’’,—1. e., not belonging to, not springing from, 
not arising out of the world and therefore not to be supported by this 
world’s weapons. 

Blackstone says, ‘True, it is not of the spirit of this world, just as 
believers are not of this world (John 15.19). The correct rendering of 
the passage is, ‘My kingdom is not (ek) out of this world.’ That is, it 
does not emanate from the world. He is not (ek) out of this world. (John 
8.23.) Both He and His kingdom are from above (Col. 3.1). But His 


398 


JOHN 


kingdom will be set upon this earth, in accordance with the prayer which 
He taught us, ‘Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in 
earth’.”’ 


“my servants’’,—The reference here is not to angels (S.), nor to His 
Disciples (Lam.), but to such officers and soldiers as He would have had if 
His kingdom had been of this world. (A. Lu. Hen.) 

“but now’’,—This is not a temporal particle; it means, ‘‘as the case 
now stands’. 


SAP TERS TWENTY-ONE 


21 Peter therefore seeing him saith to brethren, that that disciple should not 
Jesus, Lord, ‘and what shall this man die: yet Jesus said not unto him, that 
do? 22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will he should not die; but, If I will that 
that he tarry till I come, what ts that he tarry till I come, what ts that to 
to thee? follow thou me. 23 This thee? 


saying therefore went forth among the 
4Gr. and this man, what? 


Vers. 21-23. “THE SECOND COMING AND THE DEATH OF JOHN. 


Ver. 21. ‘“‘what shall this man do?’’—What did Peter mean? 


1. Some take the question as a disapprobation of John’s unauthor- 
ized following after Christ and Peter. (Pau.) 

2. Some take it as mere curiosity. (Tho.) 

3. Some take it as an expression of petty jealousy. (M.) 

4. Some say Peter doubtless understood Christ’s words about his 
(Peter’s) coming martyrdom, and prompted by an affectionate 
feeling, he gave expression to the longing he naturally felt for his 
friend, as he asks, ‘“And what shall befall him?’’ (A. G. L. Lud. 
Prauc Dre) 


Ver. 22. “what ts that to thee?’’—The reply of Jesus seems to con- 
tain a gentle rebuke, and so there must have been something at least indis- 
creet in Peter's question. [he rebuke is, however, hardly so severe as some 
would have us think. It is as if Christ had said, “‘Do thou think of what 
I command thee, and leave to God His own secrets.’’ We are inclined to 
- think it was affection mingled with curiosity that prompted the question 
of Peter. 

“tarry’’,—1. e., live, be-preserved in life in opposition to Peter’s mar- 
tyrdom. 

“till I come’’,—In what sense is this coming to be taken? 

1. It is not His coming in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, since Peter 

~ as well as John was present at that event. 
2. It is not His coming to John in death, for this would be equiva- 
lent to saying, “If he live until he die’, which would be nonsense. 
Or if it be taken that John shall have a gentle and natural death at 
the end of a long life (O. L. Ew. Ze. We. Gro. Lam. Rup. Wor. 
Cla.), it is equivalent to saying that Jesus only comes in death to 
such, which is not only absurd, but is disproved by the case of 
Stephen. 

3. It is not His coming to the place where John is to wait. (Pau.) 


29:9 


THESAGTS 





4. It is not His coming to lead him out of Gallilee, where John was 
to remain, to the scene of Apostolic activity. 

5. It is practically agreed by all able exegetes that the Parousia is the 
time to which Christ referred. But the Parousia in what sense? 

I. The final Second Coming (M. D. Tor. Wei. Reu. Lus. Bla. 
Mil. Sco.), the passage teaching that John would be among 
those caught up without dying (I Cor. 15.51). Thus the Jews 
understood it until John died, and even then they had a 
legend that he was alive in the grave and that the tomb moved 
when he breathed. There is no doubt that there was at that 
time a belief in the nearness of the Parousia. é 

One of two things must be true if this view be accepted: 

1. That Jesus shared the error of His contemporaries in rela- 
tion to the nearness of His return, as Weiss maintains, 
which is, of course, in itself inadmissible as well as con- - 
trary to His testimony elsewhere. 

2. That Jesus was speaking hypothetically, 1. e., “even 
should I will’, etc. (M. Tho. Tr.), which is also inad-— 
missible, because Jesus could not have presented as pos-— 
sible (on the condition of His good pleasure) a thing 
which was impossible, as Godet says. Alford further- 
more says that ‘‘such a mere hypothetical saying would be | 
strangely incongruous in the mouth of our Lord, espec- 


ially in these last solemn days of His presence on earth’’. 


II. There is but one other possible interpretation of this Second 
Coming of Christ, namely, that which seems so often to be 
alluded to in the three other Gospels, i. e., the establishment 
in full of the dispensation of the kingdom by the destruction 
of the nation, the temple and the city of the Jews at Jerusalem — 
as the beginning of the Parousia of Christ. (B. A. S. G. Lud.) 
Alford says, ‘““At the Destruction of Jerusalem began: ae 
mughty series of events of which the Apocalypse is the pro-— 
phetic record and which is in the complex known as the ‘com-. 
ing of the Lord’, ending, as it shall, with His glorious and 
personal advent.”’ | ; 
This the beloved Apostle alone lived to see. The fact that_ 
John far outlived this event does not, as Weiss maintains, 
militate against the view, since the “‘until’’, as Godet says, hag 
nothing exclusive in it. 

Ver. 23. “he should not die’’,—John does not explain the meaning 
of Christ’s words, which perhaps he did not know; he only corrects the 
misapprehension that he was not to die. 


THE ACTS | ; 








(A. D. 65) id 

CHAPTER ONE | 

6 They therefore, when they were dom to Israel? 7 And he said unto 

come together, asked him, saying, Lord, them, It is not for you to know times _ 
dost thou at this time restore the king- or seasons, which the Father hath ‘set 


10r, appointed by 
400 


RS et Sys 


pL sa 


within his own authority. 8 But ye be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and 
shall receive power, when the Holy in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the 
Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall uttermost part of the earth. 


Vers. 6-8. THE KINGDOM CONFUSED. 


Ver. 6. ‘“‘come together’’,—Luke 24.49,50 makes it plain that this 
coming together was not at the same time as in verse + (A. D.), but ona 
subsequent occasion, though perhaps on the same day. (G. O. M. Ha.) 


“asked Him’’,—This is not an expression of astonishment, “‘Lord, 
wilt Thou restore the kingdom to these who have so treacherously dealt 
with Thee as to crucify Thee?’ (Li.), or, ““Lord, wilt Thou at this time, 
when the hatred of the rulers is so strong and our power is so weak, try 
to erect your banners?’’ (Bark.) ; for thus, in either case, the Lord’s answer 
would be irrelevant. 


“at this time’,—Having promised them that not many days hence 
the Baptism of the Spirit would take place, and having always connected 
this with the coming of the kingdom, they were led thus to ask the ques- 


tion. All the more did they think they might assume this from verse 4. 
(M. Le.) 


“kingdom to IJsrael’’,—Still entangled in the Jewish hopes, thinking 
the Messiah to be destined for Israel as such; still looking for a temporal, 
visible kingdom, although after so long an association with Jesus their 
views could hardly have been altogether carnal, and they must have had 


some more advanced ideas as to the spirituality of the kingdom than the rest 
of the Jews. 


Ver. 7. Jesus answered them only as to time. He does not correct 
their erroneous notions, knowing that the Holy Spirit, so soon to be given, 
and the course of events would do that. He did not, however, give such 
an answer as would take away all prospect of a future manifestation of His 
kingdom, which He knew would yet one day display itself in a visible, 
external dominion. 


Olshausen well remarks that the Apostles were to be less Bre hees of 
the future and more witnesses of the past. As it was not for them to 
know, neither is it for us. 


“times’’,—The reference is to time absolutely without regard to 
circumstances. 


“seasons’,—In this word the reference is to definite, determined 
periods and epochs, seasons of greater and less duration respectively. 

“set within His own authority’’,—The word “‘set’’ is by Alford and 
Gloag rendered ‘‘kept’’, but our reading keeps closer to the original. Meyer 
renders it ‘‘established’’, which has quite the same meaning as the text. It 
involves in it of course the idea of “‘appoint’’ (marginal reading), the 
period referred to being that of the arrangement of the divine counsels of 
redemption. 

“within His own authority’’,—1. e., in the sovereign exercise of it. 


Ver. 8. A reproof, by implication, of their carnal anticipation of the 
kingdom for the Jews only at Jerusalem. Still they did not seem to un- 


derstand. (See Chap. 11.9.) 


“witnesses’’,—i. e., of My teachings, life, death, resurrection and 
ascension. 


401 


Hee AG TS 


“ends of the earth’’,—There is no warrant here for the untenable 
position that the Apostles themselves went to the ends of the earth, nor does 
the expression mean the ends only of the land of Palestine, but of the 
whole world. 


9 And when he had said these things, parel; 11 who also said, Ye men of 
as they were looking, he was taken up; Galilee. why stand ye looking into 
and a cloud received him out of their heaven? this Jesus, who was received 
sight. 10 And while they were looking up from you into heaven, shall so come 
stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold in like manner as ye beheld him going 
two men stood by them in white ap- into heaven. 


Vers. 9-11. THE ASCENSION AND THE PROMISED RETURN. 
Ver. 9. ‘‘cloud’’,—A bright cloud. (Matt. 17.5.) . 


“The visible manifestation of the presence of God who takes to 
Himself His Son into the glory of heaven.” (Meyer. ) 

“The bright cloud so often appearing to the Israelites and which 
rested on the mercy seat, the visible symbol of the presence of God, the 
Shekinah of the Jews.’”’ (Gloag.) 

Alford says, ‘“There was a manifest propriety in the last withdrawal 
of the Lord while ascending; not consisting in a disappearance of His body 
as on former occasions since the Resurrection; for thus might His abiding 
humanity have been called into question. As it was He went up in human 
form, and so we think and pray to Him.”’ 

Baumgarten beautifully says, ‘“While the ascension of Elijah may be 
compared to the flight of a bird which none can follow, the ascension of 
Christ is as it were a bridge between heaven and earth laid down for all who 
are drawn to Him by His earthly existence.” 


Ver. 10. ‘‘two men’’,—i. e., angels. 


Ver. 11. “why stand ye looking into heaven?’’— 


Calvin thinks perhaps they thought He might return, that He had not 
really gone away into heaven but only up into the clouds. 

Some think it was a rebuke to their astonishment because He had 
told them that He must ascend to His Father, and they should not have 
been so astonished when He did so. 

It is more probable that the words were spoken in a comforting 
manner, i. e., “Why stand ye gazing as if you were never more to see Jesus; 
He will come back again?” ' 

“so come’’,-—This refers of course to the manner of His coming, in 
a cloud, bodily, visibly and, of course, in His glorified humanity. (O. 
MEBOD SAG Stal 2 ria. 

Hackett has well said that the assertion that the words refer only to 
the certainty of Christ’s return, namely, that as He had departed, so He 
would certainly come back, is contradicted by every passage in which the 
phrase occurs. (Chap. 7.8; Matt. 23.27; Lu. 13.34; Il Tim. 3.8.) The 
phrase always indicates manner, and the literal translation here is, “thus 
shall come in the manner which’. 

Dr. Torrey has well said, ‘If the Bible teaches anything definitely 


and distinctly, it teaches that the Lord Jesus who was taken up visibly 


and bodily from Mount Olivet into heaven so that the Disciples saw Him 
402 


HER AGS 


as He went, is coming again visibly and bodily so that people shall see Him 
as He comes.” 


17 *And it shall be in the last days, saith 
God, 
I will pour forth of my Spirit upon 
all flesh: 
And your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, 
And your young men shall see 
visions, 
And your old men shall dream 
dreams: 
18 Yea and on my ‘servants and on my 


they shall prophesy. 
19 And I will show wonders in the 
heaven above, 
And signs on the earth beneath; 
Blood and fire, and vapor of smoke: 
20 The sun shall be turned into dark- 
ness, 
And the moon into blood, 
Before the day of the Lord come, 
That great and notable day: 
21 And it shall be, that whosoever shall 


call on the name of the Lord shall 
be saved. 


*handmaidens in those days 
Will I pour forth of my Spirit; and 
1Joel 2.22 ff. 


°Gr. bondmen 
3Gr. bondmaidens 


CHAPTER TWO 


Vers. 17-21. 


A reproduction almost verbatim of Joel 2.28-32, following the Sep- 
tuagint. (See Joel for further and fuller explanation. ) 


‘THE EFFUSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LAST DAYS. 





Vet Le inthe last’ days, Bcr Lec. 
wards’, and in the Septuagint it is “‘after these things’. ‘The expression 
was used in the Old Testament to signify the age of the Messiah. It was 


used by the Rabbis for that period of time which extends from the coming 
of the Messiah to the end of the world, and therefore it signifies this age. 
or the period in which we now live. Of course the Jews believe the 
Messiah has not yet come. 


The “‘Age of the Messiah’”’ was called ‘‘the last days’’ 
to be the last dispensation of religion. (Isa. 2.2; Micah 4.1; 
Pimismesre Ls le John<2,1 8.) 


Meyer says, ‘This denotes the days immediately preceding the erection 
of the Messianic kingdom, which, according to the New Testament view, 
could only take place by means of the speedily expected Parousia.”’ 


because it was 


Pepe ie: 


Pod pours =— 1 he outpouring figuratively describes the copious 
communication. 


“upon all flesh’’,—Joel doubtless had the Jews only in mind, and 
that as the people of God, the collective body of whom, and not merely as 
formerly individual priests, who were to receive the divine inspiration. 
But by this expression as used by Peter all believers without any distinction 
as to race were to receive the Spirit as thus specially outpoured. (B. A. 
Pe; GI. Harum. ) 

“prophesy” ,—Signifying not merely to foretell future events but 
more especially to communicate religious truth in general under divine 
inspiration. (See Chap. 19.6 and Chap. 21.9.) 

“your sons and your daughters’’,—Male and female members of 
the people of God—all without exception. 


“vuistons .... dreams’’,—Divine revelations by day and by night. 
403 


VHA TS 


Ver. 18. A solemn repetition of verse 17. 


The reference is not to slaves, as might be the case in Joel, but by 


the addition of ‘‘my’’ the reference is, plainly to God’s servants and God's 
handmaids, all true Christians, male and female, inasmuch as they recog- 
nize that they belong to God. 


Ver. 19. “‘blood and fire, and vapours of smoke’’,— 


“The mode of speaking here’, as Hackett has well said, “‘is founded 
on the popular idea that, when great events are about to occur, wonderful 
phenomena foretoken their appearance.’ 

We are not therefore to understand, with Meyer, natural signs such as 
blood-shedding and conflagrations, as this is opposed to their grammatical 
relation to “‘wonders’’ and “‘signs’’. They are the portents themselves and 
not the calamities portended. (A. D. Ha. Gl.) 


Ver. 20. A day is at hand which will be one of thick gloom, of 
sadness and woe. ‘The sun will become dark and the moon will appear 


as blood. (Compare Matt. 24.29; Isa. 13.10; Ezek. 32.7.) 


Ver. 21. The covenant of the new and spiritual dispensation. 
‘The gates of God’s mercy are thrown open in Christ to all people.” 

How did Peter understand this prophecy? And how are we to 
understand it? ‘There are many who refer “the Day of the Lord’ with 
its “‘signs’’ and ‘‘wonders’’ to the destruction of Jerusalem. Hackett 
thinks this the primary reference for four reasons: 


1. Since Peter applied the first part of the prophecy to the early 
times of the Gospel, so also, by the law of correspondence, should 
the last part of the prophecy be applied to the same period. 


2. The Day of the Lord, by common usage in the Hebrew prophets, 
denotes a day when God comes to make known His power in the 
punishment of His enemies, a day of vengeance for the rejection of 
His long-continued mercies and the commission of aggravated 
sins, and the destruction of Jerusalem appropriates fully - every 
trait of just such a day. 

3. The language coincides.almost verbally with that of Matt. 24.29, 
and if the language there, as understood by most interpreters, 
describes the destruction of Jerusalem, we may justly infer that it 
does here. 

4. The phraseology, according to the laws of prophetic language, is 
strikingly appropriate to represent the unsurpassed horrors and 
distress which attended the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and 
to announce the extinction of Jewish power and the glory of the 
Jewish worship. 


Hackett’s reasons are hardly sufficient to warrant his Canela n 
although part of the truth lies in the position he has taken. But even he 
says, ‘‘We are also to recognize the wider scope of the prophecy, and this 
fulfillment i is but a type of another and fuller fulfillment in the days yet 


to come. And Howson well says, ‘‘Neither Pentecost and the miraculous 
powers bestowed upon the early Church on the one hand,-nor the siege of 


Jerusalem on the other has exhausted the great prophecy of Joel which | 


404 


Ved ee CCA 


Peter took up and repeated; these are only partial fulfillments; the full 
‘accomplishment still tarries and will assuredly precede that awful day of 
the Lord, the time of which is known to the Father only.’’ In harmony 
with this we find Gloag saying, ‘“Ihe wonders and signs predicted were 
as yet future, but they were regarded by Peter as unavoidable and imminent. 
In the destruction of Jerusalem as well as in Pentecost there was a striking 
fulfillment of the prophecy, but this was only typical of what was to take 
place before the second coming of the Lord.” 


It must be borne in mind that in prophetic language the day of the 
Lord was regarded as following close upon the outpouring of the Spirit, 
because, as Alford says, ‘it was to be the next great event in the divine 
arrangement.’ ‘The prophetic forecast did not take cognizance of the 
long period between what we know as the first advent of the Messiah and 
His coming again. In fact the Disciples were not expecting so long a 
season of waiting, and it may be that they associated the destruction of 
Jerusalem, which their Master had foretold, with His coming again accord- 
ing to His promise. At any rate the day of the Lord was to be in the 
program of the Lord’s return, and Peter was right in taking Pentecost with 
its accompanying miracles as the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. It was 
the beginning of its fulfillment, the beginning of the signs of the end, and 
then, as Alford says, ‘‘follows the period, known only to the Father, the 
period of waiting—the Church for her Lord’s return—and then the signs 
shall be renewed and the day of the Lord shall come.”’ 


29 Brethren, I may say unto you 
freely of the patriarch David, that he 
both died and was buried, and his tomb 
is with us unto this day. 30 Being 
therefore a prophet, and knowing that 
God had sworn with an oath to him, 
that of the fruit of his loins "he would 
set one upon his throne; 31 he fore- 
seeing this spake of the resurrection of 
the Christ, that neither was he left 
unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corrup- 
tion. 32 This Jesus did God raise up, 
“whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Being 
therefore *by the right hand of God ex- 


10Or, one should sit 
2Or, of whom 


alted, and having received of the Father 
the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath 
poured forth this, which ye see and 
hear. 34 For David ascended not into 
the heavens: but he saith himself, 
*The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit 
thou on my right hand, 
35 Till I make thine enemies the foot- 
stool of thy feet. 
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore 
know assuredly, that God hath made 
him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus 
whom ye crucified. 


SPsrekiGel 
5Or, every house 


3Or, at 
Vers. 29-36. “THE HEIR TO DAVID’S ‘THRONE. 
Ver. 29. The object of these words is to show that the remarks just 


made could not have referred to David. 


“freely’’,—He was not deficient in any respect to his memory, but 
was to state a matter of fact which could not be denied. 


“patriarch’’,—As being the founder of the royal family. 
“with us’’,—Here in this city. 


Ver. 30. In this and the next verse we have the application of the 
prophecy to Christ. Unless David meant himself, he must have meant 
the Messiah. 


“knowing’,—Through knowledge received from the prophet Nathan 
as related in II Sam. 7.12,16; see also Ps. 132.11. 


405 


THESAGTS 


“he would set one upon his throne’’,—Namely, the Messiah of whom 
David was speaking and who was to be the theocratic consummator of 
David's kingdom. 


Ver. 31. ‘“‘foreseetng’’,—Prophetically looking into the future. 


“was left’’?,—-This and the following verb are in the aorist because 
the speaker thinks of the prediction as now accomplished. 


Ver. 32. “‘whereof’’,—This is better than “‘of whom’’, as the verb 
naturally suggests as antecedent the resurrection itself, and of this the Apos- 
tles considered themselves to be especially the witnesses. (M. Ha. Gl.) 


Ver. 33. “by the right hand of God exalted’’,—That this rendering 
is the correct one there can be little doubt. (A. M. C. E. Gl. Le. Kui. 
Win.) Others, however, render it “‘to the right hand of God exalted”. 
(O. D. Ha. Ba. Wor. Rob. Nea.) 


This latter rendering agrees best perhaps with what follows in verse 
34 but it is hardly in harmony with the structure of the Greek language, 
and we must not set aside one suitable sense for another when a violation 
of syntax is involved. It is not true, as De Wette claims, that the former 
rendering is inappropriate and meaningless; for on the contrary it shows 
that God’s mighty power is seen in the exaltation of Christ as well as in 
His resurrection. 


“the promise of the Holy Spirit’’,—This refers to the promise above 
cited from Joel, and not of course to the promises made by Himself to the 
same effect, although this latter may also have been in Peter’s mind. The 
phrase refers to the fulfillment in the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, and is 
therefore equivalent to “‘having received the promised Holy Spirit’. 

“this’’,—To be taken not as referring to the Holy Spirit. (Bez. Era. 
Kui.), but as just this,—this merely, this thing which ye see and hear, 
leaving it to the hearers themselves to infer that what was poured out was 
none other than the effusion of the promised Holy Spirit. 


Ver. 34. “For David ascended not into heaven’’,—Therefore the 
prediction could not be applied to him. 


“my Lord’ ,—1i. e., David’s Lord, the Christ. 


“on my right hand’’,—i. e., as the partner of the throne having par- 
ticipation in the supreme dominion. 


Ver. 35. The dominion here received belongs to Christ as Mediator 


and is to cease when the objects of His kingdom as Mediator are accom- 
plished. 


Ver. 36. The conclusion from all that has been said. 


“Lord’’,—The supreme King, ruler generally. 


“Christ’’,—In the full and glorious sense in which, as Alford says, 
that term was prophetically known. 


It is not possible to decide from this passage alone whether or not 
Jesus is now sitting on the throne of David. It is quite certain that the 
passage has no reference to the original dominion which Christ as God 
possesses. It is also just as certain that it is the mediatorial throne, as the 
result and reward of His sufferings, which is here primarily intended and 


406 


Abigie CIR. 


to which He, as Lord and Christ, is exalted. But is this the throne of 
David? 


It is true that at first thought the passage does seem to imply this, 
as seen in verse 30 and the following references to Christ’s resurrection. 
Dr. Brown, in his famous work, ‘““The Second Coming’’, says, ‘That 
Christ is now on the throne of David is as clearly affirmed by Peter in this 
sermon as words could do it.’’ He argues that He has been sitting there 
from the time that God raised Him from the dead. 


But an impartial exegesis does not necessarily make the passage teach 
anything of the kind. 


1. Dr. Brown follows the Authorized Version and makes the words 
“raise up’ in verse 30 refer to the resurrection of Christ. But: 


(a) The words “raise up’’ must, according to preponderating manu- 
script authority, be omitted as spurious. (See Revised Versions. ) 


(b) Even if we accept the words, they do not, when standing by 
themselves, denote a raising from the dead, but according to 
usage they mean ‘‘to raise up in history’’, as when God is said to 
have raised up for His own purpose Moses, Cyrus or some 
other historical personage. 

(c) If we accept the word and give to it the meaning Dr. Brown 
maintains, it does not necessarily follow that the assumption of 
David's throne took place immediately upon or after the resur- 
rection. 


It was necessary for Christ to be raised to sit upon David's 
throne and all the passage can be said to unquestionably teach 
is that this session followed the rising from the dead, but as to 
how soon after the resurrection it began no hint is given. There 
is all the more force in this argument when we remember that, 
as Dr. Kellogg has said, ‘“‘the prophets almost invariably speak 
of related events, without indicating any interval of time, 
whether great or small, which may elapse between them.” 


CMAP TERY THREE 





19 Repent ye therefore, and turn you, even Jesus: 21 whom the heaven 
again, that your sins may be blotted must receive until the times of restora- 
out, that so there may come seasons of tion of all things, whereof God spake 
refreshing from the presence of the by the mouth of his holy prophets that 


Lord; 20 and that he may send the have been from of old. 
Christ who hath been appointed for 


Vers. 19-21. “THE SEASONS OF REFRESHING AND THE RESTORATION OF 
ALL] HINGS. 


Ver. 19. ‘“‘blotted out’’,—As the blotting out or the erasure of a 


handwriting. (Col. 2.4.) 


hibateso .—)n,orderthat., ¢M..O. Ds A. Ha: Gl: Er. Kel:. Wor. 
Win. Chr.) The meaning of the particle absolutely forbids the old ren- 
dering of the Authorized Version. 


“from the presence of the Lord’’,—God is the author of these seasons 


of refreshing. 


| 


407 


(MHEeAG TS 


“seasons of refreshing’’,—The following explanations have been 
made of this expression: 


1. That which connects it with the second coming of Christ, as 
Alford says, ushering in the seasons of refreshing. (A. M. O. Er. 
HaniGlelerKelrsizume) 


2. The spiritual refreshing which comes from believing in Christ. 
(S. Al. Kui.) 


3. The deliverance of Christians at the destruction of Jerusalem. 
(Lia Ham) Gro, ) 
4. The period of rest after death. (Schu.) 


Only the first two of these views are worthy of any extended atten- 
tion. The second of these views would certainly present us with the most 
natural meaning if it were not for the following things: 


1. The grammatical connection with the next verse seems to demand, 
as Olshausen declares, that it be connected with the second coming 
of Christ. Hackett correctly says that the order of the clauses 
decides nothing against this opinion, it being quite as natural to 
think first of the effect and then to assign the cause, as the reverse. 

2. It is in favor of the first view that it refers the verbs “‘may come”’ 
and “‘may send’ to the same period and event, as the close connec- 
tion of the verbs would lead us to expect. 

3. The fact that the verb “‘come’’ is in the aorist tense and used in a 
conditional sentence seems to refer to a definite arrival. If it had 
been for repeated occurrence of refreshings the present tense would 
have been used. 

4. The fact that the seasons of refreshing are said to come from the 
presence of the Lord is more favorable to the first than to the 
second view. ‘ 


We believe therefore that Gloag very properly says, ‘‘All those inter- 
pretations which refer the ‘seasons of refreshing’ to anything unconnected 
with the second coming of Christ are to be rejected. No other meaning 
it seems to me will suit the words.”’ 


Does not this passage therefore represent the second coming of the 
Lord as immediately conditioned in the divine plan by the repentance of 
the Jewish nation? Does not Peter seem to directly teach that whenever 
Israel repents Christ will come? Is it not true, as Alford says, that by the 
expression under consideration, “‘is clearly meant some future refreshment 
which the conversion of the Jews was to bring about’? Most authorities 
are quite agreed in answering these queries in the affirmative. (A. M. O. 


Hay Gis Kel Camabiows) 

Alford contends that this was not only the plain inference from 
prophecy but that doubtless Peter was so taught by his risen Lord, and 
that this holds true even now. ; 

If it therefore be objected that the Jews by their nonconversion are 
holding back the Parousia, Alford replies that however true this may be 
in fact, the truth above is fully borne out by the manner of speaking 
throughout the Scriptures. 


Says Olshausen, “The conversion of men therefore and the diffusion 
of faith in Christ are the conditions of the speedy approach. of that blessed 
time, a thought which occurs again in II Pet. 3.9.” 


408 


THER ACTS 


) Ver. 20. “‘may send’’,—Contemporaneous with the ‘‘may come”’ of 
the preceding verse. 


“appointed” ,—i. e., from all eternity. 
“for you’’,—1i. e., as your Messiah. 


Ver. 21. “‘whom the heaven must recetve’’,—This is the much more 
natural and usual rendering of the verb. (A.D. M. Le. B-C, Ha. Gl. Lum. 
Kui. Bez. Ern.) The other rendering which is made doubtless in the 
interests of Christ’s ubiquity, ““‘who must occupy heaven’, is likewise 
supported by good scholars. (O. B. L. S. Hei. Ca. Lut. Wei.) But this 
rendering is not only a forced one but a very unusual one, there being only 
two or three instances of it and then it takes the meaning of ‘‘possessing as 
property’. [he emphatic position of ‘““heaven’’ with the particle attached 
to it 1s quite decisive against this rendering, because, as Alford has said, 
“this particle in a sentence of the present form is always attached to the 
subject and never to the object’’. 


“until the times of the restoration of all things’’,—We are inclined 
to think that the reference here is to the same epoch as the times of refresh- 


ing of verse 19. (A. D. O. Ha. Gl.) 


Some render, “‘until the times of the fulfillment of all things of which 
God spake’, etc. (S. Gro. Theo. Whitby.) But this is against all prece- 
dent. Some render ‘‘during the times of the restoration’, etc., and explain 
the passage in the sense of the present spiritual restoration which is going 
on through the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men today. But 
this is also without precedent altogether. 


What then shall be restored? The following quotations from emi- 
nent scholars will furnish satisfactory answer to this question. 


1. “All that God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets 
shall be restored and placed in its original order, and in that conditioa 
which God designed and promised.’’ (Lechler.) 


2. ‘It is a restoration to a state of primeval order, purity, holiness 
and happiness such as will exist for those who have part in the kingdom of 
Christ at His second coming.” (Hackett.) 


3. “I understand it of the glorious restoration of all things, the 
‘pallingenesia’, which as Peter says here, is the theme of all the prophets 
from the beginning. The key to the construction and the meaning is to 
be found in our Lord’s own words, ‘Elijah shall come and restore all 


Boings ee CViatGs1 7/11). (Alford:) 


4. ‘There will be a moral restoration; the present disorders of this 
world will be removed; the good will finally triumph over evil; holiness 
and happiness will prevail throughout the world. The idea of the Apostle 
seems to be that so long as the unbelief of Israel continues, Christ will 
remain in heaven, but that their repentance and conversion will bring 
about the times of refreshing and the restoration of all things, which will 
either precede or coincide with the second coming.’ (Gloag.) 

Meyer contends that this “‘restoration of all things’ cannot be the 
same as “‘the times of refreshing’. He says the second coming of Christ 
does not take place before the “‘restoration of all things’, and that the 
“age to come’, which is the time after the second coming, is the same as 
“the times of refreshing’, and is therefore a different period of time than 


409 


UID eACILS 


that of “‘the restoration of all things’. The “restoration of all things’, « 
he says, refers to only such time as shall precede the second coming of 
Christ. Therefore it cannot refer to such restorations as are mentioned in 
the four views noted above, in as much as the restoration to which they 
refer coincides with or immediately follows the second coming of the Lord. 
“The correct explanation’’, says Meyer, ‘‘must start from Mal. 4.6 as the 
historical seat of the expression, and from Matt. 17.11 where Christ made 
it Hisown. Christ stays in heaven until the moral corruption of the people 
of God is removed, and the thorough moral renovation of all their relations 
shall have ensued. “Then and then only is the exalted Christ sent from 
heaven to the people and then only does there come for them. the times 
of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. What an excitement neither 
to neglect nor to defer repentance and conversion as the means to this 
restoration of all things...” 

“whereof’’,—This belongs to “‘times’’ and not to “‘all things’. 

“from the beginning’’,—This is to be taken relatively; from the 
earliest times of prophetic revelation. 


CHAPTER LEN 


42 And he charged us to preach unto 
the people, and to testify that this is he 
who is ordained of God to be the Judge 
of the living and the dead. 


Ver. 42. CHRIST AS JUDGE OF THE QUICK AND THE DEAD. 


“he’,—1i. e., the risen Christ. 

“the people’’,—It was the Jewish people that Peter doubtless had in 
mind when he spoke, seeing that the context speaks of.no other (verse 
41). | (A.M. Ha. Gl.) (See also verse 2.) 

The reference must be to some unknown expression of the risen Christ 
other than that referred to in Matt. 28.29, seeing that their contents are so 
different.. Acts 1.8 may have been in the writer’s mind, but even there the 
Disciples thought of the charge as referring to the Jews only. 

“he’’,—The Greek has the intensive form, “‘he, himself’’, i. e., he 
himself and no other. 

“the living and the dead’’,—The reference here is of course to those 
physically alive and physically dead. Olshausen has no ground for under- 
standing here the righteous and the wicked, that is, those spiritually alive 
and those spiritually dead. There is a law of interpretation which should 
always be borne tn mind, and that ts that a figurative sense of words 1s 
never admissible except when required by the context. 

When is this judgment to take place? At the time, of course, when 
He comes to judgment, at His second coming, His Parousia (M. A. Ha. Le. 
Gl.), whatever may be the view one holds with regard to the succession of 
events during that period. 

There is nothing in this verse whatever to intimate a twofold resur- 
rection and judgment of the dead, one of the righteous dead and a later 
one of the wicked dead, although it can be interpreted as quite in harmony 
with such teaching if it can be shown that the same is elsewhere taught 
in the Scriptures. 


410 


Ai che VNEI Es 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 


22 confirming the souls of the dis- 
ciples, exhorting them to continue in the 
faith, and that through many tribula- 
tions we must enter into the kingdom 


of God. 
Ver. 22. THE KINGDOM OF GOD ENTERED THROUGH TRIBULATION. 


Blackstone quotes this verse as proof that the kingdom of God, the 
Messianic kingdom, the Millennium was still future in the day when Paul 
so exhorted the brethren. 

Meyer says, ‘““‘We Christians must, through many afflictions, enter 
into the Messianic kingdom, the kingdom of God, to be established at the 
Parousia.”’ 

Gloag likewise says that here the kingdom of God is the Messianic 
kingdom, but refers it to the state of the redeemed in heaven. He says, 
“As these converts had already entered the Church of Christ, and so were 
members of Christ’s visible kingdom, ‘the kingdom of God’ here must refer 
to the state of the redeemed in heaven.”’ 

“The kingdom of God is here’, says Hackett, “‘the state of happiness 
which awaits the redeemed in heaven.’’ This expositor does not, however, 
identify the expression with the Messianic kingdom, as does Gloag. ‘Thus 
also Howson, Lechler and others. 


SaAP TERS FIFTEEN 


14 Symeon hath rehearsed how first And I will build again the ruins 
God visited the Gentiles, to take out of thereof, ; 
them a people for his name. 15 And And | will set it up: 
aR P ’ ‘ 17 That the residue of men may seek 
to this agree the words of the prophets; after the Lord, 
as it is written, And all the Gentiles, upon whom 
16 ‘After these things I will return, my name is called, 
And | will build again the taber- 18 Saith the Lord, “who maketh these 
nacle of David, which is fallen; things known from of old. 
1Am. 9.11,12 "Or, who doeth these things which were 
known &c. 


Vers. 14-18. “THE RESTORATION OF THE KINGDOM OF DAVID AND THE 
CALLING OF THE GENTILES. 


(See the exegesis on Amos 9.11,12.) 


The royal house of David, which is here represented as a tabernacle 
fallen into ruin, had been weakened by the revolt of the Ten Tribes and 
reduced by repeated disasters. God promises to restore it and to make it 
flourish as in olden times and to make the Gentiles a part of the theocracy. 

Whatever fulfillments of this prophecy may have taken place, they 
most certainly have been only very partial and its full accomplishment is 

to be received only in the Messiah. 

This great passage has been most aptly called ‘‘the divine program 
of this age and the next’, says Scofield. He says, “‘I must again call atten- 
tion to the words ‘take out’, in verse 14. It is exactly what we see. Not 
the conversion of all, but the taking out of some. After this taking out, 
Christ ‘will return’, and then follows the conversion of the world.”’ 


411 


ROMANS 


THB-EPISTLEOR PAUL MUO mbit 


ROMANS 


(A 60) 


CHAPTER EIGHT 


16 The Spirit himself beareth witness 
with our spirit, that we are children of 
God: 17 and if children, then heirs; 
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
Christ; if so be that we suffer with 
him, that we may be also glorified with 
him. 

18 For I reckon that the sufferings 
of this present time are not worthy 
to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed to us-ward. 19 For 
the earnest expectation of the creation 
waiteth for the revealing of the sons of 
God. 20 For the creation was subjected 
to vanity, not of its own will, but by 
reason of him who subjected it, ‘in hope 


‘Or. in hope; because the creation &c. 


21 that the creation itself also shall be 
delivered from the bondage of corrup- 
tion into the liberty of the glory of the 
children of God. 22 For we know that 
the whole creation groaneth and tra- 
vaileth in pain “together until now. 
23 And not only so, but ourselves also, 
who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, 
even we ourselves groan within our- 
selves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, 
the redemption of our body. 24 For “in 
hope were we saved: but hope that is 
seen is not hope: “for who “hopeth for 
that which he seeth?- 25 But if we 
hope for that which we see not, then 
do we with “patience wait for it. 
"Or, with us 


3Or, by 

4Many ancient authorities read for what a 
wan seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 

5Some ancient authorities read awaiteth. 

6Or, sted fastness 


Vers. 16-25. “THE WHOLE CREATION AWAITS THE COMING OF CHRIST. 


Ver. 17. “heirs of God’’,—The inheritance which God transfers to 
His children is the salvation and glory of the Messianic kingdom (M.), 
the kingdom of glory (R. L.). Says Lange, “‘As He Himself will be all 
in all, so shall His children receive with Him, in His Son, everything for 
an inheritance.’’ After all, His heritage is Himself, and the best He can 
give His children is to dwell in them. 


“joint heirs with Christ’’,—-It is quite natural that Paul should have 
in mind here the Roman law which made all children, even adopted ones, 
equal heritors (R. A. M. Tho. Fri.), rather than the Hebrew law which 
gave the firstborn a double portion (L. Ph.), although the controversy, as 
Schmoller says, appears somewhat pedantic. It is not so much that Christ 
is the rightful heir, who shares His inheritance with the other children, 
but it is as adoptive children that we get the inheritance, Christ being the 
means of it, however, as it is He who gives us power to become the sons of 


God. 


“TF so be’’,—There is a latent admonition in this conditional form. 


It is the order, rather than the reason, for obtaining the inheritance that is 


here set forth. (C.R.) We enter into possession of the common inheri- 
tance of glory only by accepting our part of the common inheritance of 
suffering. If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him. (II Tim. 
VERT Wel hy'seh: 


“that we may be’’,—This is God’s purpose, not ours;,in our case it is 
the result. 


ANZ. 


ROMANS 


“also glorified with him’’,—i. e., when He comes in His glory our 
own glory shall then only become fully manifest, as we participate with 
Him in His own glory. Hodge says this refers to the blessedness of the 
future state. isl\ai% 


Ver. 18. “‘For’’,—This is not to be connected alone with “‘glorified 
with Him’ (St.), but the rather with the whole of the preceding thought 
which culminates in verse 17. (R.L.) It introduces a reason why the 
present sufferings should not lead to discouragement. 

“T reckon’ ,—1i. e., I judge after calculation. The thought is, I, my- 
self, as one having embraced this course, am convinced, etc. 

“not worthy’’,—The literal is “‘not of weight’. The idea of our 
worthiness or of any merit of our own because of the sufferings we endure 
is foreign to the context, and perhaps the phrase may be better translated, 
“insignificant in comparison with’’. 

“the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward’’ ,—i. e., at the apoca- 
lypsis of Christ (A.) ; at the end of the present time, when full redemption 
comes with the coming of the Lord (R.); at the Parousia, when the glory 
which is now hidden in heaven shall be revealed. 

“This glory is to be revealed,’ says Godet, ‘‘and is therefore already 
in existence; it exists not only in the plan of God decreeing it to us, but also 
in the person of Christ glorified, with whose appearing it will be visibly 
displayed.”’ 

“this present time’’,—Meyer says this expression marks off from the 
whole of “this age’ the period then current, which was to end with the 
approaching Parousia, assumed as near throughout the entire New Testa- 
ment, and was thus the time of the crisis. The expression, however, does 
' not necessarily indicate that the Parousia was, to the Apostle’s mind, near 
at hand. It may imply this, but the evidence for or against the view must 
be sought elsewhere. 

“to us-ward’’,—The preposition is not “‘en’’ (A-V.), but “‘eis’’, and 
the idea expressed is a very pregnant one. It does not mean merely ‘‘to us” 
as spectators, but ‘‘on us’’ and “‘for us’’ and “‘in us’. We are, as Riddle 
says, “its subjects, its possessors and its center, for even creation shares 
rit. 3 

“The glory’, says Godet, “‘will not consist only in our own trans- 
formation, but also in the coming of the Lord Himself, and the transfor- 
mation of the universe. Thus it will be displayed at once for us and 
cpus.” : 

Lange says, “If it is imparted through the inward life of believers and 
through nature, it nevertheless comes from the future and from above.” 


Ver. 19. “For’’,—This particle here introduces not a proof of the 
certainty of the manifestation of this glory, though this secondary thought 
is perhaps in the background, but it presents the proof of the transcendent 
greatness of the glory mentioned. 

“the earnest expectation’’,—This translation comes from one of those 
admirable words with which the Greek language so fully abounds and 
which it so easily forms. It is composed of three elements; “‘the head’’, 
“to wait for’ and the preposition “‘from afar’’, and hence it means “‘to 
wait with uplifted head looking toward the horizon from which the 


413 


ROMANS 


expected object is to come’. “‘An artist’, says Godet, “‘might make a 


statue of hope out of this Greek term.”’ 
“creation’’,—Here Campbell Morgan says, ‘‘For His coming, not only 


the Church, but the whole creation, waits. Today the sons of God, as ° 


such, are unknown, or despised and persecuted; but when the Master 
comes, they will be revealed with Him—and it is for this consummation 
that the earth is waiting.”’ 


There is an astonishing variety of answers given to the question as 
to what the word “‘creation”’ refers to. [he word in itself means the total- 
ity of created things, but it very often takes a more restricted meaning 
according to the context. Among the various interpretations are the fol- 
lowing: 

1. All inanimate creation. (C. Ar, Fri. Chr. Bez. Lut. Theo. Schm:) 

But there is no sufficient reason why animal creation should be 
excluded; and furthermore, the expressions “not of tts own will” 
(verse 20), and “‘groaneth and travaileth’’ (verse 22) imply life. 

2. The entire universe without any limitation. 

But believers ought here to be excluded from the expression be- 
cause in verse 23 they are mentioned as forming a class by them- 
selves. 

3. The entire universe excluding believers. (R.) 


But unbelievers ought also to be excluded, for (1) either they will 


be converted before the expected time, and will in that case be 
found among the children of God, or (2) if they are not then 


converted, they will not participate, even indirectly, in the glory 


in question. 


4. The totality of created things except humanity... This is, in view 


of all the statements of the context, without doubt the correct 
interpretation. (A. M. G. D. H. B. Ru. Ca. Ew. Um, Ph. sae 


Us. Le. Nea. Tho. Wol. Gro. Ire. Mel. Lap. Coc. Mai. Bis. Del. 
Nie. Hof. Zah. Reic. Gloe. ) 


““waiteth’’,—Here is another splendid combination of words, being — 


formed from the verb ‘‘to receive’, and two prepositions, “‘ek’’ (out of, 


i, e., here, out of the hands of), and “‘ano’’ (from afar), the whole meaning ~ 
“to receive something from the hands of one who extends it to you from ~ 


alatin. 

“the revealing of the sons of God’’,—Says Hodge, ‘““The time when 
they shall be manifested in their true character and glory as His sons. 
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we 
shall be: but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Hin 
GhJobn.3u2).3 

Says Riddle, “The final revelation of Christ’s glory is here spoken 
of as that ‘of the sons of God’, and in this glory creation shall share.’’ 

The expression is explained, says Godet, by Col. 3.4, ““‘When Christ, 
our life, shall be manifested, then ye also shall be manifested with Him in 
glory”’. 

This is what our Lord calls the coming of the Son of man, and it is 
only the deep-seated consciousness of fellowship with Him that leads the 
Apostle to use the expression “sons of God’’. With the coming of Christ 


414 


ee a 


ROMANS 


the glory of creation will find its full expression; then it will be manifested 
in its full glory. 


Ver. 20. It was God who, in consequence of the fall of man, sub- 
jected creation to vanity, i. e., it became empty, as the word signifies; lost 
its original significance, and became a prey to corruption. 


“in hope’,—The subjection of creation, however, was not final and 
hopeless. Some consider the previous part of this verse as parenthetical 
and join “tn hope’ with verse 19. This is permissible and has much to 
commend it, but it cannot be insisted upon, and it is better to make the con- 
nection, as in our text, with “was subjected’, rather than with ‘“‘who sub- 
jected it’, though the sense in either case would be the same. 


. Of course God was not the moral cause of the curse on nature. ‘This 
belongs either to man or to Satan. ‘This has led some (Tho. Chr. Schn.) 
to refer the “him who subjected it’? to Adam, while Hammond has referred 
it to Satan himself. Godet, who rejects the idea of God as the author here, 
inclines to the view of Hammond, though not pronouncedly so. He says 
the expression, “by reason of him’’, with ‘‘dia’’ as the preposition makes 
the agent, whoever he may be, the moral cause of the curse, and this he 
says of course is not true of God, who is but the efficient cause of the curse. 
He thinks that if the Apostle had meant Adam, or man, he could have 
avoided the strange mysteriousness of the passage by simply saying, ‘‘by 
reason of the man’. ‘Then too he thinks “he who subyected’’ applies 
hardly as well to man, who, in this event, so far as nature is concerned, 
played a purely passive part. 

“in hope’ could, of course, only be referred to “who subjected it’’ in 
case the subject of this clause is God. Godet therefore refers the expression 
to “‘was subjected’, and says it signifies that from the first, when this chas- 
tisement was inflicted, it was only with a future restoration in view. 

Alford says this view hardly needs refutation, as it is entirely unsub- 
stantial. He says “tn hope’’ must not be connected with “‘who subjected 
it’ (C. O. Es. Ori. Vul. Lut. Pis. Schm. Cast.), because then the hope 
becomes the hope of the one who subjected nature to its curse; but with 
“was subjected’ (R. G. L.), the hope belonging to that which was sub- 
jected. 

The sense, however, in the ultimate, as Hodge says, amounts to the 
same thing. 


Ver. 21. “‘the bondage of corruption’’,—i. e., its subjection to the 
law of decay; the state of frailty and degradation mentioned above. 

Meyer, Riddle, Tholuck and others take the word “corruption” as in 
apposition to “bondage’’. Lange and Godet object to this, but without 
good reason, as this sense preserves the proper distinctions. As Riddle 
says, ‘“The corruption is the consequence of the vanity; the unwilling sub- 
jection to a condition which is under vanity, and results in corruption, is 
well termed bendage.”’ 

“into the liberty of the glory’’,—Not to be rendered ‘“‘glorious lib- 
erty’, by which the “‘glorious’’ is merely an epithet whereby the liberty is 
characterized; but, as in our text, the freedom is described, as Alford says, 
as consisting in, belonging to, being one component part of, the glorified 
state of the children of God; and thus the thought is carried up to the state 
in which the freedom belongs, 


415 


ROMANS 


The creation itself shall in a glorious sense be delivered into that 
freedom from debility and decay in which the children of God, when 
raised up in glory, shall expatiate. (C. B.D. O.H. A. M. Ph. Tho. Bez.) 


The glory, says Riddle, is that which is spoken of in verse 18; it will 
appear at the revelation of the sons of God. 


Ver. 22. This verse introduces the proof, not of “the bondage of 
corruption’ (Zah.), nor of “the earnest expectation of creation’ (Ph.), 
which is much too distant, but of the existence of the hope, “‘For’’, as 
Meyer says, “‘if that hope had not been left to it, all nature would not 
have united its groaning and travailing until now.’ He further says, 
“This phenomenon, so universal and so unbroken, cannot be conducted 
without an aim; on the contrary it presupposes as the motive of the painful 
travail that very hope toward the final fulfillment of which it is directed.” 
(M. R.) The connection thus goes back to either “‘in hope’’ of verse 20 
or to the hope as expressed in verse 21. (G). 


“we know’’,—This is an appeal to the Christian consciousness. 


“together’’,—The marginal rendering, ‘‘with us’, (C. Ew. Um. Kop. 
Oec.) can hardly be allowed. The word comes from the preposition 
“with” used in connection with each of the verbs, and verse 23 seems deci- 
sive against the marginal rendering. It denotes rather the common sigh- 
ing of all the elements, comprised in the collective expression “‘the whole — 
creation’. (M.A.R.L.GH.) “All its parts uniting and sympathiz- 
moe CHC ELS) 

“travatleth in pain’’,—"‘All nature groans and suffers anguish, as if 
in travail, over against the moment of its deliverance.’’ As the poet says, 
“She feels in her womb the leaping of a new universe.” 

“until now’’,—1. e., from the beginning until now, no reference be- 
ing made to the future, because “‘we know”’ expresses the results of experi- 
ence. (A.R.M.H.) The sighing and travail commenced when creation 
was subjected to vanity (verse 20.) i 

Says Campbell Morgan, “‘Creation is to be freed from its groaning 
and travailing in pain; the blight upon nature will be removed, and a per- ~ 
fect manifestation of its beauty will take the place of all it now suffers in 
company with fallen humanity.” 


Ver. 23. “‘And not only so’’,—Not only is it true that the whole 
creation groaneth, etc. 

“the first fruits of the Spirit’ ,— 

(1) The first outpourings of the Spirit in point of time, the early — 
Christians being the recipients; the full harvest of which will be the impar- 
tation of the Spirit to all believers. (M. D. O. Era. Wet. Kos. Kol. Reic.) 

Some among those who take this view restrict these firstfruits to the 
Apostles alone. (Ori. Gro. Oec. Mel.) 

But Godet asks what importance this difference can have foe the 
spiritual life, and where is a trace of such distinction to be found in the 
New Testament. 

(2) What all Christians now possess is but the first fruits; the harvest 
will be the full outpouring of the future, i. e., what we shall receive here- 


after. (R. HA. C) St«Es: Can Phakl! Seme DhosBez4biseGors 
416 





ROMANS 


Says Alford, “‘The reference is to the indwelling and influences of 
the Holy Spirit here, as an earnest of the full harvest of His complete pos- 
session of us, body, soul and spirit, hereafter. That this is the meaning 
seems evident from the analogy of St. Paul’s imagery regarding the Holy 
Spirit: He treats Him as an earnest and a pledge given to us, and of His 
full work in us as the efficient means of our full glorification hereafter.”’ 


Godet says, however, that the Apostle is not here contrasting an im- 
perfect with a more perfect spiritual state; he is contrasting an inward state 
already relatively perfect with an outward state which has not yet partici- 
pated in the spiritual renewal. 


The reference, however, to the full glorification at the close of the 
verse strongly favors this second view. 


(3) Others again, including Godet, say that the firstfruits of our 
redemption consists in the possession of the Holy Spirit Himself. (G. B. 
K. L. B-C. Ru. Hof. Mai. Zah.) This places the word “Spirit’’ in appo- 
sition to “firstfruits’’. Although usage is against this, Lange and Godet 
argue strongly in its favor. Either view (2) or (3) is to be preferred, 
and as between them the balance is in favor of (2). 

“groan within ourselves’’,—We, although we have the firstfruits, are 
far from being complete. 


“wating for our adoption’’,—We are already adopted children, but 
_ the outward condition corresponding to this new relation is not yet com- 
plete. This, says Meyer, must wait upon the Parousia, whereupon the 
“revelation of the sons of God”’ and their “‘glory’’ ensues. 

“the redemption of our body’’,—Redemption from the body (Ew. 
Era. Fri. Cle. Reic.), although linguistically admissible, is altogether in- 
correct, for the whole thought of this chapter pertains not to freedom from 
the body but to the glorification of the body at the coming of Christ. 


At the moment of this redemption, says Meyer, the body shall be 
freed from all the defects of its earthly condition; through which redemp- 
tion it shall be glorified into the incorruptible body similar to the glorified 
body of Christ, or shall be raised up as such, in case of our not surviving 
the Parousia. 


Says Hodge, ‘“The time of the resurrection of the body, or the mani- 
_ festation of the sons of God, is the time of the second advent of Jesus 
Christ. (See I Cor. 15.23; I Thess. 4.16.) This is the period toward which 
all eyes and all hearts have been directed, among those who have had the 
firstfruits of the Spirit, since the fall of Adam; and for which the whole 
creation groaneth and is in travail even until now.” 


Ver. 24. “For in hope we were saved’’,—We must not with some 
authorities identify hope and faith and find here the idea of salvation by 
faith, as is implied in the marginal reading of our text. Paul always 
distinguishes faith and hope (I Cor. 13.13), and he always bases salvation 
on faith, from which hope thereupon proceeds. The fact of salvation 
places us in a condition of which hope is a characteristic. Luther finely 
says, ‘‘We are indeed saved, yet in hope.’’ “‘In hope’’ does not express the 
means by which the thing is done, but the condition or circumstance in 
which it is, or the way and manner in which it occurs. 


“hope that ts seen ts not hope’’,—Says Riddle, ‘“‘By these self-evident 
statements about hope, the Apostle leads his readers up to the thought of 


417 


ROMANS 





verse 25, which is both an encouragement and an exhortation. In the 
words, “‘hope that ts seen’, the term hope is taken for the object hoped for, 
while in the words following, hope resumes its subjective meaning. Hence 
the meaning of the last two propositions of the verse is quite clear and 
self-evident. 

“for who hopeth for that which he seeth?’’—The thought here 1s, 
‘Who hopeth at all for that which he seeth?’’, while that of the margin is, 
“Why doth a man still hope for that which he seeth?’’ The marginal 
rendering seems the better established by manuscript authority and is prefer- 
able only for that reason, the meaning being quite the same, ‘Why doth 
he still (yet) hope, when there is no more ground or reason for it?’”” (M. 
lf, (ReGek) 


Ver. 25. ‘‘then do we with patience wait for it’’,The idea is that 
of steadfastness, which includes patience as its consequence. [The hope 
which the Christian has furnishes one strong motive for his patient endur- 
ance of the sufferings of this present time. Because he hopes for a glory 
yet to be revealed at the coming of the Lord, he perseveringly waits for it. 


CHAPTER NINE 


27 And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, 29 And, as Isaiah hath said before, 
If the number of the children of Israel "Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left 
be as the sand of the sea, it is the rem- us a seed, 
nant that shall be saved: 28 for the We had become as Sodom, and had 
Lord will sexecute his word upon the been made like unto Gomorrah. 
earth, finishing it and cutting it short. 

Js 2022204. cof as AE 


Vers. 27-29. “THE ELECT REMNANT OF ISRAEL. 


Ver. 27. The words spoken by Isaiah of the return from captivity 
of a remnant of Israel. Hosea in verse 25 speaks of the Gentile unbelievers, 
but Isaiah is speaking of the rejection of Israel except the believing remnant. 

“crieth’’,—The word represents the impassioned manner of Isaiah, 
and sets forth the bold declaration of a truth very offensive to the people. 


“the remnant’’,—The article “‘the’’ before the word “remnant”’ 
shows that it is a thing known. Indeed one of the most frequent notions 
of Isaiah is that of the holy remnant which survives all chastisements of 
Israel and which, coming forth from the crucible, becomes each time the 
germ of a better future. . 


“shall be saved’, The Hebrew word is “‘shall return’’, that is, from 
captivity; but Paul applies the phrase in its fullest sense, taking the Sep- 
tuagint translation which, of course, was used in a more restricted sense. 
The thought of the verse is that however numerous the people of Israel — 
might be, only a remnant of them are to besaved. (O.H.G L. M. A.R.) 
These authorities all reject the view of Hofmann and others who insist 
that the meaning is that this remnant will certainly subsist; but this, as 
Godet well remarks, is not the question at all. 

Hofmann makes the passage mean that the whole of the people of 
Israel which return, be they ever so numerous even like the sands of the sea. 
is called a remnant, because they have come out of a severe time of distress, 
and that Paul rightly understood that the remnant which obtains salva- 
tion is one with the people which is as numerous as the sands of the sea. 


418 


ROMANS 


But this is utterly inconsistent with both the original Hebrew and the idea 
which the Septuagint plainly had in mind when they made their transla- 
tion; and the fact that Paul follows the Septuagint is likewise against this 
view of Hofmann’s. 


Ver. 28. This verse explains the idea of the saved remnant. ‘The 
judgment, says Isaiah, will be a sudden and a summary execution which 
will fall not upon this or that individual but upon the whole nation. 

The literal Hebrew of Isaiah is, ““Extirpation is decided, overfloweth 
with righteousness; for extirpation and decree shall the Lord of Hosts make 
in all the land.” 

The Septuagint translation runs, ‘“The Lord fulfills the sentence; He 
cuts short righteously (in righteousness), because He makes a rapidly 
accomplished word (utterance) upon all the earth.” 


““word’’,—This is a good translation, although “‘utterance’’ (M. A. 
R.) is better still. 


Godet renders it ‘“‘reckoning’’, but this in connection with the Greek 
word used would be contrary to idiom. 


Others render ‘matter of fact’. (Bez. Mel. Kop. Cast.) But this it 
never denotes with Paul. 


Calvin, with the Authorized Version, translates, ‘““work’’, but this 
also is a signification which it never has. 


Olshausen, and perhaps the majority, take it in the sense of decree. 
But the Greek word never means this, although this idea doubtless under- 
lies the passage and is found in the Hebrew. 

“cut short’’,—Referring to the rapid accomplishment of what the 


Lord had said. 


“in righteousness’ ,—This refers to the judicial justice of God which 
punishes in order to save the remnant. “The former thought is the promi- 
nent one, as is to be inferred both from the context and from the original. 
‘The sense of the whole verse then is, ‘‘He (the Lord) is finishing and cut- 
ting short the utterance (making it a fact by rapid accomplishment) in 
righteousness; for a cut-short utterance (one rapidly accomplished) will 
the Lord make (execute, render actual) upon the earth.”’ 

The Septuagint, we feel, has preserved most fully the thought of the 
original Hebrew, in fact conveying it to the mind of a reader familiar with 
the Greek more clearly than could have been done by a literal rendering of 
the Hebrew. It is a fact, however, that the Septuagint is a faulty transla- 
tion of the Hebrew, and because Paul quoted from the Septuagint, Meyer 
and others say he endorsed an incorrect rendering of the word of God. 
But the only fair way to handle such a proposition is to think that Paul 
quoted wittingly, because he felt that the Septuagint conveyed his own 
meaning in simple and more emphatic form, the meaning in either case 
being the same. 

Some interpret the whole of God’s mercy, of His cutting short judg- 
ment. But this gives to righteousness the sense of mercy, and it is foreign 
to the Hebrew and inappropriate here where Paul is emphasizing the fact 
that only a remnant will be saved. 

“The main purport of the verse’, says Moule, “‘is clear: the prophet 
foretells severe and summary judgments upon Israel such as to leave ere 
long only a remnant able and willing to return.”’ 


419 


ROMANS 


Ver. 29. “‘left us a seed’’,—The rescued Israelites are in Isaiah called 
“a holy seed’’ (Isa. 6.13), because out of them, as a small beginning, the 
nation shall rejuvenate itself and the true spiritual Israel shall proceed. 
The Hebrew has ‘“‘remnant’’, but Paul follows the Septuagint, the sense 
being precisely the same. The Hebrew word means “‘that which remains’, 
and the word “‘seed’’ as used in this passage means the seed reserved for 
sowing. 
exercise of grace on the part of the Lord, the destruction as announced in 
verses 27 and 28 would have been more radical still, as radical as that 
which overtook the cities of the plain. 


“before’’.—Some explain this word by the circumstance that in the 
book of Isaiah this passage occurs before that which has just been quoted 
in verses 27 and 28. 


Others (A. C. Gro. Bez. Era.) refer the “‘before’’ to a preceding part 
of the book of Isaiah; but this is opposed by others (M. R. D. G. Mi. B-C. 
Tho.) as quite puerile. [he word is used merely in the sense of a predic- 
tion and refers to the time of Isaiah as prior to that of the Apostle who is 
here recording what Isaiah had before (in other days) prophesied. 


CHAP TERV ELEVEN 


5 Even so at this present time also ness? 13 But I speak to you that are 
there is a remnant according to the elec- Gentiles. Inasmuch then as J am an 
tion of grace. apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my min- 

11 I say then, Did they stumble that istry; 14 if by any means I may pro- 


they might fall? God forbid: but by 


. voke to jealousy them that are my flesh, 
their “fall salvation is come unto the 


and may save some of them. 15 For 


The meaning of this saying is that without quite a peculiar - 


Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. 
12 Now if their fall is the riches of 
the world, and their loss the riches of 
the Gentiles; how much more their ful- 


if the casting away of them is the recon- 
ciling of the world, what shall the re- 
ceiving of them be, but life from the 
dead? 


10r, trespass Comp. Chap. 5.15 ff. 


Vers. 5,11-15. THE ELECT REMNANT OF ISRAEL ACCORDING TO 
GRACE. 
Ver.5. “aremnant according to the election of grace’’,—This refers 


to the apparently insignificant number of believing Jews whom God’s 
grace has chosen out of the totality of the people. As God reserved to 
Himself in the days of Elijah a number, larger than the prophet believed 
it to be, even so now He hath graciously chosen a number, a remnant 
according to the election of grace. May it not be that this number is larger 
than is generally supposed? “The Apostle James speaks of myriads of be- 
lieving Jews. (Acts 21.20.) 


Still, it is small comparatively, and it became more and more so as 
the distinctive character of the New Testament teaching came out and the 
nearer the last crisis of the old order approached. ‘The election refers not 
so much to such and such individuals but to the remnant in its entirety. 


“at this present time’’,—The time of Israel’s national rejection. 


Ver. 11. “TJ say then’’,—This introduces a possible but a false con- 
clusion from verse 7 and implies a negative answer. 


“Did they stumble that they might fall?’’— 
420 


The first verb expresses 





a, 


ROMANS 


a shock against an obstacle while the second expresses the fall which fol- 


lows it, the first being a figure for the taking offense at Christ and the 
second for being involved in everlasting destruction. 


The only possible correct view of the meaning of these words is, 
Did they stumble in order that they might lie prostrate, plunged into 
perdition? Was their stumbling permitted by God with a view to the 
fall? Was their stumbling designed to be a permanent casting them out 
of the kingdom of Christ? No, says Paul. 


This view is substantiated by the whole subsequent discussion in 
which it shows that the Jews as a nation are to be saved. [he stumbling 
of the Jews was not attended with the result of their utter and final ruin 
but was the occasion of the bringing of the Gospel to the Gentiles. It 
was therefore not designed to lead to the former but to the latter result. 
God had a double purpose—to open the gateway of salvation to the Gen- 
tiles and to provoke the Jewish nation to jealousy and thus to finally save 
them. (G.R.A.M.L.H.) The primary purpose, however, if one must 
distinguish, was not the final salvation of the Jews, but the rather the 


gathering in of the Gentiles, which was occasioned by the stumbling of the 
Jews. . 


“they’’,—The hardened ones of verse 7 gives us the nearest subject 
for this word, and the fact that the verbs are plural is in favor of so taking 
it, but we quite agree with Alford and Meyer that the fact that the nation 
as a whole is the general subject throughout the chapter ought to incline 
us to so taking it here, and the more especially since the pronoun of the 
following verse favors this interpretation. 

“by their fall’’,—While the word “‘fall’’ suggests a reference to the 
previous word “‘fall’’, its reference here is more properly to the idea con- 
tained in the word “‘stumble’’ previously used, it being intended to mark a 
temporary and not a final false step or falling. (R.A. M. H. Vul.) 

Riddle aptly remarks, “The word ‘fall’ here must be taken as a less 
strong expression than the verb which precedes it if the view be adopted 
which denies the fact of a final fall. We must then hold that the national 
fall into utter ruin is denied throughout, while the stumbling and the 
moral fall of the individuals is admitted.” 


“salvation 1s come’’,—This was the historical fact and this fact had 
as its purpose the provoking of the Jews to jealousy. 


“jealousy’’,—‘‘emulation”’ is a better word. 


Ver. 12. ‘Now if’’,—The “‘if’’ is logical, not conditional. 


“riches of the world’’,—Enriched through the Gospel preached unto 
it: so also with the Gentiles. 

“loss’’,—The fundamental meaning of this word is, to be in a state 
of inferiority, to fall below a normal state, and it may be applied quali- 
tatively or numerically. 

In the qualitative sense the meaning would be, “The moral degrada- 
tion of Israel has become the cause of enriching the Gentiles.’’ This, how- 
ever, is not only repugnant, but it would require the word “‘fulness’’ to be 
taken also in a qualitative sense, i. e., their perfect spiritual state, but this in 


view of verse 25 is impossible because there the idea is that of the totality 
of the Gentile nations. 


4721 


ROMANS 


We must therefore accept the numerical meaning and the better trans- 
lation is ‘‘diminishing’’, i. e., their diminishing to a small number of 


believers. (G. M. R. L. Mo. Tho.) 


“fulness’’,—This word must accordingly be conceived of as mean- 
ing the restoration of the Jewish nation to the complete state of a people, 
the totality of the living members of the people of Israel at the time the 
Apostle holds in his mind. 


This word is here used in the sense of that with which a thing is 
filled and in its application here we must regard the abstract notion of a 
people as the empty frame to be filled, and the totality of the individuals 
in whom this notion is realized as that which fills the frame. 


Riddle says aptly, “If the diminution of Israel through unbelief has 
had such a blessed result, how much more their full number when they as 
a nation become believers; in other words, if the rejection of the Jews has 
been the occasion of so much good to the world, how much more may be 
expected from their restoration.” 


There are some who apply the word “‘loss’’ or “‘diminution”’ to the 
believing Jews, by which reference the meaning would be, “If so small a 
number of believing Jews has done so much good to the world, how much 
more will the conversion of the entire nation do?’’ (D. B. O. B-C. Es. 
Chr. Era. Bez. Wet. Reic. Theo. Bucer.) But it was the loss of the 
unbelieving Jews that brought this good to the world about. Paul does 
not say that the conversion of a few Jews has been the occasion of good 
to the Gentiles, but the rejection of the nation had. Besides the pronoun 
“their’’ excludes this view, because in the three propositions it can only 
apply to the same subject, the Jewish people in general. 


Meyer well remarks, ‘“Through the fact that a part .of the Jews was 
unbelieving the people suffered an overthrow, like a vanquished army, being 
weakened in numbers, inasmuch, namely,» as the unbelieving portion by 
its unbelief practically seceded from the people of God.’ Their diminution 
came because of their sin, and the argument in a nutshell is, “‘If their sin 
had done so much, how much more their conversion?”’ 


Ver. 13.  “‘Gentiles’’,—1. e., Gentile Christians who no doubt pre- 
ponderated in the congregation at Rome. 


“glorify my ministry’’,—This does not mean to praise his office (Gro. 
Lut. Reic.), but, “I strive to honor my office by its faithful discharge in 
striving for the conversion and edification at all times of the Gentiles.”’ 


(Di MeRaleA® 


Alford says that this verse gives answer to the question, ‘“Why make. 


it appear as if the treatment of God’s chosen people was regulated, not by a 
consideration of them, but of the less favored Gentiles?’ But it is quite 
unlikely that the Gentiles would raise such a question. 


Godet finds in this verse a proof that the Apostle was laboring for 
the ultimate benefit of the Gentiles by seeking the conversion of the Jews, 
since the latter would result in life from the dead, etc. 

Riddle thinks the verse is meant to meet a thought that might arise in 
the minds of the Gentiles, namely, that his ministry as the Apostle to the 
Gentiles had no reference to the Jews, and consequently he shows that the 
blessed results to the Jews formed a part of the purpose of his labors. To 


4772 


Ei 


ROMANS 


us the view of Riddle seems by far the more preferable. With it agree 
both Meyer and Lange. 


Ver. 14. The reason why Paul desired the conversion of the Gen- 
tiles, but of course only one of the many reasons. Since the salvation of 
both classes was intimately related there was no occasion for ill feeling on 
the part of either. 


“As, however, Paul says, ‘may save some of them’, it is clearly a 
mistake to suppose that the Apostle continued, at the date of the Epistle 
to the Romans, to imagine our Lord’s second coming to be as near as he 
had thought when he wrote to the Thessalonians. For, as appears from 
verse 25, he expected the conversion of all Israel at the advent; conse- 
quently, if he had still regarded this as so near, he would have chosen some 
more comprehensive expression instead of ‘some’. It might indeed be said 
that Paul left the conversion of the mass of the Jews to the Twelve, and 
Himself only hoped to convert some Jews incidentally to his proper work. 
And if so, no conclusion could be drawn from this passage as to Paul’s 
views respecting the nearness of Christ's coming. Still, the Epistle to the 
Romans gives the impression that Paul no longer considered the second 
coming so near.’’ (Olshausen. ) 


Ver. 15. ‘“‘For’’,—This introduces the reason for verses 13 and 14. 


“the casting away of them’’,—Analogous to but not quite identical 
with the “‘Joss’’ or ‘‘diminishing’’ of verse 12. The Jewish nation was, 
as Paul here asserts, by reason of its rejection of Christ, under temporary 
exclusion. 


“the receiving of them’’,—Referring to their reception to and partici- 
pation in salvation by their conversion. 


“life from the dead’’,—There is no doubt that Paul had here in mind 
something beyond ‘‘the reconciliation of the world’, some greater blessing 
than the gradual conversion of the Gentiles through the Gospel, and this, 
whatever it was, he terms, “‘l1fe from the dead’’. 

There are two views as to the meaning. 


1. The literal resurrection which, it is said, is to follow the conver- 
Srommoretnceews.. (M. UsRu. To, Hof, Era, Ort. The.: Chr. 
Sem. Pri. Bey, Nie. Theo. Gloe. Reic.) Meyer says, “‘It is the 
blessed resurrection life which will set in with the Parousia. 
(I Thess. 4.14-17.s 


But there are serious objections to this. view, as follows: 

(a) The lack of evidence in the Bible that the literal resurrection 
will immediately follow the conversion of the Jews. 

(b) “‘Life’’ has often a wider signification than “‘resurrection’’, 
and why did Paul not use the word “‘resurrection’’ if he had a 
literal resurrection in mind? 

(c) Why did he not use the article ‘“‘the’’ before the word “‘Itfe’’, 
which he doubtless would have done if he had meant to 
refer to an event to which he so often refers elsewhere. 

(d) Paul has in view a blessing to the Gentiles through the Jews 
and a literal resurrection or even the resurrection life would 
be in no way peculiar to the Gentiles. 


423 


ROMANS 


(e) There is a causative connection just as in the previous clause, 
but how could this be if “‘life’’ meant literal resurrection? 


(f) Paul does not say the second event will follow closely upon 
the first, but he goes the length of identifying the two facts 
of which he speaks,—‘‘What shall the reception be but a 
life’’, etc. 


2. It is evident therefore from the above reasons that the expression 
must be applied to a powerful spiritual revival which will be 
wrought in the heart of Gentile Christendom by the fact of the 
conversion of the Jews. (R. B. C. G. Mo. Le. B-C. Ca. Ph: Aug. 
Mel. Bez. Cra. Boe. Mai. Car. Theo. Bucer.) Philippi says 
it is ‘‘at once the extensive diffusion of the kingdom of God and a 
subjective revivification of Christendom which had become largely 
dead”’. 

There are far less objections to the spiritual view than to the literal 

one. 

To combine the two views seems improper (A. L. O. Um. Ew.), 
viz., ‘the final completion of all history down to and including the literal 
resurrection’ (Ew.), “‘a spiritual resurrection which is succeeded by the 
bodily resurrection’’ (L), or which takes place in the bodily resurrection 
(O.). Some take the expression metaphorically, ‘‘the highest joy’’ (H. 
Kol. Kop. Ham. Oec. Gro.) ; ‘‘a joy like that of the resurrection” (St.). 
But this is a toning down of the words hardly warranted. 

Some apply the phrase to the blessedness of Gentile Christendom in 
consequence of the conversion of the Jews (G.), while others limit it to 
the Jews themselves (FI. Tho. Bez. Theo. Hengle), but we prefer the 
wider reference to the entire body of believers, although there is much to be 
said in favor of the first application. | 


Auberlen says, ‘‘A new life in the higher charismatic fullness of the 


Spirit shall extend from God's people to the nations of the world, com- 


pared with which the previous life of the nations must be considered dead.”’ : 
Godet says, ‘We are little affected by the objection of Meyer, who — 
says that according to Saint Paul the last times will be times of tribulation, — 


those of the Antichrist, and not a time of spiritual prosperity. We do not 
know how the Apostle conceived the events. It seems to us, however, 


that according to the Apocalypse, the conversion of the Jews must precede - 
the coming of the Antichrist and consequently also precede the coming of ~ 


Cristie 


25 For I would not, brethren, have 
you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be 
wise in your own conceits, that a 
hardening in part hath befallen Israel, 
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come 
in; 26 and so all Israel shall be saved. 


Vers.,25,26; ALL-ISRAEL YET TO BE SAVED. 


Ver. 25. “‘For’’,—Paul is saying in the use of this particle that he * 
does not rest this announcement that the Jews shall be grafted in again on 


mere hope or probability, but that he has a direct revelation from the Holy 


Spirit as to the matter, which decisive proof is to be found in the prophetic ‘ 


announcement not to be made. 


“mystery’’,—A thing undiscovered by men themselves and which i 


424 





ROMANS 





is made known to them by revelation from God. Paul seems to be assum- 
ing that the contents of this mystery were as yet unknown to his readers. 


(R. A. M. H. Mo.) 


“Test ye be wise in your own conceits’’,—They should not hold for 
truth their own views on the expulsion of the Israelitish people, taking 
credit for wisdom superior to the Jews in having acknowledged and 
accepted Christ, and therefore dismissing the subject, careless whether there 
were or were not any future mercy for Israel in the divine plan. 


“that a hardening tn part hath befallen Israel’’,—TVhe word “‘hard- 
ening’ is used instead of “‘hardness’’ because it is a process rather than a 
state that is indicated. “The word “‘that’’ introduces the content of the 
mystery which extends to the word “‘saved’’ in verse 26. 


“tn part’’,—This may be taken extensively (M.), or it may be taken 
intensively, as our text seems to take it. Meyer would join the word to 
the verb, “‘hath befallen’, whereas if taken intensively it should be joined 
preferably to “hardening”, but in neither case to “‘Jsrael’’ (Es. Sem. Kop. 
Fri.). It seems better to take the expression intensively, inasmuch as 
the whole nation became unbelieving, and not a part of it. It is intended 
to soften the severity of the notion which Paul graciously calls to their 
attention. 


“antil the fulness’’,—-Most commentators agree in referring this 
phrase to the totality of the Gentiles, to the nation as a whole, although 
some refer it to the complement from the Gentiles which is to take the 
place of the rejected Jews (O. Mi. Ph. Wol.) ; but this seems unnatural. 

‘The expression is to be taken numerically, not that every individual 
shall be saved but that the nation as a whole shall be. 

Meyer says this is before the Parousia and not by means of it. 


Ver. 26. ‘all Israel’’,This does not mean the great majority (Ru. 
Tho. Fri. Wet. Oec.), nor does it mean all the true people of God. (C. 
Gro. Lut. Aug. The.), nor yet “‘all the elect Jews’’: all that part of the 
nation which constitutes the remnant according to the election of grace 
(O. B. Ca.), but it refers to the nation asa whole. (H. A. M.) 

Says W. J. Erdman, “This ‘all Israel’ or sum total of the believing 
nation is called in a previous message ‘their fulness’ and the argument is 
that when Israel is converted the whole Gentile world also will be con- 
verted.” 


CHARA ERE ViIRT EEN: 


11 And this, knowing the season, The night is far spent, and the day is 
that already it is time for you to awake at hand: let us therefore cast off the 
out of sleep: for now is ‘salvation nearer works of darkness, and let us put on 
to us than when we first believeth. 12 the armor of light. 


1Or, our salvation nearer than when &c. 
Vers. 11,12. THE COMING OF THE LORD DRAWING NEAR. 


Ver. 11. “And this’’,—i. e., “‘let us do this’, namely, live in no 
debt but that of love (verse 8), and that for other reasons, but especially 
for the following one. (H. A. M. R. B. Ph. Tho.) 

Because of the remoteness of verse 8 and the fact that there is no special 
connection between it (the duty of justice) and what follows in this verse 
before us, Godet and Moule make the expression refer to all the foregoing 


425 


ROMANS 


precepts enumerated in Chapters 12 and 13. The former explanation, 
however, is to be preferred. 


“knowing the season’’,—The word is ‘“‘kairos’’, which does not mean > 


time in general, but a portion of time considered as an appropriate period 
of time; the reference being therefore to the general character of the time. 


“‘sleep’’,—The state of worldly carelessness and indifference to sin. 


“for now ts salvation nearer to us’’,—The reference is to the Messianic 
salvation in its completion as introduced by the Parousia, (M. A. G. R. 
L. O. D. Mo. Ph. Tho., and nearly all German commentators.) It does 
not therefore refer to deliverance by death (Pho.), nor to the Destruction 
of Jerusalem, a fortunate event for Christianity (Mi.), nor to the preach- 
ing among the Gentiles (Mel.), nor to “‘the inner spiritual salvation of 


Christianity (Ca. Fl. Mor. Schr:). 


Riddle says, “Jt ts difficult for an unlettered believer to read the New 
Testament and not find thts expectation of the second coming, while even 
the most learned now find tt.” 


Stuart, Hodge and others, on the other hand, understand the verse as 
the consummation of salvation in eternity—deliverance from this present 
evil world. ‘They object to the reference to the second coming of Christ, 
and Stuart is shocked at it as being inconsistent with the inspiration of 
Paul’s writings. . 

“But,” says Alford, ‘‘because Paul in II Thess. 2 corrects the mistake 
of imagining it to be just at hand or even already actually come is no 
sign that he did not expect*it soon.’ Alford says that to argue this is 
quite beside the purpose. On the certainty of the event, he says, our faith 
is grounded; by the uncertainty of the time our hope is stimulated and our 
watchfulness is aroused. | 


“than when we believed’’,—When we were brought into the faith. — 


Ver. 12. “‘the night’’,—The time before the Parousia, which ceases 
when the Parousia ushers in the day. Night and day are therefore figures 
for “this age’ and “‘the age to come’. 

Most all of the more recent commentators now, in keeping with all 
the most ancient commentators, admit that the reference is not to the 
approach of the end of the earthly life, but that it without doubt refers to 
the Parousia. 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


20 And the God of peace shall bruise 
Satan under your feet shortly. 


Ver. 20. GOD’S SUMMARY DEALING WITH THE EVIL ONE. 


This is a similitude from Genesis 3.15. There is not here the expres- 
sion of a wish, but it is a prophetic assurance and encouragement in bearing 
up against all adversities, that the great Adversary himself would shortly 
be bruised under their feet. 


“God of peace’’,—This is said with a reference to the division and 
strife caused by those mentioned in verse 17. 


“bruise under your feet’’,—This refers to the triumph over error, sin 
and death and final deliverance from all trial of each of His followers, and 


426 


I CORINTHIANS 


is to be interpreted in keeping with that interpretation of the word 
“shortly’’ which sees in it not necessarily any reference to the time of the 
Parousia. 


“shortly’’,—It is maintained, and rightly, by most authorities that 
there is here not necessarily implied any reference to the return of Christ. 
The expression for “‘shortly’’ is usually translated by ‘“‘soon’’, which would 
signify ‘‘at a time near when I write you’’. It is because of this that 
Schultz and many others find here the idea of Christ’s near return. But 
the word here is ‘‘tachus’’ (shortly) and this word and its derivatives do 
not denote imminence, nearness of the event. [hey denote rather the 
swiftness with which the event is accomplished. “The Greek word 
“euthus’’ denotes imminence. ‘‘We think also that it is wrong to translate 
Rev. 22.20, ‘I come soon (my arrival is near)’; the meaning is rather, ‘I 
come quickly’, that is to say, ‘I move rapidly even though my arrival may 
be yet a great way off’. Paul means therefore that the victory will be 
speedily gained when once the conflict is begun, and not that the victory 
itself is near’. (Godet.) 


Meyer explains, ‘“When the authors of division appear among you’’. 


Shedd refers it to the preservation from the fatal errors that soon 
assailed Christianity. | 
Riddle says the word for “‘shortly’’ is usually taken in the sense of 


‘‘soon’’, no matter to what the reference of the passage is applied. 


Moule says, “In the eternal day so near at hand (Chap. 13.11,12) 
when all enemies shall be made the footstool of the Messiah and of His 
saints through Him’’, 


itil iks Jee Pis LU On PA Ud O) THE 


CORINTHIANS 


(AIDES EB) 


“CHAPTER ONE 


7 so that ye come behind in no gift, 
waiting for the revelation of our Lord 
Jesus Christ; 8 who shall also confirm 
you unto the end, that ye be unreprov- 
able in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 


Vers. 7,8. WAITING THE COMING OF CHRIST AN EVIDENCE OF 
CHRISTIAN MATURITY. 


Ver. 7, “waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ’’,— 
This waiting was one of the results of their not being behind (‘‘come 
behind’), and is a proof of the maturity and richness of their spiritual life. 
This is by far the simplest and most satisfactory explanation and it is thus 
taken as a parallel clause with the one that precedes it. 


Paul is not therefore trying to alarm them by the thought of ap- 


_proaching judgment (Chr.), as this would not be very appropriate for a 


427 


I CORINTHIANS 


thanksgiving; nor is it a reproof to those who deny the resurrection (Ru. 

Gro.), since he is not here talking of the resurrection but of the Second 
Coming; nor yet is it an ironical reference to the fancied perfection of 

the Corinthians (Mos.), for this is inconsistent with the friendly, winning 

style of the introduction. A commendation is intended. Some take it as 

an encouragement to them, i. e., as those who are waiting the Lord’s advent 

with confidence, for ye possess all the graces that suffice for that time. But 

this goes farther than the contents of the Epistle warrant. 


“revelation’’,—The Greek is ‘‘apocalypsis’’ and it means to uncover, 
unveil, disclose. It is used seven times of Christ’s return and is used of 
both the blessed aspect and the punitive side of that event. 


Ver. 8. “‘who’’,—Many refer this to ““God”’ of verse 4. (A. O. D. 
Ew. Fl. Os. Hof. Bil. Pot. Schr.) We must, however, decide for the 
more immediate connection with “Christ’’ of verse 7. “The .word “‘God” ~ 
at the beginning of verse 9 favors the reference to “‘Christ’’ in verse 8. 
The other view makes the whole passage from verses 5 to 7 a mere paren- 
thesis. The repetition of the expression, “‘the day of the Lord Jesus 
Christ’, in verse 8 is not at all an insurmountable barrier to the view we 
have taken, inasmuch as it was a customary, and solemn formula. 


“also’’, This word implies a continuation of that which had already 
been wrought in them. 


“anto the end’’,—The reference is not to the end of one’s life, but 
to the end of the present dispensation, to the Second Coming of Christ. 


“that ye may be unreprovable’’,—i. e., liable to no accusation. ‘This 
is not only because of a reputed righteousness, but since he is speaking of — 
their condition at the appearing of Christ it is to be taken likewise in the 
sense of an actual or perfected holiness. 


“the day of our Lord Jesus Christ’’,—-The decisive day of His Second 
Coming. This day as related to the Parousia is not quite the same as the 
day of the Lord. The former relates always to saints and their reward © 
while the latter relates to sinners and their punishment. Erdman says, 
“The transactions associated with ‘the day of Christ’ or ‘the day of our 
Lord Jesus Christ’, in every Scripture where it is found, pertain exclusively 
to the risen and transfigured Church and are radiant with holy joy and 
triumphant blessedness; but the events associated with ‘the day of the 
Lord’, both in the Old Testament and in the New, concern especially the 
Jews and the nations of an apostate Christendom, and are dark with the 
wrath of God upon the wicked.” 


CHAPTER THREE 


13 each man’s work shall be made 
manifest; for the day shall declare it, 
because it is revealed in fire; ‘and the 
fire itself shall prove each man’s work 
of what sort it is. 


1Or, and each man’s work, of what sort it is, 
the fire shall prove it. 
Ver. 13. EVERY MAN’s MINISTRY MADE MANIFEST AT THE COMING 
OF THE LORD. 
“shall be made manifest’’,—It shall not remain hidden. 


428 


I CORINTHIANS 


“the day shall declare it’’,-This does not refer to time in general 
(Fl. Gro. Wol. Vor.), nor to the time of clear knowledge of the Gospel 
(C. Era. Bez. Vor.), nor the day of tribulation (Ca. Aug.), nor least of 
all that never ending refuge of poor critics, the day of Jerusalem’s destruc- 
tion (Li. Ham. Scho.), for what had those Corinthians to do with that? 
But it refers, as nearly all commentators of our time maintain, to the day 
of the Parousia of the Lord, the Second Advent. (M. A. G. O. D. B. Ew. 
Os: Ru. Hof. Hey. Kli. Bil. Pot. The. Chr. Ter. Schr. Schot.) 


“tt 1s revealed tn fire’’,—-What is revealed in fire? We prefer to think 
of the “‘day’”’ as the subject, the thought, if not the words, being in keeping 


wvito Il) Thess. 1.8; II Pet, 3.10-12. (H..O. D, M..A. Es. Ru. Ew.- Wor. 
Pot. Bil. Hof.) 


Others, and in fact the majority, make “work’’ the subject, saying 
that the day is never spoken of as being revealed. This view, however, 
make an intolerable tautology with the following proposition. 


“tn fire’,—The element in which the day will be revealed. The 
reference, in keeping with the passages above quoted, seems to be to literal 
fire, but this fire, the bursting forth of which will perhaps be the visible 
herald of Christ’s coming, is but as the symbol of that “flery’’ judgment 


which shall search to the bottom every case, as immediately expressed. 








This is not the fire of ““hell’’ into which the costly stones will never enter, 


but the fire of judgment in which Christ will appear and by which all 


works will be tried. 


“and the fire itself shall prove’’,—Godet rightly says, ‘“‘It must not be 
forgotten that the building to be proved exists only figuratively, and conse- 
quently the fire which is to put it to the proof can only be figurative fire. 
The term can therefore only here denote the incorruptible judgment pro- 
nounced by the omniscient and consuming holiness of the Judge who 


appears. His Spirit will thoroughly explore the fruit due to the ministry 
of every man.”’ 


| CHAPTER FOUR 


5 Wherefore judge nothing before the 
time, until the Lord come, who will 
both bring to light the hidden things 
of darkness, and make manifest the 
counsels of the heart; and then shall 
each man have his praise from God. 


Ver. 5. JUDGMENT OF CHRIST’S SERVANTS TO AWAIT HIs COMING. 


“judge nothing’ ,—1. e., with respect to me. Refrain from all pre- 


mature decisions concerning me, says Paul. 


“before the time’’,—Explained by the following, “until the Lord 
come’. 


“antil the Lord come’’,—The verb is subjunctive, and in the expres- 


sion “‘until’’ there is a particle which designates the coming as problematic, 
_ not as to the fact of His coming but as to the time of it, i. e., until the 
_ Lord come, whenever that may be. 


“both’’,—Many translate this ‘‘also’’, i. e., among other things He 


| will also. (M. A. Ru. Os. Kli.) Godet renders it ‘‘even’’. Either of 


8 


I CORINTHIANS 


these translations is permissible, but “‘both’’ is preferable. The strength- 
ening force of ‘‘even’”’ is uncalled for, and as to the calling attention to 
other things, we are tempted to ask what they are, and can see no reason 
for bringing them into the passage. : 

“the hidden things of darkness’’,—All things in general, the good as 
a °° the bad things which are hidden in darkness. (M. O. H. G.) (Rom. 

“the counsels of the heart’’,—The motives and purposes by which 
men are governed. 

“his pratse’’,—The praise which is his due,—commendation. — 

_ Alford says Paul has in mind the boastings among themselves, the 
various parties giving exaggerated praise to certain teachers; let them wait 
until the day when fitting praise will be given, be it what it may. 

Meyer thinks that Paul speaks of praise only because he has in mind 
only Apollos and himself, and therefore leaves out of sight the undeserving. 
The view of Alford is good, but perhaps that of Meyer is a little safer. 


CHAPTER FIVE | . 


5 to deliver such an one unto Satan 
for the destruction of the flesh, that the 
spirit may be saved in the day of the 
Lord Jesus. 
Ver. 5. REDEMPTION OF THE SPIRIT IN THE DAY OF THE LORD’S 


COMING. 


“deliver to Satan for the destruction of the flesh’’,— (See I Tim. 1.20 
for the only similar expression. ) 

1. Excommunication pure and simple. (C. O. Ow. Bez. Hei. Bon. 

Tur. Poas) 

2. A handing over to Satan for corporeal infliction, as in the case of 
Job, without excommunication. (Li. Hof. Hols.) Godet finds 
it a sentence of death. 

3. Excommunication with bodily punishment added through the 
disciplinary power of Satan let loose upon the offender by the 
Apostle, i. e., through the Apostle’s apostolic authority and power. 
(H. A. M. Os. Ru.’ Bar. “Fhe. Chr.) This view is by faret aan 
more preferable. It is clearly revealed in Scripture that bodily 
afflictions are often brought about by the agency of Satan, and it 
is also clear that the Apostles were invested with the power of 
miraculously inflicting such evils. (Acts 5.1,11; 13.9-11; I Cor. 
LOPS s7ssL0) 

“for the destruction of the flesh’’,—-This is taken by many in the 
moral sense of the word, that is to say, of the sinful tendencies in conse- 
quence of the pain and repentance produced in him by his expulsion. (Es. 
Gro. Bez. Ger. Bon. Brow.) 

But,— 

(a) ‘“‘destruction’”’ is never used in a beneficient sense, but always in a 

threatening one involving real loss. 

(b) Such a delivering over to Satan might have an effect opposite 

to that of repentance. 





430 


I CORINTHIANS 


(c) The connection points to an operation of Satan. 

(d) It is opposed by the antithesis between “‘flesh”’ and “‘spirit’’. 

These objections incline Alford, Meyer and others to the view of 
Chrysostom, that the sinful, fleshly nature is intended, the working-place 
of his desires and lusts, which was to be emptied of its enemy of sinful life 


by the pains of bodily sickness. “This is without doubt the correct inter- 
pretation. 


Godet argues that since “‘spirit’’ refers not to spiritual life but to the 
spirit itself, so “‘flesh’’ does not mean the fleshy life, but the flesh itself 
and that therefore the destruction of the man’s earthly existence (death) is 
what is involved. This is possible, both from the meaning of the word 
and from example (Ananias and Saphira), but this presses the case seem- 
ingly too far and hardly accords with the ethical relations of it. To meet 
this objection Godet says the reference is to a wasting disease, giving the 
man time to repent. 


“that the spirit may be saved’’,—The discipline was for a wholesome 
effect, the punishment being in reality a merciful one. 


“in the day of the Lord Jesus’’,—The day of the approaching 
Parousia, the time, says Godet, ‘“when Jesus will appear again on the earth 
to take to Him His own’’. Some authorities omit the word “‘Jesus’’, but 
the evidence is weightier in favor of its retention. 


‘ 


CHAPTER SIX 


2 Or know ye not that the saints not that we shall judge angels? how 
shall judge the world? and if the world much more things that pertain to this 
is judged by you, are ye unworthy ‘to life? 


judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye 
1Gr. of the smallest tribunals 


Vers. 2,3. “THE SAINTS TO SIT IN JUDGMENT ON THE WORLD. 


Ver. 2. “Or know ye not’’,—A formula used ten times in this 
Epistle and alluding no doubt to doctrines he had taught them at the time 
of the founding of their church. 


“the saints shall judge the world’ ,—This means as assessors of Christ 
see tisecomime, wn. GC: O, D. M.-G: Es. Ru: Bez. Gro. Wol. Bil? Ki. 
Stan. Brow.) All attempts to elude this plain meaning of the words are 
futile. Some of them are the following: 


1. An indirect judgment as in Matt. 12.21, ““The men of Ninevah 
shall rise up in judgment against thts generation’. (Wor. Chr. 


Era. Theo.) 


2. The saints will merely assent to the judgment pronounced by 
Christ’ (Es; Bar? Mai) 

3. The saints’ particular ability to estimate here and now the value 
of the world’s opinions and doings, in the sense of Chap. 2.15,16. 

4. It refers to the general notion of the Kingdom and glory of be- 
lievers yet to come. (FI.) 

5. The saints are to possess as the princes and rulers of the world 
judicial functions in the future; that is, the Gospel will some day 


; become supreme and the courts of law will be composed of Chris- 
tians. 


431 


I CORINTHIANS 


The objections to these several views are at once apparent. ‘This is 
the only direct enunciation of this truth, but it is in perfect harmony | 
with the conclusions elsewhere furnished. 


What was said in Matt. 19.28 of the Apostles is here extended to the 
saints in general, and Paul is speaking of such judicial work of the saints 


as is ascribed to them in Daniel 7.22. (O. A. G. M. Kili.) 


“tf the world ts judged by you’’,—Those for whom the idea of the 
saints judging the world, in the sense we have taken the passage, is intoler- 
able, try to escape this conclusion by putting such stress upon the present 
tense of the verb “‘judge’’ in this clause and upon the meaning of the prepo- 
sition translated “‘by’’. 


But the previous word “‘judge’’ is future as well as the word “‘judge”’ 
in the next verse, and these control the word “‘judge’’ in the intervening 
clause, which here expresses, as Godet says, ‘“‘not an actual fact, but a prin- 
ciple’, and consequently, as Olshausen says, ‘‘there can be no reference to a 
present function of believers’, but, as Meyer and Alford maintain, that 
the saints are to be the judges sitting in judgment. 


They would further have us believe that the preposition means “‘in’’, 

i. €., in your example. The preposition is indeed ‘‘en’’, but its real mean- 
ing is ‘“‘among’’, in your midst, and therefore “‘before you’. It is the 
expression meaning to be “‘judged before’, as found in all classic Greek, 
and means here not “‘through’’ (Gro. Bil.), nor “‘in’’ (Chr.), but “before 
you’, although “by you,”’ as in the text, gives the meaning quite appro- 
priately. 

“to yudge the smallest matters’’,—Since the original Greek, as in the 
margin (‘‘of the smallest tribunals’) makes fine sense we see no reason 
for the change in the text. The idea is then, “‘Are ye unworthy of holding 
or passing judgment in such inferior courts?’’ “The word translated ‘“‘mat- 
ters’ can hardly be said to mean this. It means first, “‘tribunal’’ or place — 
of trial, and then the trial itself, but it never means the matter of dispute. 


Meyer takes the word in its second sense and translates, “‘Are ye un- © 
worthy to hold judgment in very trivial trials?’’ Either this, or the ren- — 
dering of the margin is proper, but that-of the Revised Version, while it 
expresses the idea all right, is contrary to all usage. “The world to be 
iueged by the saints can only designate those who have rejected the Gospel 
appeal. 

As to the saints judging the world, Klieforth says, ‘‘Whatever these 
functions may be, the language which describes them plainly implies the 
exercise of an active supremacy in the affairs of the world.”’ 

Hodge, Barnes and other post-millennialists, of course, refer this to 
the last judgment, the future and final judgment at the end of all time, 
but by others, and the very great majority, it is referred to judging with 
Christ during His kingdom of millennial reign. 


a a 


Ver. 3. “we shall judge angels’’,—Many authorities think that good ; 
angels are here meant and that they are to be judged for their service, their . 
ministry (Heb. 1.14) for which they are to render account. (M. A. H. 
G. Kli. Brow.) They say that the word “‘angels’’ always means good j 
angels. But this is not true, since in II Peter the word is. used and means f 
without any doubt bad angels. ; | 


raw 


I CORINTHIANS 





Others, and the majority, say that bad angels are meant. (B.C. Ca. 
Bez. Poo. Era. Oec. The. Theo.) 


It is maintained by some that both good and bad angels are meant. 


POs Uap. Hof. Bes: ) 


‘There is nothing of a more detailed nature on the subject in Scripture, 
but the interpretation of ‘“‘bad angels’’ best accords with the word “‘world’’, 
and besides nowhere is it taught in Scripture that the elect angels are to be 
judged for their ministry. This, together with the fact that good angels 
are represented as furnishing a part of Christ’s retinue in judgment, and 
as acting the part of organs and witnesses of His judicial work, induces us 
to the opinion that bad angels are intended here. 


Godet says it is worthy of note that in the parables of the tares and 
the drag-net it is the angels who effect the division between the good and 
the bad, while here the saints are said to judge the angels, and apparently 
therefore bad angels. 


Lightfoot says the only thing that is meant is that the influence of 
the kingdom of Satan is to be destroyed by Christianity. But with such 
exegesis the Apostle may be made to say anything. 

Some make the first clause a question and the second one an exclama- 
tion; others make the whole one question with a comma after ‘angels’, 
while still others take the two clauses as two questions. Either method of 
punctuation is admissible, but we prefer that first mentioned. 


CHAPTER SEVEN 


29 But this I say, brethren, the time rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; 
*is shortened, that henceforth both those and those that buy, as though they pos- 
that have wives may be as though they sessed not; 31 and those that use the 
had none; 30 and those that weep, as world, as not using it to the full: for 
though they wept not; and those that the fashion of this world passeth away. 

Or, is shortened henceforth, that both those 
&e. 


Vers. 29-31. SUNDRY EXHORTATIONS BASED ON THE NEAR APPROACH 
OF THE LORD’S RETURN. 


Ver. 29. ‘“‘the time ts shortened’’,—The word “‘shortened’’ means 
contracted, compressed, brought within narrow limits. (M. A. G. D. Os. 
Ew. Wei. Hof. Mai.) Some take it as meaning “‘calamitous’’. (O. Ru. 
FI. Pot. Ros. Hey. Nea. Schu.) But it never has this signification. In 
the passages they refer to,.it means humbled, cast down, but this is as 
applied to persons, and this definition cannot be applied to time. 


“the time’’,—This does not refer to the space of a man’s life on 
earth (C. Es. Vor.), for however true this thought and however legitimate 
this application, it certainly is not the thought in the mind of Paul, nor 
does it agree with his usage elsewhere of the word (Rom. 13.11; Eph. 
5.16), nor with that of the great prophecy of the Lord which is the key to 
this chapter (Luke 21.8; Mark 13.33). It is the time between the mo- 
ment he was speaking to the coming of the Lord that was compressed into a 
small space according to the literal meaning of “‘shortened’’. 


“‘henceforth’’,—-The connection here is disputed. Some make it be- 
Picttorwbauiolows, 1 HiCuMaylinRuy es, Ter. Jer. Vuls Era: Lut. 
Hey. Blo. Hof. Lach. and both the Revised and Authorized Versions. ) 


433 


I CORINTHIANS 





Others refer it to what precedes. (A. G. O. D. Pe. Os. Ew. Chr. The. Gro. 
Bez. Bil. Mai. Nea. Theo.) The first view is preferable inasmuch as 
the second view hardly gives to the word its full and legitimate meaning. 


The punctuation of the Revised Version is much to be preferred as 
that of the Authorized Version breaks the continuity of the passage, leaves 
the word “‘henceforth’’ to stand alone and does not give to it its full and 
true sense. 


“that’’,—This introduces the design of the shortened time on God's 
pare CMe H. Kli.) _ It depends therefore upon “‘shortened”’ and not 
upon “this I say’’ (Bez. Hof. Bil.), as it is not the end of his assertion he 
has in view, but the rather of the thing asserted. 


The idea in what follows is that each one should keep himself in- 
wardly independent of the relations of his earthly life. They must not 
rob us of our moral freedom nor of our standing as a Christian in heart 
and life. He is not laying down rules, that the married ought to be as 
though unmarried. Meyer well says it is, “‘In order that those who wait 
for the coming kingdom may keep themselves loose in heart from worldly 
relationships and employments; that the married may not fetter his inter- 
ests to his wedlock, nor the mourner to his misfortunes, nor the joyous 
to his prosperity, nor the man of commerce to his gain, nor the user of the 
world to his use of the world.”’ 


“for the fashion of this world passeth away’’,—This, says Alford, 
shows again that in the Apostle’s mind the time was short, while Godet 
says, ‘It is connected by ‘for’ with the preceding ‘the time ts shortened’, 
and we are obliged to apply it to the near coming of the Lord.”’ 


Klieforth remarks, ‘“This does not refer to the transitoriness of earthly 
things in general, but to the mighty revolution attendant upon the advent 
of Christ—the entire vanishing or destruction of the form of this world, 
its outward appearance and mode of existence. This great change presents 
itself as one close at hand and he therefore speaks of it as present.” 


Meyer says, “It refers to the world-embracing catastrophe of the 
Parousia, the transformation of the form of this world, and therewith of 
its whole temporal constitution into the new heavens and the new earth.” 


The word “‘fashion’’ does not therefore mean, as some say, worldly 
affairs in general, but it refers to the present external form or state of things, 
and this expression seems to prove that this world itself will not disappear, 
but that it will take on a new mode of existence and development. 


It ts hard to read this whole passage and understand how anyone can 

but feel that Paul thought the Parousta not very far away. Calvin says, 

“Without doubt Paul wrote these words in expectation of a near and ap- 

proaching transformation of the fashion of this world, and the introduc- 
tion of the age to come with the kingdom of God.” 


It must not, however, be overlooked that in the selection of the par- 
ticular word here used for time, Paul did not perhaps have in mind so much 
the idea of duration as of favorable, opportune time, the time in which one 
can yet prepare himself for the great change which is one day to take place. 


434 


a 


I CORINTHIANS 





CHAPTER TEN 


11 Now these things happened unto 
them “by way of example; and they 
were written for our admonition, upon 
whom the ends of the ages are come. 

1Gr. dy way of figure 


Ver. 11. THE ENDS OF THE AGES COINCIDENT WITH THE PRESENT 
DISPENSATION. 


“by way of example’’,—The literal is ‘‘typically’’, but our text ex- 
presses the correct thought, and the idea of type is not to be taken in a 
theological sense. 


“upon whom the ends of the ages are come’’,—‘‘ages’’ is plural, indi- 
cating the great epochs in which all history is unfolded. “‘ends’’ is also 
plural, indicating the successive terminations of the several epochs. (See 
Bee oetecerenceasassticom tl.) 29576 miViatteel 339 9% 25,3 releCoreal.85°15.24: 
I Peter 4.7;:1.20 and I John 2:18.) 


Meyer says, ‘““Upon the supposition of the Parousia being close at 
hand the last times of the world were now come; the ages were running 
out their final course; with the Parousia, the ages to come begin to run.”’ 

“are come’’,—The ages are represented as coming to meet the living 
(G.), into whose lifetime they are entered (Kli.) ; they have reached unto 
us, have fallen upon our lifetime and are now here (M.). 


Neander says, “Paul had always good reason for considering the final 
catastrophe as near at hand, although he held the last time to be shorter 
than it really was.” 


Paul, however, did not himself know or pretend to know the duration 
of this final period in the culmination of the ages, this present dispensation 
of which he was speaking, and which in his mind coincided with the de- 
velopment of the Church; but the phrase, “the ends of the ages’, shows 
that he did not regard it as short as is commonly alleged that he did. (See 
piso. Chap. .7.29.) 


CHAPTER, ELEVEN 


26 For as often as ye eat this bread, 
and drink the cup, ye proclaim the 
Lord’s death till he come. 


Ver. 26. THE LoRD’s SUPPER A PLEDGE OF HIS COMING AGAIN. 


Paul here proceeds in his own words. 


“ye proclaim the Lord’s death’’,—-You do solemnly declare in con- 
nection with this ordinance that Christ has died for you. The word 
“proclaim’’ is by no means to be taken as imperative (Ew. Ru. Gro. Lut. 
Hols.), but as indicative. (M. A. G.) 

“until he come’,—The Holy Supper is the link between the two 
comings of Christ; the monument of the first and the pledge of the second. 
It is the compensation of the Church for the absence of her Lord. When 
He comes it will be discontinued. It is connected with remembrance, and 
remembrance ceases when the Lord appears. 


435 


I CORINTHIANS 


CHAPTER FIFTEEN 


20 But now hath Christ been raised 
from the dead, the firstfruits of them 
that are asleep. 21 For since by man 
came death, by man came also the resur- 
rection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam 
all die, so also in *Christ shall all be 
made alive. 23 But each in his own 
order: Christ the firstfruits; then they 

1Gr. the Christ 


that are Christ’s, at his “coming. 24 . 
Then cometh the end, when he shall 
deliver up the kingdom to *God, even 
the Father; when he shall have abolished 
all rule and all authority and power. 
25 For he must reign, till he hath put 
all enemies under his feet. 26 The last 
enemy that shall be abolished is death. 

20r, If in this life only we have Reied in 


Christ &c. 
8Gr. presence 


Vers. 20-26. “THE ORDER OF THE RESURRECTION. 
Ver. 20. 


otherwise. 


“the first fruits of them that are asleep’’,—‘‘The allusion’, says 
Brown, “‘is as obvious as it is beautiful.’’ On the morrow after the first 
Sabbath of the Passover (Easter Sabbath) a sheaf of the first fruits of the 
barley harvest was reaped and waved before the Lord as a joyful pledge 
of the full harvest to come. Even so on the morrow after the first Sabbath 
of the Passover when our Lord was crucified, did He rise, the first fruits of 
His sleeping people. 


“But now’’,—1. e., as the matter stands the case is far 


It is probable, from many considerations, that such a reference was in 
Paul’s mind, but since he indicates nothing more minutely the matter must 
be left undecided. 


The resurrections from the dead recorded in the Old Testament and 
the translations of Enoch and Elijah do not contradict what is here said of 
Christ as the first fruits, because in the case of the former there was no — 
arising to an immortal life, and in the case of the latter there was no dying, . 
and so a resurrection could not occur. (Rev. 1.5 and Col. 1.16.) In the 
first fruits is contained not only the idea of the earliest, but of the most 
costly and the pledge of a full resurrection harvest, and as such dedicated — 
to God. 


“them that are asleep’’,—Who are meant? Inasmuch as the ex- 
pression is that used in the New Testament of the death of saints always, 
and the idea of fellowship with Christ as the first fruits, and as the totality 
of believers seems to be the thing conceived of, we think here only of 
departed saints. However, the word ‘‘dead”’ in the next verse might seem 
to refer the expression to the dead in general. [he matter must be decided 
by an exposition of what follows where the explanation of this verse is 
made, first in a divine rule that what has been taken away from us by man 
shall by man also be restored to us. Note, however, that if the expression 
be restricted to the departed saints, it is not thereby said that Christ is not 
the raiser also of the unbelieving dead. He is not, however, their first 
fruits. ; 


Ver. 21. ‘“‘death’’,—As death here is physical so also by the “‘resur- 
rection of the dead”’ is meant the resurrection of the body. Hodge, while 
making this the primary reference, declares that the expression involves also 
the moral death and the moral life. But of this Paul says nothing here, 
although it is of course true. 


















436 


I CORINTHIANS 


Says Meyer, “The evil which arose through a human author is by 
divine arrangement removed also through a human author.”’ 


Ver. 22. As verse 21 was the ground and explanation of verse 20, 
so verse 22 gives the reason for verse 21. 


“tn Adam all die’’,—That this includes the whole pnaD tacesau 
Se agree. 


“in Christ shall all be made alitve’’,—There are two explanations of 
this clause, either of which is acceptable though each is attended with 
difficulties. 


1. That which adheres to the idea of physical resurrection and makes 
the “‘all’’ refer to everybody. (A. C. M. D. O. Am. Blo. Kl. 
Bar. Bez. The. Chr. Theo. Brow.) 


2. That which reads into the second clause the idea also of eternal 
bliss and limits the “‘all’’ to believers. (H.G. B. Fl. Ew. Es. Ru. 
Ed. Le. Os. Mc. Dod. Aug. Bil. Mai. Gro. Hof. Mul. Hein. Stan. 
Beet. Lutt. Hols.) 


In favor of the second view it may be said that: (a) Asa rule “‘made 
alive’ is never referred to unbelievers, but always when used of the work 
of Christ as imparting spiritual life; (b) If Paul had meant only bodily 
resurrection he would have retained the word used in verse 21; (c) Paul 
is speaking throughout of the resurrection only of believers; (d) “‘They 
that are Christ’s’’ of the next verse favors this view; (e) The other view 
would seem to imply that Christ is the first fruits of the wicked; (f) The 
analogy between Adam and Christ includes more than physical death. 


Hodge says there is a limit in each “‘all’’, i. e., all who are in Adam 
die and all who are in Christ shall be made alive. The order of the Greek 
words, however, will hardly allow this, although this thought may have 
been in Paul’s mind. ‘The great objection to this view is the change of 
parallelism and the possibility of reading into it the doctrine of the final 
restoration of all mankind, as indeed done by some. This, however, is 
inconsistent with the last part of verse 25, and is opposed by such Scrip- 
tures as II Thess. 1.9; Acts 25.15. 


The principle arguments in favor of the second view are: 
1. It retains unimpaired the parallel between the two “‘alls’’. 


2. Paul is speaking of physical resurrection throughout the whole 
chapter. 


3. The “‘each’’ of the next verse seems to imply that the wicked are 

included in the number. 

The principal objection to this view is in the use of “tn Christ’, 
which it is declared cannot be said of the unbeliever’s resurrection. 

But Klieforth has well said, “Inasmuch as it is universally recog- 
nized that Christ is the head of humanity, the reference may well be to an 
organic union of the race in Christ as it is in Adam, and the “tn’’ shows 
that each process of development has its ground or source in its peculiar 
head.”’ The being in Christ then would refer not to the incorporation 
into Christ’s mystical body of believers by faith, but to their being taken 
in under Christ’s headship of the race, as they were previously in under the 
headship of Adam by descent. 


437 


I CORINTHIANS 


It is, of course, Christ’s power that awakens both good and bad, and 
it is, as Godet says, ‘‘the relation of both the good and the bad to Christ 
that determines their return to life either to glory or to condemnation. ” 

We are inclined to think the force of the argument is in favor of the 
first view. 


Ver. 23.. “each in his own order’’,—As forming part of it and 
involved in it. 


“order’’,—This means not so much priority, but rank, troop, divi- 
sion of an army. ‘The believers are conceived of as rising together and of 
course the same will be true of the unbelievers. 


“Christ the first fruits’’,—The first fruits are as the lump, a com- 
munity of nature being involved. 


“they that are Christ’s’’,—-Not Christ's followers in the days of His 
flesh (Vul. Scho.), nor professing Christians, good and bad (M.), but 
true believers. (H. G. Ed.) 


“at his coming’’,—At His Parousia, His Second Coming. 


This is another of the proof texts used by Dr. Brown against. the pre- 
millennarians as showing that no one can be saved after the coming of 
Christ. He insists that as the foregoing words, “tn Adam all die’, in- 
clude ‘‘the whole federal offspring of Adam’’, so the words ‘“‘they that are 
Christ’s’’ must include the whole federal affspring of Christ, i. e., the total 
number of the saved. To Dr. Brown at this point Kellog replies, “‘But 
it so happens that the meaning which Dr. Brown insists that the phrase, 
‘they that are Christ's’ must have, is just the one meaning that it cannot 
have. It is absolutely certain that the words, ‘they that are Christ’s’—as 
denoting those who shall rise from the dead at His coming—do not include 
‘the whole federal offspring of Christ’. First, it is certain that, in the na- 
ture of the case, Enoch and Elijah must be excluded. In the second place, it 
is no less certain that we must exclude all those many saints of. the old dis- 
pensation of whom we read in Matt. 27.52;53, that they came out of their 
graves after Christ’s resurrection and appeared to many. In the third 
place, it is equally clear that we must exclude all those:‘of ‘Christ’s federal 
offspring’ who shall be found alive at His coming, of whom Paul him- 
self says that they shall not sleep—but shall be changed. As they shall 
never die, they cannot be raised. These three exceptions are enough to 
settle the question that what Dr. Brown declares the words must mean, they 
cannot mean. If, then, the phrase ‘they that are Christ’s at His coming’, 
does not denote all the saved, but only a certain portion of them, then it is 
evident that if. it be elsewhere taught, as we have abundant reason to 
believe, that the subjection of all nations to Christ must follow His second 
coming, then these words teach nothing which is inconsistent with this.”’ 


MVerie2-+an ithe first preposition “then’’ in verse 23 is 
“epeita’’, and the second ‘“‘then’’ in this verse is the same word with the 
preposition (epi) left off. They are adverbs of time and mark a sequence 
of course, sometimes depending on temporal succession and sometimes on 
the nature of the things enumerated. There is absolutely nothing in the 
words to designate a shorter or longer period of time. If the idea of 
immediate succession was found in either word it would more aptly inhere 
in the first one where the preposition is added, and yet we know that more 


438 





I CORINTHIANS 


than 2000 years have intervened between the two points of time mentioned. 


If the first “then” looks down the ages for 2000 years it is possible for the 


second one to do the same so far as the two words themselves are con- 
cerned. 


Principal Edwards says, “‘‘eita’’ does not mean “‘at that time’’, but 
“alter that’, as in’ Matt. 24.6,14;.Mark. 13.7; Luke 21.9. 


The second ‘‘eita’’ is the same word as that used in Mark 4.28, “First 
the blade, then the ear, then the full corn tn the ear’’, and here of course 
an intervening period of time must be figured in between each preposition. 


Then, too, if Paul had wanted to say that the end came there and 
then immediately after the resurrection of “‘they that are Christ’s’’ he could 
easily have done so by using the word “‘tote’’. 


Blackstone reminds us that in this same chapter (verses 5-7) “‘eita’’ 
is used interchangeably with “‘epeita’’; that it here signifies next in order, 
but not necessarily tmmediately, and that when the Holy Spirit means 1m- 
mediately He uses tote, éEautijs, evbéws, or Magayorjua. 


Godet says with seeming propriety, ‘The ‘eita’ does not allow us to 
identify the time of the end with that of the advent; it implies in the mind 
ef the Apostle a longer or shorter interval between the advent of Christ 


> IF 


and what he calls the ‘end’. 


Alford says, “It ought to be needless to remind the student of the 
distinction between this Parousia and the final judgment; it is here pecul- 
iarly important to bear this in mind.”’ 


“the end’’,—Not the end of the resurrection (M. B. Os. The. Oec. 
Kil. Hey. Grimm), nor yet the end of the Gospel dispensation (Bil. Gro. 
Whe.), but the end of the world, the end of all things absolutely. (A. H. 
7), Ed,) 


“he shall deliver up the kingdom’’,—The royal power itself, the 
dominion exercised, the reign of Christ (G. M. A.), and not the subjects 
of His kingly rule nor the citizens of the kingdom as raised from the dead 
(Bez. Hey.). 

“shall have abolished’’,—There is a very fine distinction in the use 
of the subjunctive aorist here. Above we had the future, “shall deliver”’ 


‘(equivalent to the certain present), but here the tense shows that he is 


looking backward and referring to what is to take place before the end. 
The meaning is ‘‘after having abokshed’’, and it would seem to prove an 
epoch of judgment before the end. 


“he” ,—Not God (B. Bez. Gro. Hen. Hey.), but Christ (A. M. G. 
skp 
“all rule, and all authority and power’’,—The powers intended are 
hostile powers no doubt, and not earthly, political powers legitimate and 
even ordained of God, as Calvin thinks, nor all rule, good and evil, even 
that of the Son of God, as Olshausen would have us believe. 

Godet makes them invisible hostile powers, while others make them 
invisible hostile powers and earthly powers. (H. M. Us. Ca. Lut. Nea. 
Bil. Hey. Chr. Kil.) However the primary reference here is to spiritual 
powers as is evident from the words used. The words signify different 
orders of angels, the highest, a lower and a still lower in the order of the 


AS9 


I CORINTHIANS 





words. In Eph. 6.12 the first two words are used of the “‘spiritual hosts 
of wickedness’. | 


Alford maintains that all powers are meant, invisible hostile powers 
and earthly powers good and bad, but the view of Hodge and others as 
just expressed is perhaps the better, especially in view of verse 25, although 
what Alford says may be thought of as being true. All legitimate author- 
ities are to come under His kingdom; kings shall submit to Him and the 
kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of Christ. 


Ver. 25. The subject throughout the verse is not God (B. Es. Bil. 
Gro. Hof. Bez.), but Christ (A. D. H. Os. Ru. Ew. Ed. Kil..Nea. Mai. 
Brow.). 


““must’’,—A necessity in accordance with divine counsel and decree 
as well as the eternal fitness of things. It is as if he had said that Psalm 
110 must be fulfilled. Paul appropriates, not quotes, this Psalm. 


Godet remarks, ‘“The essential object of Christ’s reign is the carrying 
out of this judgment on the opposing powers which still remain after the 
advent’’, while Edwards says, ‘“‘The reign of Christ is not a millennium 
of peace, but a perpetual conflict ending in final triumph.” 


Ver. 26. This is accomplished by and through the resurrection, by 
taking his victims from him and seeing that he gets no more, because all 
dying will be over. 


Impartial searchers after truth will appreciate a quotation like the 
following from Principal Edwards. He says, ‘‘Death has not, it appears 
from this, been destroyed at the second coming and at the resurrection of 
those who are Christ’s. The Apostle seems, it must be acknowledged, to 
teach that there will be two resurrections, the former of believers only, the 
latter of all others when at last death itself will die. I may add that my 
interpretation of the Apostle’s words is not the result of having adopted any 
theory on the general question. I know next to nothing of Millennial 
literature, but after reading Bishop Waldegrave’ s ‘New Testament Millen- 
narianism’, and Dr. David Brown’s ‘Second Advent’, J am not convinced 
that the Apostle does not teach the doctrine of two resurrections. Neither 
of these writers so far as I have observed touches upon the argument that 
death is not destroyed at the advent.” 


50 Now this I say, brethren, that and this mortal shall have put on im-_ 


flesh and blood cannot inherit the king- mortality, then shall come to pass the 
dom of God; neither doth corruption saying that is written, “Death is swal- 
inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell lowed up ‘in victory. 55 °O death, 
you a mystery: *We all shall not sleep, where is thy victory? O death, where 
but we shall all be changed, 52 in a is thy sting? 56 The sting of death 
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, is sin; and the power of sin is the 
at the last trump: for the trumpet shall law: 57 but thanks be to God, who 
sound, and the dead shall be raised in- giveth us the victory through our “Lord 
corruptible, and we shall be changed. Jesus Christ. 58 Wherefore, my beloved 
53 For this corruptible must put on in- brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, al- 
corruption, and this mortal must put on ways abounding in the work of the 
immortality. 54 But when “this cor- Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your 
ruptible shall have put on incorruption, labor is not “vain in the Lord. 

1Or, We shall not all &c. 3Is. 25.8 

*Many ancient authorities omit this corrupti- 4Or, victoriously 
ble shall have put on incorruption, and. tos. uy 14 

T, vot 


440 





I CORINTHIANS 


Vers. 50-58. SOME BELIEVERS NEVER TO TASTE DEATH. 


Ver. 50. “this I say’’,—This refers to what follows and not to 
what goes before. He is impressing upon them something that might be 
overlooked. 


“flesh and blood’’,—Our present physical organism; human nature in 
its present, material, mortal, corruptible state. It is not to be taken in an 
ethical sense, as “‘flesh’’ in Romans 8.12,15, because “flesh and blood”’ 
never have this meaning. 


Some of the Jews believed in a flesh arid blood resurrection, and 
others in a spiritualistic, ethereal one, and some (O. Us. Bil.) think Paul 
meant to combat the first and to make concessions to the latter. But this 
is purely an importation into the Apostle’s thought. He is simply con- 
firming what he had already said, by affirming that not only is the change 
already mentioned possible, but it is necessary because the inheriting of 
the kingdom of God by flesh and blood’ is impossible by the very nature 
of the thing. 


“neither doth corruption’, etc..—The same idea expressed in abstract 
terms. ‘They are mutually exclusive and antagonistic. 


Godet would have us refer “‘flesh and blood”’ to Christians alive at the 
coming of Christ and “‘corruption’’ to Christians dead and already in a 
state of dissolution, each of whom must be transformed, one by change 
and the other by resurrection. This is perhaps carrying the application a 
bit too far (although it is true), as corruption is not to be thought of so 
much as distinct from flesh and blood, as the dead are distinguished from 
the living, but it exhibits to us a prominent characteristic of our present 
state, flesh and blood being corruptible. 


“kingdom of: God’’,—Olshausen remarks, ‘‘We are here to under- 
stand the kingdom of God on earth, which the Scriptures inform us will 
be set up immediately upon the coming of our Lord.”’ 


Hodge of course, in keeping with his general view, refers it to the 
kingdom of Christ after the general and final resurrection. 

“This verse -is quoted’’, says Blackstone, ‘‘to support the assertion 
that the kingdom of God is only spiritual and that there is nothing literal 
-or material init. But Paul says nothing of the kind and his whole argu- 
ment is entirely to the contrary. He asserts that our bodies which are 
sown in corruption, dishonor and weakness will be raised in incorruption, 
glory and power, or if living, will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. 
In these glorified bodies we shall ‘inherit the kingdom prepared for us from 
the foundation of the world’. Christ, the rightful heir of all things, will 
be there and we shall be there to reign with Him.” 


Ver.51. ‘“‘mystery’’,—A thing unknown except through revelation. 

All are agreed as to what Paul means by the following clause, namely, 
that at the coming of Christ some would be alive and that these without 
dying would be changed. Yet each class of expositors accuses the other 
of making Paul say something other than that. Many renderings have 
been given of the clause in question. 


1. The text of the Revised Version, “We all shall not sleep but we 
shall all be changed.”’ (M. Kli. Win.) 


44] 


I CORINTHIANS 


2. We shall all die but we shall not all be changed. But this is con- 
tradicted by the next verse. 

3. All of us shall rise but all of us shall not be changed. ‘There is 
insufficient manuscript authority for this. Both these two last 
views are inconsistent with the fact that the entire discussion refers 
to believers only. : 

4. Some transfer the word “‘not’’ and read, ‘‘Not all of us shall sleep 
but all of us shall be changed’. (FI. Os. Hey. Chr. Hen. Reic. 
and most all older commentators.) But this makes the “‘change”’ 
refer to all—both the living and the dead; the former being trans- 
formed alive and the latter resurrected. The strongest objection 
to this is not that the transposition of “‘not’’ is not grammatically 
allowable, because its position is not so rigorously observed, and 
the Septuagint seems to have instances of the same thing. ‘The 
strongest objections are, however: (a) the stricter meaning of 
the word “‘change’’, and (b) the fact that verse 52 says apparently 
that only the living are changed while the dead are to arise. 

5. Some place the emphasis on the word “‘all’’ and render “‘All of us 
shall not sleep but we all shall be changed’’. (A. H. Ed. Stan.) 
But the same objections registered against the view just consid- 
ered are pertinent in this case. 

Godet and Alford say that the reading of our text teaches that not 
one Christian shall die before the Parousia, which, of course, they declare 
is an absurdity. Meyer admits this absurdity only if the subject is made 
to be all Christians living when Paul was speaking, but he affirms that the 
subject in Paul’s mind was all Christians (himself included, as he doubt- 
less hoped) who were to be alive at the Parousia. These are to be changed, 
he says, and only these, while the dead are to be raised according to verse 52. 
Meyer contends that Paul transfers himself in thought to the moment 
of the Parousia, 1. e., ‘““We all who are alive at the Parousia shall not die 
but we all who are alive at that time shall be changed.’ But how easy 
for Paul to have said, “‘Not one of us who are alive at the Parousia shall 
die, but we all who are then alive shall be changed.”’ 

The rendering of our text seems a bit forced to avoid applying the 
word “‘changed”’ to the dead. ‘This word “‘changed’’ in verse 52 does 
apparently refer to the living, and inasmuch as it is the same word in both 
cases, it does present something of a difficulty when made to cover in verse 
51 both the dead and the living. ‘There is, however, not much choice 
between the two. 

6. There is, however, still another translation which relieves the 
difficulty altogether, namely, ‘‘We shall not all sleep, but we all 
(who do not sleep—who are alive at the Parousia) shall be 
changed.”’ 

This thought could easily have been in the Apostle’s mind, and yet 
have been expressed just as he has expressed himself so far as the wording 
of the sentence is concerned, and this we prefer because it makes Paul say 
what all agree Ke had in his mind, and at the same time confines the word 
“changed”’ to those living at the time of the Parousia. 


Ver. 52. “‘moment’’,—Literally, an ‘‘atom’’, a little indivisible 
point of time. 


442 


I CORINTHIANS 


“at the last ttump’’,—The reference is to the divine signal by which 
' the ““moment’’ will be proclaimed, manifesting the divine will to the beings 
of the invisible world. It does not therefore mean the last among any 
particular number (D. The.), nor the last of the seven trumpets which 
the Jews thought would sound the seven successive stages of the resurrec- 
tion. This conception was foreign to Paul, seeing that he represents the 
resurrection as instantaneous. (H. A. M. G. Ed.) 


This trump no doubt corresponds to the last trump mentioned in 
Revelation, but this does not mean that Paul had this in mind, not neces- 
sarily so at least, as Olshausen thinks. 


Brown thinks the sound will be audible. But what it is and how 
it is to sound is not to be searched out, but is to be left with God. 

The connection gives us no right to assume a non-literal, imaginative 
representation. Most expositors, however, agree with Godet that the 
reference is not to a literal trumpet, but that the expression is a figurative 
one, the symbol for expressing the idea of a gathering multitude (H.), a 
stupenduous spiritual influence arousing mankind for some mighty pur- 
pose (O.), an all-agitating command or nod of God. (Us. Nea. Bil. Hof. 
‘Theo. ) 

“last trump’’,—While Hodge says this is the last trumpet that is 
ever to sound and refers to the last day of the world’s economy, others, 
however, rightly say that the idea of “‘last’’ is not to be pressed too hard 
or too far; it is the last in a wide and popular sense, and not necessarily 
the last that is ever to sound. Olshausen says it is the last of the seven 
trumpets in Revelation 8, and cannot therefore mean the trumpet sounding 
in the last day, but the last sounding trumpet, 1. e., the last of the trumpets 
but not necessarily the trumpet of the last day. It is without doubt the 
trump of God mentioned in I Thess. 4.16, and is the last trumpet of this 
age or dispensation. 

“the dead’’,—The Christians who have already died up to that time. 
He is speaking of Christians throughout. 

“we shali be changed’’,—This is consistent with his hope that he 
might be alive when his Lord returned. (M. A. O. G. Kili.) 

It is possible of course to think of him speaking, as Hodge says, of 
_believers as a whole and meaning, ‘Those of us who are dead will arise 

and those of us who are alive will be changed’’, although in view of other 
Scriptures it is better to take it the other way. 

“we shall be changed’’,—This refers without doubt to the living 
Christians. Godet well says, ‘There is no difficulty in taking it in a 
more restricted sense here than in verse 51, because here it is contrasted with 
rising and not with being dead.”’ 


Ver. 53. This is the idea of verse 50 reproduced in positive form, 
showing in the necessity here mentioned, the reason why we must be 
changed. 

It is safer, as Klieforth says, to refer “‘corruptible’’ and “‘mortal’’ both 
to the living, rather than with Bengle and Godet to refer the first to the 
resurrected bodies and the second to those living. 

“this’’,—It is better to think of him, as Brown says, referring to the 
mortality of the saints in general, as in II Cor. 5.1, “‘our earthly house’, 


443 


I CORINTHIANS 


rather than to think of Paul pointing to his own body (A. M. Theo.) 
and making, as Edwards says, a personal application of the doctrine to 
himself. 

“put on’’,—This points to the continuance of personal identity; 
the perishable, mortal body not to be destroyed, but to be clothed upon, 
changed to an incorruptible condition of existence. (O. M. A. G. H.) 


Ver. 54. Paul here quotes from Isa. 25,8 and intentionally changes 
the last word from ‘“‘forever’”’ to “‘in victory’’, as the Septuagint frequently 
does. 


“in victory’’,—So as to result in victory. Death is to be completely 
conquered, its prey rescued from it and none thereafter to be given to it 
through dying. 

It ought to be borne in mind that Paul is still speaking of believers. 
Edwards, referring to II Cor. 5.4, says the reference here is only to the 
living; but we have seen no other commentator take any notice of such a 
distinction, and the most natural reference, it would seem, is to both the 
resurrection and the transformation, as Hodge maintains. 


Ver. 55. Hodge says, ‘The Apostle places himself and his readers 
in the presence of the Saviour and the risen dead and the transformed living 
arrayed in immortality, and in view of that majestic scene he breaks out in 
these words of triumph. 

Paul quotes from the Septuagint of Hosea 13.14 with free alteration. 

“vuictory’’,—Death had conquered us, but Christ conquers death and 
takes his victory away from him. 

“sting’’,—Not of a goad driving us-to death (FI. Bil. Hein.), but 
of a venomous serpent. (H. A. M. G. Ed. Kil.) 


Ver. 56. “‘The sting of sin ts death’’,—This is so because in a sub- 
jective way it is sin that arms death with all its terrors, but more especially 
in an objective way it is sin that imparts to death its fatal power. Death 
is bysin. (hom 49.11.22) 

“The power of sin ts the law’’,— 

1. Because without law there would be no sin. (Rom. 4.15.) 

2. Because if there be no law there can be no condemnation. (Rom. 

5.13.) 

Klieforth prefers the subjective meaning, namely, that the law awak- 
ens sin in man, excites, exasperates and thus strengthens it, in the sense of 
Rom. 7.7. But the subjective aspect in both clauses of the verse seems 
foreign to the connection. 

This is a discussion of the Resurrection, and as Godet says, it would 
seem that we have here nothing to do with the trouble experienced by the 
dying man or the peace enjoyed by the believer. 

“the law’’,—Not the Mosaic law, which would make the declaration 
amount to nothing, but the law of God in its widest sense. 


Ver. 57. “‘giveth’’,—The present tense, representing this future 
victory as sure and certain. 

“the victory’ ,—The victory over death. 

“through our Lord Jesus Christ’’,—Because: 


444 


II CORINTHIANS 


1. He has satisfied the demands of the law and it has no power to 
condemn those who are clothed in His righteousness. (Rom. 8.1.) 


2. He new creates the soul after the image of God and repairs all 
the evils which death had inflicted. 


Ver. 58. “‘Wherefore’’,—Seeing that this victory is sure. (A. O. 
M. G. Kil. Brow.) 

“steadfast, unmovable’’,—In reference to the doubt which some 
attempt to raise among you on this matter. (A. M. G. Ed.) 

“the work of the Lord’’,—The Christian life with its duties, espec- 
ially that of bringing others to the knowledge of the Lord. (M. A. Ed. 
Kil. ) 

“Rnowing’’,—Being convinced by what has been said. 

“not in vain’’,—This it would be if there were no resurrection. In 
the resurrection you will get your reward. This is the thought rather 
than that their work will not be in vain in its results, i. e., in converting 
many, etc. 

“in the Lord’’,—This does not belong to “‘your labor’’, nor yet al- 


together to “in vain’’ (M.), but the rather to the whole sentence, your 
labor, etc. 


oes ECONDIEPIS PEEZOM PAUL) LO LHE 


CORINTHIANS 


(A. D. 60) 


CHAPIPERSFOUR 


14 knowing that he that raised up 
the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also 
with Jesus, and shall present us with 
you. 


ever. 14..21THE JOYFUL PRESENTATION OF BELIEVERS BEFORE THE 
‘THRONE OF CHRIST. 


“knowing’’,—This gives the ground of the speaking (M. A.) and 
not the matter or content of it. 

“shall raise up us also with Jesus’’,—Because of the preposition 
“with’’, this is taken by some as a figurative resurrection, viz., of the over- 
coming of the constant perils of death (verses 10-12), which it is held is a 


resurrection “‘with’’ Jesus, insofar as\ through it there arises a fellowship 
of destiny with the risen Christ. (Ru. Nea. Schu.) 

These authors claim that the Apostle could not thus speak of his 
physical resurrection because he expected to be alive at the coming of the 
Lord. But this objection is best refuted by this very passage; he speaks 
here exactly in the same sense that he did in I Thess. 4.15. 

Then, too, it is possible to conceive under the general idea of being 
“raised up’ the more special one of a simple change, the raising up here 


445 


II CORINTHIANS 


having respect rather to the contrast of the future glory with the present 
suffering, and not therefore necessarily implying one or the other side of 
the alternative of being quick or dead at the Lord’s coming, but embracing 
all, quick and dead, in one blessed resurrection state. 

The figurative interpretation is not demanded by the words “with 
Jesus’, which, by the way, is no doubt the correct reading. This read- 
ing is supported by overwhelming authority, and the “‘by’”’ of the Author- 
ized Version was introduced no doubt because of the supposed impropriety 
of “‘with’’ in reference to a future resurrection, Christ having already been © 
raised. It is true that.the resurrection of the dead takes place “‘by’’ (dia) 
Jesus, but as Meyer says, “‘Christians may be conceived and designated as 
one day becoming raised ‘with’ Jesus, since they are members of Christ and 
Christ is the first fruits of those who rise from the dead. The believer, 
in virtue of his connection with the Lord, knows himself already in his 
temporal life as risen with Christ, and what he thus knows in faith emerges 
at the last day into objective completion and outward reality.” 

The possibility of dying was always before Paul’s mind, and that too 
before the: Lord ‘came (Gore 15.31 Gor, sis8ehas bS se Pie eee 
205255 3,05) 

“present us with you’ ,—viz., 

“Before the judgment seat of Christ as perfected men of God.’ (O.) 

“Before the judgment seat of Christ for the reception of the great 
prize, 1. e., as companions of Christ in His kingdom.’ (Kli.) 

‘Before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the eternal glory.’ (M.) 

The idea of judgment is of course foreign to the passage except in 
the sense of reward as noted by the authorities just quoted, and certainly 
there is here no allusion whatsoever to the awful scenes of the last judg- 
ment. The reference is rather to the joyful, blessed presentation referred 
to so often elsewhere by the Apostle. (Chap. 11.2; Eph. 5.27; Col. 1.22; 
Jude 24.) 


CHAP TERSELY E 


1 Por we know that if the earthly Spirit. 6 Being therefore always of 
house of our ‘tabernacle be dissolved, we good courage, and knowing that, whilst 
have a building from God, a house not we are at home in the body, we are 
made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. absent from the Lord 7 (for we walk 
2 For verily in this we groan, longing by faith, not by “sight); 8 we are of 
to be clothed upon with our habitation good courage, I say, and are willing 
which is from heaven: 3 if so be that rather to be absent from the body, and’ 
being clothed we shall not be found to be at home with the Lord. 9 Where- 
naked. 4 For indeed we that are in fore also we ‘make it our aim, whether 
this “tabernacle do groan, “being bur- at home or absent, to be well-pleasing 
dened; not for that we would be un- unto him. 10 For we must all be made 
clothed, but that we would be clothed manifest before the judgment-seat of 
upon, that what is mortal may be swal- Christ; that each one may receive the 
lowed up of life. 5 Now he that things done *in the body, according to 
wrought us for this very thing is God, what he hath done, whether it be good 
who gave unto us the earnest of the or bad, 

1Or, bodily frame Comp. Wisd. 9, 15. °Gr. appearance 

°Or, being burdened, im that we would not 4Gr. are ambitious. See Rom. 15.20 marg. 
be unclothed, but would be clothed upon 5Gr. through 


Vers. 1-10. WHy DEATH HAS No TERROR FOR THE BELIEVER. 
Ver. 1. This verse gives the reason for Chap. 4.17. Paul, whom 
446 


II CORINTHIANS 


we are inclined to believe felt strongly the possibility of his living to the 


_ time of the Parousia, is here supposing the possibility of his death before 


that time. 


“we know”’,—This is not the general “‘it is known’’, but Paul is 
here speaking (with the inclusion of Timothy) of himself, as in the whole 
context. 


“earthly house of our tabernacle’’,—His then present physical body. 


“tabernacle’’,This is a genitive of apposition; the tabernacle and 
the house are one and the same. The literal of ‘‘tabernacle’’ is ‘‘tent’’, the 
well-known expression among the Greeks for the earthly habitation or 
covering for the soul. 


“if’’,—This is hypothetical, involving the possibility that he might 
not die. ‘This is disputed by some, but both the context and the meaning 
of the particle favors this view. 

““dissolved’’,—Undergo the process of dissolution. 

“we have’’,—Present tense as referring to the time of the dissolution. 


“a building from God’’,—A building originating with God and fur- 
nished by Him; not as contrasted with our earthly body, for that too is 
from God, but a building prepared in a special manner for us by God. 


“a house not made with hands’’,—This is not to be contrasted with 
our earthly body, for that too is not made with hands; but with the other 
houses and buildings which are hand-made. 

What is this house not made with hands? 

1. Heaven itself. (H. Ca. Ros. Wol. Hof.) 

Hodge argues for this view as follows: 

(a) Heaven is so often called in Scripture a habitation, a house 
of many mansions, a city in which are many houses. 

~-(b) The appropriateness of the metaphor. 

(c) The agreement of the description here given with other de- 

scriptions of heaven. (Heb. 9.11; 11.10.) 

(d) A body after death or in the resurrection could not be spoken 
of as present in the heavens, or as to be received from heaven, 
whereas Christ expressly authorizes such language respecting 
the mansions He is preparing. 

(e) The building here spoken of is evidently to be entered upon 
at death. When Paul dies this was to save him from being 
found naked and this could not be at the final resurrection. 

(f) Believers are said to pass immediately into glory at death. 
Oi iatee eep ee ell 22 blebal2e2 > Liuke 16.22.) 

But on the other hand it is to be said: 

(a) This view destroys the parallelism. If the earthly house is 
a body the heavenly house must be a body also. 

(b) It does not say that the house was to be heaven, but that it 
was then in heaven. 

(c) The change of the preposition from “‘tn’’ of verse 1 to “‘out 
of’’ or “‘from’’ in verse 2 is against the view of Hodge. If 


447 


II CORINTHIANS — 


Paul meant the same thing this is certainly a very loose use of 
prepositions. . 

(d) The special form of the verb “clothed upon’’, “‘to put on 
over’’, in contrast with the same verb without the preposition 
is not at all favorable to this view. 


(e) The simple idea of heaven, if found in verse 1, does not con- 
sist with the idea of a house “‘out of’ or “‘from’’ heaven in 
verse 2. 


2. The resurrection body received at the Parousia. (M. A. Kli. 
Nea. Brow.) 


This is the opinion of almost all recent expositors, with the ex- 
ception of Hodge, who alone adopts the view that the house men- 
tioned is heaven, and he argues for it very ably, as we have seen, 
and yet not with success, for a body which is said to be now in 
heaven and afterwards to come from heaven can hardly be identi- 
fied with heaven itself. In spite of the apparent difficulty of 
Paul's representation that he receives the investiture at death, the 
arguments favor strongly the second view, namely that Paul has 
in view here the body to be received at the time of the resurrection. 

Meyer explains very appropriately the use of the present tense, ““have’’, 
by saying that he who dies has from that moment a glorified body, not yet 
indeed as a real possession, but as an ideal possession (he has it “in the 
heavens’) to be realized at the Parousia. 

Olshausen thinks the reference is solely to the ‘transformation of the 
living. But in the case of transformation, there is no such thing as disso- 
lution, which Paul mentions here as taking place before the house from 
heaven belongs to him. 

Some say the reference is to an immediate pneumatic bodily organ 
in heaven, which is to clothe the soul only until the time for the resurrection 
body. (Au. Fl. Us. Nea.) But the word “eternal’’ is against this. Web- 
ster and Wilkinson argue for a permanent spiritual corporeity capable of 
coexisting with the body of the resurrection. But of all this, Scripture 
knows absolutely nothing. 


The reason why Paul did not refer to the intermediate state between . 


death and the Parousia or the resurrection is perhaps because he had as yet 
received no revelation on the point whether he and his fellow Christians of 
that age would live until the Parousia, and so whether there should be any 
such state to those of whom he was speaking. That it was in Paul’s mind 
is perhaps evident from the distinction between the prepositions “1n’’ and 
“from’’ in verses 1 and 2 respectively. It is not necessary therefore to say 
with De Wette that he over-leaped it, or with Osiander that he omitted its 
mention because of what he believed would be its shortness, viz., the time 
between his death (in case he died) and the resurrection. 

“tn the heavens’’,—This properly modifies the verb ““have’’, although 
the same sense will be preserved if it is taken as an adverbial phrase limiting 
building. 


Ver. 2. The certainty of verse 1 confirmed by the longing, etc. 


“in this’ ,—1i. e., in this body, Paul’s then present body. 
“longing’’,—The reason for the groaning. 


448 


II CORINTHIANS 


“clothed upon’’,—The figure is here changed to a garment—to have 


‘superimposed upon, to put on over. 


“with our habitation which ts from heaven’’,—The reference is here 
the same as in verse 1, where this habitation was said to be in heaven, but 
now considered as brought at the resurrection time with the Lord from 
(out of) heaven at His coming. 


The expression, “clothed upon’’, seems to indicate that he is thinking 
of the same thing he said in I Cor. 15.51 and the following, namely, his 
being transformed alive. [he additional preposition, “‘epi’’, seems to 
lend strength to this supposition. (M. O. A. W-W. Kili.) 


Olshausen says, ‘Paul regards it as an especial happiness not to taste 
death at all, not to be obliged to put off this body, but to be glorified living, 
drawing the heavenly body over this present mortal body like a garment, 
but of course in such a manner that the mortal body is absorbed in the 
nature of the spiritual body.’’ The authorities quoted are very strong 
indeed in their advocacy of this view, and we see no good reason for not 
accepting it. 


Ver. 3. This verse is a substantiation and explanation of the pre- 
ceding one. 


“tf so be that’’,—This particle carries in it, in Classic Greek as well 
as here, the idea of full certainty, and this thought is here confirmed by 
the context. However, since to the English mind there is always a shade 
of doubt attached to the word “‘if’’, we prefer to read ‘‘seeing that’. 


Paul is no doubt speaking with the deniers of the resurrection in 
mind. ‘The passage is somewhat difficult, but we can see no other reason- 
able interpretation than that the Apostle says, in confirmation of what had 
preceded, that when Christ comes we shall be found clothed (having the 
resurrection body) and consequently shall not be found naked (in a dis- 
embodied state), i. e., we will not be disembodied spirits in that day. 
This, of course, would be true of Paul whether he were dead or alive at 
the Parousia. 


 “naked’’,——This is the very word used by the Greeks to express the 
disembodied spirit: or condition. Anselm makes “‘naked’’ refer to naked 
of Christ; Hunsius to being without faith; Olshausen to naked of the 
robe of righteousness. But if by ““naked’’ Paul had meant any other kind 


of nakedness than that which the similitude obviously implies, he most 


certainly would have indicated it. 


The most current exposition on the part of others is that which refers 
the “being clothed’ to being still clothed in the earthly body when the 
Parousia takes place, and the word “‘naked”’ to being not dead (not dis- 
embodied). Alive when the Lord comes he would of course then be 
changed. The rendering is: 

1. If so be we shall be found clothed (in the earthly body) and not 
naked (not in the disembodied state of the dead), or as Grotius 
puts it, 

2. If so be we shall be found among the changed and not among 
the naked (the disembodied). (B. Em. Ca. Es. Gro. Con. Ter. 
Wol. Mos. Schr.), or as Bilroth renders it, 


449 


II CORINTHIANS 


3. If we, having been once clothed (with the earthly body) shall not 
be found naked (without the earthly body). 
There are three objections to these views, or rather to these render- 
ings, because the views really come to the same thing in the end: 

(a) The clause would have to begin with a different particle, for 
which there is considerable but still insufficient authority. 

(b) It fails to translate the particle “‘kai’’, which by the way is 
also overlooked by the Revised Version. 

(c) “‘clothed’’ should according to this view be in the perfect tense, 
instead of in the past. 


De Wette renders, ‘‘Seeing that when we are also clothed (in the heav- 
enly dwelling, which is also a body) we shall not be found naked.” But 
this makes “clothed’’ and “‘naked’’ to coexist, whereas they are by the text 
made to be the very opposite one of the other. | 

There is another reading, “‘unclothed’’, not quite so well sub- 
stantiated, by which the rendering would be, “If we, provided that we 
shall be unclothed (shall have died before the Parousia) shall be found not 
naked.”’ 

Klieforth prefers the reading “‘unclothed”’ and translates, “‘Although 
we, even if an unclothing has ensued (if we have died before the Parousia) , 
will not be found naked.”’ “The particle however, never means ‘‘although’”’. 
Yet the sense of this rendering is good. But the reading “‘unclothed”’ is 
not sufficiently substantiated. 


The literal rendering is, “If so be that being clothed, not naked we 
shall be found’’, and the rendering given by the discussion at the start 
is the only one that suits both the text and the context. 

Ver. 4. This verse expresses again the wish of verse 2 and confirms 
and explains its 

“this tabernacle’’,—As. before, Paul’s then present body. . 

“being burdened’’,—The reason for the groaning and for the being — 
burdened is seen in what follows. The being burdened is not therefore - 
because of troubles, etc. (Em. Pis. Fri. Schu.) 

“anclothed’’,—That is, to suffer the process of physical death. 

“not for that we would’’,—This can be a little better expressed for 
the English mind by, “‘because we do not wish’’, or “‘because that we do not 
wish’. He is expressing the natural disinclination as to death; not that 
he feared to die, but perhaps regarding the Parousia as near, he would 
naturally prefer to be transformed. 

“that what ts mortal’’,—By speaking of what is mortal as existing 
in that day when Christ comes, he shows he is referring to the change or 
transformation of the living, for if he were referring to himself as being 
dead at that time there would have been no mortal part left, as he himself 
at that time under those conditions would be a disembodied spirit’ 

“life’,—The new, immortal power of life which is imparted to us 
in the moment of the change at the Parousia when we are clothed upon. 


Ver. 5. This verse expresses the ground of his wish. 


“wrought us for’’,—Made us ready for, and this He did through 
redemption, justification and sanctification. 


450 





II CORINTHIANS 


Others refer this to the creation. (The. Bez. Chr. Theo. Schn.) 
But this has no place here, not even as the beginning of the preparation 
indicated. 


“this very thing’’,—This does not have its reference in the groaning 
of the previous verse (B. Hof.), but to what he has just said about being 


“clothed upon” in order that that which is mortal may be swallowed up 
of life. 


“the earnest of the Spirit’’,—i. e., the Holy Spirit as an earnest. 


Meyer says, ““The Holy Spirit given him as an earnest of the fact 
that he shall not fail to be clothed upon with the body waiting for him 
at the Parousia, which Paul was convinced he would live to see.”’ 


Alford, however, is nearer the truth when he says, ‘‘Paul in this 
verse seems to be treating no longer exclusively of his own wish to be trans- 
formed alive, but is showing that the end itself (which it seems he in 
common with others then living wished accomplished by transformation 
without death) is, under whatever form brought about, that for which all 
the preparation by grace of Christians is carried on and to which the earnest 
of the Spirit points forward.” 


Ver. 6. This verse shows the effect of verse 5 on Paul’s mind. 


“always of good courage’’,—No matter what the troubles, or as 
Alford prefers, ‘““whether hoping to be clothed upon by transformation, or 
shrinking from being unclothed by physical dissolution.” 


Paul in verses 6 to 8 is saying that whether his particular wish as to 
the method of receiving the new body be realized or not, he is prepared 
to accept the alternative of being denuded of the body, seeing that it will 
bring with it a translation into the presence of the Lord. 


“and knowting’’,—This is the ground for the “‘willing’’ of verse 8. 
It is an additional thought and correlative with “being of good courage’, 
and not a ground for the latter (Ca.), nor an exception to it (O. Es. FI. 
Em. Ros.) as if it were to be taken in the sense of ‘‘although’’. 


“at home in the body’’,—That is, residing here in our physical body. 


“absent from the Lord’’,—Literally, away from home from the 
Lord, sojourning in a foreign country. (For the same thought see Phil. 
ao leek beset. Lee Heb. 11°13.) 


Ver. 7. We do not believe this verse ought to be taken as a paren- 
thesis. Paul started to write, ‘Being therefore always of good courage 
and knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from 

_ the Lord, we are willing rather,’’ etc., as in verse 8. But he was carried 
away from this by the intervening thought of verse 7, and accordingly took 
up the thought again in verse 8 with a change of construction. (A. M. 
Kil.) Others want to make a parenthesis out of both verse 7 and verse 8; 

_ but this most certainly interferes with the true trend of the thought. 

“stght’’,—This cannot refer to a subjective process. It means that 

we are not surrounded by the actual appearance of heaven itself; we are 

_ not seeing the objective realities. It is the Lord in His glory concerning 

whom we now walk by faith, but one day will walk with His actual glory 
shining around and before us. 


451 


Il CORINTHIANS 


Ver. 8. If verse 7 be taken as a parenthesis (and there is no strong 
objection to this construction), the particle translated “J say’’ must be so 
translated. It is a picking up again of the thought interrupted by the 
parenthesis. 


We, however, prefer, in keeping with our thought that no parenthesis 
ought to be allowed, to read the particle “‘But’’, the adversative, and to 
start the sentence thus, ““But we are’, i. e., even though we do now have 
to walk by faith. 


“at home with the Lord’’,—Though having expressed a preference 
to live until the Parousia, he says now, since being in his present body 
means absence from the Lord, he is willing, i. e., prefers to suffer even 
physical dissolution inasmuch as he knows this will bring him into the 
presence of the Lord. The reference is not then in this place to the putting 
on of the immortal body at the Parousia. 


Ver. 9. “Wherefore’’,—1i. e., this being so, namely, our confidence 
being such, in event whether of death or of life until the coming of the 
Lord. 


“whether at home or absent’’,—This phrase must be connected with 
“to be well-pleasing unto him’’. (B. Ca. Es. Em. Fl. Hof. Gro. Bez. Chr.) 
By many it is taken with “‘make it our aim’’.- (C. D. Os. Ew. Ru. Bil.) 


But how can we, when we are absent from our body and present with the — 


Lord, make it our aim then to please Him? ‘This connection brings com- 
mentators into all sorts of difficulty. ‘“IThe thought of the passage may 
be expressed as follows: “Wherefore also we make it our aim now while 
we are in the body to be well-pleasing unto Him at His CORRS whether 
we are at that time in the body or out of it.’ 


Ver. 10. This verse gives the reason and the motive for the aim of 
verse 9, 


“all’,—All Christians, myself among the number, with special — 


reference to those to whom they have preached. 


Alford well says, ‘“‘No more definite inference must be drawn from — 


this verse as to the place which the saints of God shall hold in the judg- 
ment than it warrants, viz., that they as well as others shall be manifested 
and judged by Him. When or in company with whom is not here even 
so much as hinted.”’ 


“be made mantfest’’,—Made to appear in our true light (A. M. B. 
Bez.), and not merely to stand before. (Gro.) It is the same word used 
concerning the manifestation of Christ. 


“before the judgment seat of Christ’’,—This does not refer to a mere 


judicial inquiry with respect to each man immediately after death (FI.), 
for of this the Scriptures know nothing. 


“the things done in the body’”’,—Literally, ‘‘the things through the — 


body’, i. e., the body as the medium or organ of action, the things being 
done of course while in the body. 


“in the body’’,—This was taken by some earlier writers (Ter. The. 


Chr. Oec.) and later by Osiander as indicating the resurrection body in — 


which each receives back according to that which he did while in the 


physical body. But this agrees neither with the context, nor with the | 


452 


i 


| 
| 





EPHESIANS 


sense in which the body is used throughout the passage, nor with the actual 
words as used in this place. 


“receive’’,—This really means to carry away. Moral actions are 
here conceived as something deposited, laid up, and which at the judgment 
are received back, carried away in equivalent reward and retribution. 


“whether tt be good or bad’’,—That is, the things he hath done. 


(Ce Pe RIS erObReP A Wish OSE HE 


EPHESIANS 


Ca ACPA H 


CHAPTER ONE 


10 unto a dispensation of the fulness 
of the “times, to sum up all things in 
Christ, the things *in the: heavens, and 
the things upon the earth; 

1Gr. seasons 


"Gr. upon 
Ver. 10. THE PRESENT AGE THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULLNESS 
OF THE TIMES. 


“anto’’,—i. e., with a design; with a view to. It belongs to the pre- 
ceding “purposed in him’. (M.E. R. A. H. Ea. Bra.) 


“dispensation of the fulness of the times’’,—The primary meaning 
of the word “‘dispensation’’ is house management, stewardship; but trans- 
ferred to the spiritual sphere it means arrangement, economy, the ordering 
of events. Practically all are agreed that the reference is to the first coming 
of Christ and that the dispensation referred to is the Gospel dispensation 
inaugurated by that coming; though Scofield quite arbitrarily makes it 
“the seventh and last of the ordered ages which condition human life on 
earth’, and says it is ‘‘identical with the kingdom covenanted to David, 

and gathers into itself under Christ all past ‘times’.’’ 


“fulness of the times’’,—The word “‘fulness’’ may mean (1) that 
which fills; or (2) that which is filled, and hence the state of fullness; or 
(3) the act of filling. The last sense is out of the question; a fair inter- 
pretation could be gotten out of the first meaning, but all agree that the 
second meaning is the best one for the context in this place. 


Eadie says, ‘“The pleroma (fulness) is regarded as a vast receptacle 
into which centuries and millenniums have been flowing, but now it was 
filled.’’ In Gal. 4.4 where the word is “‘time’’, a fixed point of time is the 
thought in Paul’s mind, that point of time being the birth of Christ, the 
time before Christ being conceived of as a unit; but in our passage, where 
the word is “‘times’’, the expression refers to a series of periods, to sections 
or seasons of time strung out through one complete whole which consti- 
tutes the fullness. 

Alford complains that most expositors go astray in making the expres- 
sion refer to a point of time rather than to a series of seasons. As, for 


453 


EPHESIANS 


instance, Vincent says, “‘It is the moment when the successive ages of the 
Gospel dispensation are completed’’, and Ellicott says, ‘“The reference is to 
that moment which completes the ordained seasons of the Gospel dispen- 
sation.’’ Most expositors have had difficulty in making themselves clear 
on this point. 

Riddle, on the other hand, says, ‘“The main question is whether the 
phrase, ‘the fulness of the times’, as a whole, refers to the entire Gospel 
dispensation or to the period of the first advent alone. As the explana- 
tory clause which follows points to what is still future, we accept the wider 
reference.’’ With Riddle most authorities are agreed. (A. H. S. Mo, Ca. 
Ru. Ea. Mat. Bra.) . 


But there is still a question as to what periods of time the expression is 
meant to designate. We believe the majority of commentators have 
missed the exact meaning here. “The “‘times’’ are pre-Messianic. ‘There is 
no difference whatever between this statement and that in Gal. 4.4 except 
that this latter text conceives of the pre-Messianic ages as a unit, while our 
passage conceives of them as a series of periods. But as much as the 
word “‘dispensation”’ carries with it in itself the idea, not of a point but of a 
period of time, we must conceive of the time after Christ’s first advent as 
included also in the “‘fulness’’ to which reference is made. ‘This is sub- 
stantially the view of Meyer, save that he closes the “‘fulness’’ with the last 
of the pre-Messianic periods. 

All times, past, present, and future, come to their fullness at the be- 
ginning, in the course of, and at the completion of the dispensation of the 
Gospel. 


CHAPTER TWO 


7 that in the ages to come he might 
show the exceeding riches of his grace 
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: 


Ver. 7. POST-PAROUSIA BLESSEDNESS FOR THE BELIEVER. 


“ages to come’’,—There are two views as to what is the time meant: 


1. The ages which are successively arriving until Christ’s Second 
Coming. (A. E.R. H. Ea. Bra. Wol.) These authorities con- 
ceive of Paul as speaking of the period between the resurrection of 
Christ and His Second Coming as the “‘ages to come’’ according to 
the technical, Jewish way of speaking and thinking. 

2. The time after the Parousia. (M. O. Mo. Gro. Har.) Gortninte 
the ordinary reader would take it in this sense, and Olshausen 
says that New Testament usage in the singular, its derivative 
meaning and the context favor this interpretation. 

The arguments against this view by Alford are not at all formidable: 

(a) The plural ‘‘ages’’. (But see Chap. 3.21 and Jude 25 and the 
expression, “‘unto the ages of ages’’.) 

(b) The passage in Col. 1.26,27. But there is no mention there of 
“the ages to come’, and we cannot see how that passage bears 
very strongly on this one. 

(c) The Second Coming is hardly ever alluded to. in Ephesians. 
But there is no argument in this. 


454 





EPHESIANS 


(d) The present tense of “coming’’. But this as in other places may 
be a present of certainty with a future meaning. The very same 
word is used in the singular in the present tense in Luke 18.30 
and Mark 10.30, in both of which places it is used with “‘age’’ 
and refers without doubt to the time after the Parousia. Cer- 
tainly if usage counts for anything the balance is in favor of 
this second view. 


‘This verse is used by many who favor the first view, in showing 
that Paul did not believe the Parousia to be near, but that he expected 
“coming ages’ to intervene before that time. 


But this is not at all a necessary, nor is it hardly a legitimate conclu- 
sion from the viewpoint under discussion, for if Paul used the phrase in 
its technical sense, that is from the standpoint of Jewish teaching as they 
looked forward to the ages of glory that were to follow close upon the 
appearance of the Messiah, it is at once evident that by the expression, 
“ages to come’ no such time of waiting for the glory of the Messiah to 
come stich as this present dispensation has brought to us was ever associated 
with the use of the words in question, as used by the teachers of Jewish 
doctrine. 


CHAPTER FOUR 


30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit 
of God, in whom ye were sealed unto 
the day of redemption. 


Ver. 30. REDEMPTION FULLY REALIZED IN THE DAY OF CHRIST’S 
COMING. 


“the day of redemption’’,—The reference here is to the day ‘‘when 
at the Parousia the certainty of the deliverance unto salvation becomes a 
reality’’ (M.); ‘‘when the body is glorified with the Spirit’? (Mo.) ; 
‘“‘when the redemption shall be fully realized’”’ (E. A.). 


CHAPTER FIVE 


5 For this ye know of a surety, that 
no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor 
covetous man, who is an idolater, hath 
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ 
and God. 


Ver. 5. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST THE INHERITANCE OF THE PURE IN 
HEART. 


“the kingdom of Christ and God’’,—‘‘The kingdom’’, says Meyer, 

“which Christ opens at His Parousia and rules under the supreme dominion 

of God (I-Cor. 15.27) until the final consummation whereupon He yields 
it up to God as the sole ruler (I Cor. 15.24,27).” 


Riddle perhaps more appropriately says, ‘‘This kingdom is not merely 
the future kingdom of glory but the present kingdom of grace 
(Matt. 13).” 


455 


EPHESIANS 





27 that he might present the church 
to himself a glorious church, not hav- 
ing spot or wrinkle or any such thing; 
but that it should be holy and without 
blemish. 


Ver. 27. THE JOYFUL PRESENTATION OF THE SAINTS BEFORE CHRIST’S 
‘THRONE AT HIS COMING. 


That this presentation is to take place at the Second Coming is 
generally admitted, the more so since that event is so frequently referted 
to as a marriage. (R. A. E. O. Ea. Bra.) This is the purpose both of 
the sanctification, in verse 24, and of the giving up of Himself, in verse 25. 
The Church is to be presented as a bride, not as an offering. — 

“a glorious church’’,—This is somewhat inexact; the Church is to 
be presented as glorious, this word being emphatic by reason of its position, 
and explained by what follows. 

“that he might present’’,—We prefer the rendering, ‘“‘that He might 
Himself present to Himself’’, as supported not only by preponderant manu- 
script evidence, but as more appropriate to the actual circumstance. What 
takes place is not as in the case of the bringing home of actual brides by 
others, but Christ Himself presents the Church to Himself as a Bride at 
the Parousia. (A. R. O.M. E. Ea. Bra.) 


Riddle remarks that, “‘Clearly enough the Church is not yet ready to 
be thus presented; but the Bridegroom is preparing her for it.’’ ‘This cer- 
tainly is true so far as the Church visible is concerned, but as to how far 
it is true of the actual Bride one cannot be so certain. 

Dr. David Brown adduces this verse, together with Col. 1.22, I 
Thess. 3.13 and Jude 24, in proof that the Church will be absolutely 
complete at His coming, and that therefore there can be,no conversion of 
the nations after that event, and that therefore the universal turning of 
the nations to God, and the consequent Millennium, must take place before 
the second advent of the Lord. 

Whatever the teaching of Scripture elsewhere on this point, in order 
that this verse shall be valid evidence of Dr. Brown’s contention, it will be 
necessary to show first that the word “‘church’’, as here used, denotes the 
total number of those who shall be saved; and even if it should thus com- 
prise the totality of the redeemed, it must be equally shown that there never 
shall be in the future more than one manifestation of Christ in connection 
with this earth; and even so, inasmuch as the word Parousia (translated 
“coming’’) really means ‘“‘presence’’ and therefore a period of time rather 
than a point of time, many of the opponents of Dr. Brown’s teaching con- 
tend that it is nowhere declared in Scripture that this presentation of the 
Church to Himself takes place immediately upon His glorious appearing. 


CHAPTER SIX 


13. Wherefore take up the whole 
armor of God, that ye may be able to 
withstand in the evil day. and, having 
done all, to stand. 


Ver. 13. THE CHRISTIAN’S ARMOR FOR THE EVIL Day. 
“the evil day’’,—Not the day of death (Era. Schm.), nor the day of 
456 


PHILIPPIANS 


judgment (Jer.), nor the present life, hinting also at the idea of its brevity 
(Chr. Oec. Theo.), in which case ‘‘age’’ would have been used instead of 
udaye* 

Two other views remain, both of which agree that the definite article 
indicates some special time. 


1. Any felt crisis in the soul’s resistance whenever it may be. (E. O. 
eve e node bt, viel ViateL bem. Ear, Winz:) 
‘The day of violent temptation. 
Moule says, ‘he definite article in such a phrase does not isolate 
a solitary occasion, but denotes distinct ¢ occasions of the one class 
in question.’ 


2. “The day in which the Satanic power puts forth its last and 
greatest outbreak, which last outbreak of the anti-christian king- 
dom Paul expected shortly before the Parousia.’’ (M. Us.) 


This second view is possible but we feel that the first view is 
safer exegesis, 1. e., the more conservative method of exegesis. The whole 
passage seems to be concerned with a present wrestling with or against 
present enemies, 


The Epistle is quite silent on the subject of the Second Coming of 
Christ as compared with the other of Paul’s writings. 





iiibete eis Vibe Oko PALI tel OmihkiE 


PHILIPPIANS 


(A,.D. 64) 
CHAPTER ONE 
6 being confident of this very thing, 10 so that ye may ‘approve the things 
that he who began a good work in you that are excellent; that ye may be sin- 
will perfect it until the day of Jesus cere and void of offence unto the day of 
Christ. Christ ; 


10Or, distinguish the things that differ 


Vers. 6,10. “—THE CHURCH PRESENTED IN PERFECT HOLINESS AT THE 
DAY OF CHRIST. 


Ver. 6. “‘the day of Jesus Christ’’,—1i. e., the day of His Second 
Coming. Thus practically every commentator. While the day of the 
Lord and the day of Christ refer to the same period of time, on exam- 
ination it will be found that while the day of the Lord relates more to the 
sinner and his punishment, the day of Christ relates the rather to the saint 
and his reward. Erdman has said, ‘““The transactions associated with the 
day of Christ in every Scripture where it is found, pertain exclusively to 
the risen and transfigured Church, and though presenting solemn judicial 
aspects to His saints, they are nevertheless radiant with holy joy and trium- 
phant blessedness.”’ 

“will perfect tt until’’,—Alford and Meyer say this expression assumes 
the nearness of the Coming of Christ. There is, of course. nothing in the 


457 


PHILIPPIANS 


expression itself to warrant this deduction, but they say that unless this is 
assumed there exists a difficulty of some considerable seriousness. If Christ 
were to come in their time, then at His coming the good work begun in. 
them would be completed and there is no difficulty in the expression. But 
if His coming was to be delayed, then what about those who die in the 
meantime? 


This has caused Estius to refer the expression to each one’s death, 
and Hackett to assume “‘that the reason Paul did not say ‘death’ is because 
the day of one’s death and the final advent of the Lord coincide so essen- 
tially in their moral consequences that this advent was habitually near to 
the feelings and consciousness of the first Christians.’’ But this is both 
gratuitous and unnecessary. 


The fact is that some Christians were already dead and Paul knew it 
(I Thess. 4.14), so if there is any difficulty in this direction, thinking 
that Paul believed the Second Coming near at hand does not relieve it. 


Calvin says the dead are still in process of being perfected, because 
they have not yet reached the goal. But this is a makeshift. It is difficult 
to see how the difficulty referred to presents itself, but so far as the nearness 
of the advent is concerned, the facts are now before us, and if Paul did so 
believe, we will need proof stronger than this passage affords to sub- 
stantiate it, 


Ver. 10. “the day of Christ’’,—The day is the same as that in verse 
6. ‘The expression here is introduced by “‘unto’’, which is a different prep- 
osition from that introducing it in verse 6. It means “‘for’’. Our word 
“against’’ expresses it well, i. e., so that when that day comes ye may be 
found, etc. It marks the destination. 


CHAPTER TWO 


16 holding forth the word of life; 
that I may have whereof to glory in the 
day of Christ, that I did not run in 
vain neither labor in vain. 


Ver. 16. “day of Christ’’,-The same day as that of verses 6 and 10. 
CHARTERRUAREE 


9 and be found in him, *not having of his resurrection, and the fellowship . 
a righteousness of mine own, even that of his. sufferings, becoming conformed 
which is of the law, but that which is unto his death; 11 if by any means I 
through faith in Christ, the righteous- may attain unto the resurrection from 


ness which is from God *by faith. 10 the dead. 
that I may know him, and the power 


10r, not having as my-vrighteousness that 
which is of the low 
°Gr. upon ; 


Vers. 9,10,11. THE RESURRECTION OUT FROM AMONG THE DEAD. 


Ver. 9. “‘be found tn him’’,—i. e., now and especially at His Com- 
Toes ow ONY Felted £00) 


Ver. 10. “know him’’,—i. e., in the fullness of experimental knowl- 
edge. 


458 


PHILIPPIANS 


“power of his resurrection’’,—The reference here is not to the power 
by which He was raised (Gro.), but the power which His resurrection 
exercises on believers, in assuring them of their justification (Rom. 4.25), 


and of their being raised with Him (Rom. 6.4; Col. 2.12). 


Ver. 11. “if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from 
the dead’’ ,— 


The two particles translated “if by any means’ are used when an end 
is proposed but the possibility of failure to reach it is presumed. This at 
once shows that Paul had something else in his mind other than any general 
resurrection, because Paul knew quite well that he would be resurrected. 
It was the Christian’s resurrection to which Paul was of course referring. 
Now certainly there is a difference between a Christian’s resurrection and 
that of an unbeliever. There is this difference whenever the resurrection 
takes place, whether the dead are all raised at once or a thousand years apart. 


But does the time element enter into this verse? Does this verse give 
support to the distinction between a first and a second resurrection? ‘The 
literal for the word “‘resurrection’’ is ‘‘rise up’’, but here Paul has added 
another preposition, and the literal of the word “‘resurrection’’ as here used 
by Paul is “‘rise up out of’’, the verb thus having two prepositions con- 
nected with it, and it is the only instance where it is so used. 


Next we come to the words, “from the dead’, and here is the preposi- 
tion “‘from’’ used with “the dead’’ in addition to the two prepositions used 
in the word “resurrection”. “The whole expression is then literally “‘rise 
up out of from among the dead’, the two prepositions “out of’’ "and 
“from” being one and the same word, ‘“‘ek’’. 


It is this expression, as thus literally translated, that causes many 
here to find the reference to what is known as the first resurrection. Meyer 
has sought to eliminate this preposition ‘‘ek’’ (from among) standing 
before “‘the dead’’ from the text, but it is entrenched entirely too strongly 
by manuscript authority to be thus set aside. 


Meyer says the word “‘resurrection’’, as used here by Paul, is to be 
distinguished neither in substance nor style from the more simple word 
which Paul ordinarily uses, but is to be explained solely from the more 
vividly imaginative view which the Apostle has in mind. But a conten- 
tion of this sort seems rather groundless in face of the most unusual, and 
otherwise uncalled for, form which the Apostle has given to the expression. 


Meyer together with Alford, Ellicott, Braune and many other schol- 
arly commentators say the expression refers to “‘up out of’’ the earth. ‘This 
may be true, but we are still confronted with the other expression, “from 
among the dead’. ‘There are those expositors who claim that the word 
“resurrection’’ alone, in the form here used by Paul, means “‘up out of the 
dead’, but whether this be so or not, certainly taken with the rest of the 
expression, it must refer to some sort of an eclectic resurrection. 


Olshausen declares that “‘the phrase would be inexplicable if it were 
not derived from the idea that out of the mass of the dead some would rise 
first’. If this is not true we are simply at a loss to know why Paul piled 
up these expressive prepositions the way he did, and why he was not here 
content to use the simple word he used in other places, where he spoke 
of the resurrection of the dead, as for instance in Acts 24.15, where he was 


459 


PHILIPPIANS 


speaking to those who were utterly incapable of entering into the Chris- 
tian’s proper hope. 


Of course it is not out of the range of possibility that Paul was here 
speaking of his own hoped for Christian resurrection, which of course 
would be a resurrection out of the place where the dead are, a resurrection 
to such blessed glory as might well be the hope and inspiration of every 
child of God, and that the rest of the dead and their destiny did not neces- 
sarily enter into the Apostle’s concept. 


We cannot, however, force ourselves from the inclination toward the 
other explanation, and to this it must be added that if the teaching of a 
first and second resurrection is found in Scripture anywhere, and if such 
was accordingly the belief of the Apostle, it is only natural to think that 
he must have had this distinction in mind when he made use of the particu- 
lar prepositions in this passage. | 


However, altogether apart from the above discussion, the resurrection 
to which Paul made reference, is, as all admit, ‘“The blessed resurrection of 
the dead in Christ in which those who are Christ’s shall rise at' His 
Parousia’ (1 Cor. 15i23cand, liVhess,, 4516)" > CA Vie Bara 


It is, of course, the plain teaching of the Scriptures that the Christian 
shall rise first,—‘‘each in his own order; Christ, the firstfruits; then they 
that are Christ’s at His coming’’; then, of course, the wicked, but just 
how long after most certainly does not enter into the content of this verse 
in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. 


CHAPTER FOUR 


5 Let your ‘forbearance be known 
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 
10r, gentleness. Comp. 2 Cor. 10.1. 


Ver. 5. THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD NOT TO BE LONG 
DELAYED. 


“The Lord ts at hand’’,—The words may apply either to the fore- 
going or to the following, or better still be taken with reference to both. 
Of course the reference is to the Second Coming of Christ, concerning the 
immediateness of which, Riddle says, there was wide-spread expectation. 


Meyer says, ‘““IThe expression points to the nearness of Christ’s 
Parousia.”’ 


Ellicott says, ““The inspired Apostle regards the Second Corning of 
Christ as nigh, yet not necessarily as immediate, nor as necessarily happen- 
ing in his own life-time.”’ 


Hackett, while admitting that the reference is more probably to 
Christ’s nearness in point of time, says, ““There is no necessary, certainly 
no exclusive reference here to a definite expectation of the near advent of 
Christ.’ Some simply will not have it so. 


460 


_ 


COLOSSIANS 


sett ror een PA I Oar Ete 


COLOSSIANS 


(A. D. 64) 


CHAPTER ONE 


13 who delivered us out of the power 
of darkness, and translated us into the 
kingdom of the Son of His love. 


Ver. 13. “THE KINGDOM HERE AND Now. 


“translated us into the kingdom of the Son of Hts love’’,—This is a 
historical fact realized at our conversion, and the kingdom is that which is 
now present. With this agrees almost everyone but Meyer, who perti- 
naciously maintains all such references exclusively refer to the future king- 
dom which is to set in at the Parousia. He, of course, must here take 
“translated” proleptically, as something already consummated. 


SHAP TER THREE 


4 When Christ, who is ’our life, shall 
be manifested, then shall ye also with 
him be manifested in glory. 

1Many authorities read your 


Ver. 4. CHRIST’S MANIFESTATION THE TIME OR HOLY PERFECTION. 


“out life’’,—Alford has well remarked that Christ is personally Him- 
self that life, and that we possess it only by union with Him and His 
resurrection. 


“shall be mantfested’’,—i. e., shall come forth from His present con- 
cealment at the Parousia, be personally revealed. “This word is never 
used of the coming of Christ to judge the wicked or to punish them. All 
of its transactions pertain only to the blessed phase of the Advent. 


“with him be manifested in glory’’,—This manifestation in glory 
of believers who are still living takes place through their being changed in 
the moment of rapture, as the readers were aware, and, of course, of the 
departed through their resurrection. 


Braune and Meyer and many other splendid authorities say that the 
believers too shall be manifested visibly, their bodies having been glorified. 

Alford has said, ‘It includes in itself both spiritual, ethical and cor- 
poreal; and the realization so far as possible here is the sum of the Chris- 
tian’s most earnest endeavors; but the life itself in its full manifestation 
is that perfection of body, soul and spirit, in which we shall be manifested 
with Him at His appearing.” 


CHAPTER FOUR 


5 Walk in wisdom toward them ‘that 
are without, ‘redeeming the time. 
1Gr. buying up the opportunity 


461 


I THESSALONIANS 


Ver. 5. “redeeming the time’’,—Many see in this expression a refer- 
ence to the shortness of the time before the coming again of the Lord. (Ca. 
Bah. Oec. Chr.) But even Meyer says this is gratuitously imported, and 
surely when Meyer doesn’t catch this idea in a passage, it is not to be found. 


THAPIRO eee IS CB ORS A) Om rae 


THESSALONIANS 


CA SD SDA) 


CHAPTER ONE 


10 and to wait for his Son from 
heaven, whom he raised from the dead, 
even Jesus, who delivereth us from the 
wrath to come. 


Ver. 10. WAITING FOR THE SECOND COMIN A COMMENDABLE CHAR- 
ACTERISTIC OF THE CHRISTIAN’S LIFE. 


To wait for Christ’s return (this verse) and to serve the living and 
true God (verse 9) are here set forth as-the aim of conversion and the 
characteristic of the Christian life. It comes like a surprise that hope of 
the Second Coming is raised here to such explicit and emphatic emphasis. 
We would rather have expected faith in Christ to have been set forth as 
the other characteristic mark of the Christian life alongside of the service 
of God. But this hope presupposes faith, while Christ’s deliverance of us 
from the wrath to come points to faith as its necessary condition. 


“to wait’’,—So far as the word itself is concerned we are warranted to 
assign to it nothing more than the notion of patience and confidence. 
But in view of what seems to have been their understanding concerning 
the matter, it is quite conceivable that they would read into the word the 
idea of nearness, i. e., nearness of the Second Coming. (A. Dw. Lu.) 
This verse cannot, however, be taken as a proof text for this opinion on 
the part of the Apostles and early Christians. 


“whom he raised from the dead’’,—The resurrection of Jesus from the 
dead is the great fact by which He is shown to be the Son of God (Rom. 
1.4), and by which at the same time His return is rendered possible and 
Céttaltiwn (Ll betel. 3-9.) 

“wrath to come’’,—1i. e., at the judgment which Christ will hold at 
His advent. 


CHAPTER TWO 


12 to the end that ye should walk crown of glorying? Are not even ye 
-worthily of God, who ‘calleth you into before our Lord Jesus at His *coming? 
His own kingdom and glory. 20 For ye are our glory and our joy. 

19 For what is our hope, or joy, or 

1Some ancient authorities read called 2Gr. presence. Comp. 2 Cor. 10.10. 


Vers. 12,19,20. “THE LORD’S COMING THE TIME OF REWARD FOR THE 
FAITHFUL SERVANT. 


Ver. 12: “to the end’’,—This belongs to all three of the preceding 
462 


I THESSALONIANS 


particles as expressing their purpose (A. D. Rig. Coc.) rather than their 
- object, as introducing the thing they were exhorted and encouraged and 
testified unto to do, as Lunneman says. 


“who calleth’’,-We have here the present because the action is ex- 
tended on into the future. 


“Ais own kingdom and glory’’,—Both words have the same rank 
and the same emphasis. It is not therefore the “kingdom of His glory” 
nor the “‘glory of his kingdom’ (O. Ben. Kop. Bol. Tur.). The glory 
is not the glory of the kingdom, but the glory of God. 


It is not implied that the Thessalonians are already in that kingdom, 
but that they are only called to be citizens of it at some future time. The 
kingdom is that which is to be established at His coming. Lillie has put 
it well, ‘‘God calls you to a participation in His own kingdom which will 
appear at Christ’s second advent, and to a participation in His own divine 
glory, into which believers then enter through the change of the living 
(I Cor. 15.21) and the resurrection of the dead (I Thess. 4.17).’’ The 
glory is that which God Himself has and which our Lord Jesus had with 
Him before the world began. 


Ver. 19. A reason for the twice formed resolution (verse 18) of the 
Apostle to return to the Thessalonians. 


The second clause of the verse is a confirmatory and explanatory 
question set forth as an answer to the one just propounded in the first 
clause. ‘The rendering of the Authorized Version forms a very acceptable 
translation. The Revised Version differs only in punctuation, placing a 
comma after “ye’’. 


The punctuation of the Revised Version makes “before our Lord 
Jesus at His coming’ modify all three of the preceding predicates. It 
seems as though Paul had written, “‘For what ts our hope or joy or crown 
of glorying? Are not even ye?’’, and then as a closer definition of what 
he meant he added, “‘before our Lord Jesus at His coming’. 


With this view we feel that a dash after “ye’’ instead of a comma 
would be preferable. Westcott and Hort put a dash there and also one 
after “‘glorying’’ instead of the question mark there, and satisfy the passage 
_with a question mark at the close after “‘coming’’. 


This rendering of the Revised Version, which is perhaps preferable, 
designates the presence of the Lord at His coming as the place of the hope 
and joy and glorying, and at the same time states or emphatically implies 
that the Thessalonians are to be present and accepted of the Lord at the 
time of His coming. The Authorized Version emphasizes this last point 
and implies the former. 


Some critics seem by their exposition to refer the hope and the joy to 
the then present life of Paul and the glorying to the time of the presence 
of the Lord at His coming. 

Lunneman, for instance, says that the hope consists in this, that Paul 
is confident that the Thessalonians will not be put to shame but will be 
found blameless in that day, and the joy consists in the fact that by the 
conversion of the Thessalonians and their Christian conduct the kingdom 
of God has been promoted. But even though Lunneman’s idea of the 


463 


I THESSALONIANS 


hope and the joy be accepted, there is no reason.why it should not be 
thought of as operating at the same time and place with the glorying. 
However, most expositors take “‘hope’’ as the anticipation of reward 
on account of the conversion of the Thessalonians as effected by Paul. 
(L. Au. Es. Hof. From. Roos.) This is perhaps the most natural explan- 
ation, and the thought of the whole passage has been aptly expressed, and 
no doubt correctly, by Roos, ““We hope on your account to have rich 
experience at the Coming of Christ, when we shall be able to joy over you, 
and to parade with you as one parades with a crown won in a contest of 
games.” This reference to the crown as won in the game is the ground 
thought in the expression, “crown of glorying’’, as admitted by all. 


Ver. 20. An impassioned answer to the question in verse 19. 


Some refer verse 19 to the Parousia and verse 20 to the then present. 
(A. Fl. Hof.) But had Paul intended this distinction of time he would 
have marked it, and the change is vigorously opposed by Ellicott, Lunne- 
man and most other scholars of note. 


CHAPTER (THREE 


12 and the Lord make you to in- he may establish your hearts unblamable 
crease and abound in love one toward in holiness before ‘our God and Father, 
another, and toward all men, even as at the “coming of our Lord Jesus with 
we also do toward you; 13 to the end all his saints. 


10Or, God and our Father 
*Gr. presence 
Vers. 12,13. “THE BELIEVER UNREPROACHABLE AT THE COMING OF 
THE LORD. 


Ver. 12. “the Lord’’,—The reference is here preferably to Christ 
(EB, O. iu; Rig. ), although it may with propriety be referred to God (A.). 
“tncrease’,—Not in numbers (The.), but in grace, in faith and 
knowledge and richness of gifts, etc, 
“even as we do’’,—It is possible to connect this phrase with both 
“tncrease’ and “‘abound’’, although by most it is connected only with the 
latter. 


Ver. 13. “‘to the end’’,—Expressing the aim of the contents of 
verse 12. 

“in holiness’’,—This belongs to “‘unblamable’’ and not to “‘estab- 
lish’’. It specifies the sphere in which the blessedness is to be known. 

“before our God and Father’’,—This belongs grammatically to the 
whole “unblamable tn holiness’, the genuineness of which is assured by its 
being not before the eyes of men but before the eyes of God. 

“at the coming’’,—Parousia; presence. 

“with all His saints’’,—This means either angels (D. Lu.), glorified 
believers (FI. Hus. Hof. Ger.), or both (A. E. PI. Ba. Rig.) 

Some of these writers, thinking that the word must refer to glorified 
believers because the word is never used in the New Testament of angels, 
throw the expression back and join it to “unblamable in holiness’. But 
this is awkward and it is not necessary even from the standpoint of these 
writers, because it is a fact that angels do come with Christ. at His advent 


464 


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I THESSALONIANS 


_ (Matt. 16.27), and the word is used in the Hebrew of the Old Testament 
and in the Septuagint exclusively of angels, unless Zech. 15.5 be excepted. 
The word is “‘agioi’’. It is used, as we have said, in the Old Testament of 
angels, but in the New Testament it is never used of angels, but always of 
believers—and how often! 


But do holy men, glorified believers, come with the Lord at His 
advent? ‘The added “‘his’’ makes one think of believers because angels 
are never elsewhere called His. 


The collective mass, “‘with all’, makes one think of believers because 
it is hardly conceivable that all the heavenly hosts should accompany 
Christ when He comes, but it might be that all believers should. 


Now if it can be shown from any other passages of Scripture that 
glorified believers do accompany Christ when He comes, then it would 
seem preferable to take the expression here as referring to both angels and 
glorified saints, if not to the latter alone, in keeping with New Testament 
usage. [hat this can be shown there is no doubt and is quite generally 
acknowledged. 


Alford says, ‘““‘We need not enter into any discussion whether these are 
angels or saints properly so-called. ‘The expression is an Old Testament 
one and was probably meant by Paul to include both. Certainly He will 
be accompanied by the angels, but also with the spirits of the just. (Matt. 
Po iieed el hess) bf) Lhess, 414.) 0 


Riggenbach says, ‘‘Saints are with Christ immediately after death, 
and He will bring them with Himself, raising them before the rapture of 
the living, and thus they may be described as coming with Him.”’ 


CHAPTER FOUR 


13 But we would not have you 
ignorant, brethren, concerning them that 
fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as 
the rest, who have no hope. 14 For 
if we believe that Jesus died and rose 
again, even so them also that are fallen 
asleep ‘in Jesus will God bring with 
him. 15 For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord,,that we that are 
alive, that are left unto the “coming of 


that are fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord 
himself shall descend from heaven, with 
a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and 
the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17 
then we that are alive. that are left, shall 
together with them be caught up in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 
Wherefore *comfort one another with 


these words. 
8Or, exhort. Chap. 5.11. 


the Lord, shall in no wise precede them 
1Gr. through. Or, will God. through Jesus 


°Gr. presence 
Vers. 13-18. THE RAPTURE AT HIS COMING, THE BELIEVER’S BLESSED 
HOPE. 


Ver. 13. “But.... brethren’’,—A common formula of transition 
to the imparting of weighty information by the Apostle. 


“fall asleep’’,—i. e., from time to time among you. It was, as 
Alford says, ‘‘an expression conveying definite meaning to the Thessa- 
lonians as importing the dead in Christ.’’ 


It seems as though Paul had gotten notice in some way of a misunder- 
standing on the part of the Thessalonians, and he in this verse rectifies it. 
What were these Thessalonian Christians worrying about? 


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I THESSALONIANS 


We quote for what they are worth in the estimation of the reader 
the following words from Olshausen. He says, ‘““They seem not to have 
been duly informed as to the first resurrection and its relation to the uni- 
versal one. The dead they thought would not return to life till at the 
general resurrection of the dead after the coming kingdom of Christ on 
earth, and would therefore be debarred from the bliss of this kingdom.” 


We have thought much over this passage and if Olshausen is not right 
as to the reason for their sorrow it is a seriously difficult matter to under- 
stand just why they seem to have been so troubled. Olshausen goes on to 
say, ‘“To their misunderstanding Paul now opposes the information that 
those dead in the faith would rise before the general resurrection and accord- 
ingly those living at Christ’s coming could not possibly anticipate the 
former.’ Let us bring the matter home to ourselves. It is exceedingly 
hard to get away from this explanation. They were disturbed about 
their departed loved ones. If there is to be but one general resurrection, 
as many believe, and this resurrection is to be at some future time when 
the Christian people now living, and who have departed loved ones, are 
likewise to be in the grave awaiting that resurrection, what advantage shall 
we who are now living have at that time over those who are now dead, 
if they died in the faith? Now this same thing would have applied to the 
Thessalonian Christians had they had this same belief about the resur- 
rection. 


They must have felt therefore that they who were living were in 
some way advantaged as to their own believing dead, and in what way 
this could have been, other than that mentioned above, it is not easy to see. 
It would seem therefore from this passage, as thus explained, that these 
Thessalonian believers were rather expecting to be living at the time of 
the return of the Lord. 


“that ye sorrow not’’,—Many find in this the thought that the Thes- 
salonians should not mourn in the same degree, not so excessively, because 
the Apostle could not possibly forbid every mourning for the dead. (C. 
Ca. Fl. Hem. Pis. Lap. Ben. Pel. Bis. Coc. Hof. Rig. Blo.) But if Paul 
had meant this he would have stated it differently; and besides the particle 
“even as’’ is only a particle of comparison and not of degree. It is abso- 
lute. The Apostle forbids sorrowing altogether. (A. Lu. Pl.) 


But we must remember what sort of sorrow it was—not that we are 
forbidden to mourn our loss, but that we must not be sorrowful for theirs. 
That is, we are not to sorrow at all as those who look upon death as anni- 
hilation and have no hope of the resurrection. Death has no sting for 
the Christian. 


“the rest’’,—The heathen and unbelievers in general, including 


especially such Jews as did not believe in the resurrection at all. 


Ver. 14. Now comes the reason why they were not to sorrow. 

“tf we believe’’,—Lunneman says, and rightly, “It is clear that he 
supposes the fact of the death and resurrection of Christ as an absolute 
recognized truth, as indeed, among the early Christians generally no doubt 
was raised concerning the reality of this fact.” 

“even so’’,—This expression is designed to bring forth the agreement 
of the fate of Christians with that of Christ, i. e., even so, as Christ died 
and rose again, them also, etc. 


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I THESSALONIANS 


The expression has been taken, but hardly with sufficient ground, in 
“two other ways: (1) “‘even so, if they are asleep with this belief, them 
tBGe’) (Hof. Coc.); (2) “‘even so, if this our belief is true, them also’ 
igvye 
“asleep in Jesus’’,—The literal is ‘‘asleep through Jesus’. The prep- 
osition is dia, through. 
This has caused some to say that it refers to those who were brought 


to death through Jesus, i. e., on account of Him., i. e., the Christian 
martyrs. (Me. Ar. Ham) Thi. Mus: Til. Salm.) But— 


1. This is entirely foreign to the Apostle’s design, to limit this partici- 
pation in the glory of the returning Christ to so small a portion 
of Christians. 


2. The indications in both Epistles have nothing to do with perse- 

cutions that ended in bloody death. 

3. The expression is entirely too weak to express death through 

martyrdom. : 

4. What, in any case, would this have to do with the question in 

hand? 

Many others follow the rendering of our Version and connect the 
preposition with “fallen asleep’, and translate, ‘‘fallen asleep in Jesus’. 
UGeissso. Wb... Rigs Vore Hem, Zan:.Chr, Lap, Bez. Gro. Wol. 
Ben. Mac. Kop. Cali.) This is all right so far as the general trend of the 
Apostle’s thought goes, for he is manifestly throughout this section speak- 
ing of the Christian dead. This is confirmed especially in verse 16. 


But this rendering hardly gives the proper sense to the preposition 
(dia), “through’’. ‘Then again, the very fact that in verse 16 Paul uses 
the preposition (€u) “‘tn’’ leads one to believe that if he had meant “‘in’”’ 
here, he would have used that preposition, namely (€v) “‘in’’, and not 
(Cia) “through’’. If the Apostle meant the same thing in each place why 


did he so quickly bring into use a different preposition? 


This has caused some to join (dia) “through’’ to the word “‘bring’’, 
as in the margin of the Revised Version. (O. D. Lu. Hof.; and Riggenbach 
says “‘almost all moderns’’.) This gives to dia its exact sense and 
harmonizes with the fact that elsewhere Christ is the instrument through 

which God brings to pass the resurrection. (I Cor. 15.21 and John 5.28.) 


The meaning by this interpretation would then be that these sleeping 
ones God through Jesus would bring with Jesus. 


The objection that “bring’’ already has a modifying clause in “with 
him’ is no valid objection to this rendering, but Alford’s objection that it 
gives us a ‘‘flat and dragging expression which I am persuaded the Apostle 
could never have written’, is not without some weight. 


Since, however, either of the two views above mentioned are con- 
sistent with the general thought, it matters little how we choose between 
them. The rendering of the Revised Version runs a bit more smoothly, 
but since it lays the Apostle open to the charge of a loose use of the prepo- 
sitions, we are inclined to decide for the last view mentioned and accord- 
ingly read with the margin, which connects “through Jesus’ with the 
verb “‘bring’’. 

Alford indeed has another view but it is arbitrary and insufficient. 
He retains the sense of “‘through’”’ and still connects the words with “‘fallen 


467 


I THESSALONIANS 


asleep’. He unduly presses the distinction between being asleep and being 
dead. ‘‘Why’”’, he asks, ‘‘are the departed Christians asleep, and not dead?”’ 
“By whom’’, he asks, “‘have they been thus privileged? Certainly through 
Jesus.’’ He inappropriately regards such constructions as Rom. 1.8; 5.1; 
II Cor. 1.5, etc., as analogous expressions. His interpretation, with which 
certain other writers agree (E. Mi. Bar. Wor. Vau.), is entirely too strained. 


“bring with him’’,—This is a pregnant expression which gives, 
instead of the act of resurrection, that which follows the act in time. Their 
resurrection is implied in their being brought. 

“with him’’,—i. e., with Jesus. 


Vet? 150)’ this: 1, © aWOAtelLolows, 


“by the word of the Lord” ,—It was not by Paul’s subjective opinion, 
but by the very word of the Lord, 1. e., there can be no mistake 1 in what 
is about to follow. 


Where did the Lord say this? 


The expression no doubt refers to a direct revelation by the Lord 
to Paul. “That Paul had many such revelations we know from various 
other passages. (O. E. A. D. Ar. Tur. Ben. Kop. Rig. Mold. Ges.) 


Some (Bol. Pel. Mus.) suppose him to refer to the words of Jesus 
in Matt. 24.31, to which Ewald adds Lu. 14.14 and Hofmann adds Matt. 
26.27 and Zwingli adds Matt. 25.1, but all these expressions, as Lunne- 
man says, “‘are too general to be identified with the special thought of our 
passage’, nor do they correspond to the expression, “‘by the word of the 
Lord’, which points to positive information on the definite subject in 
question. 


Calvin appeals to a lost expression of Christ’s, but hiae is quite arbi- 
trary, and furthermore we have no evidence of, nor can we think of any in- 
ducement to Christ to set forth such special instruction in His day. 


“we that are alive’’,—Paul does not say, “‘they that are alive’; he 
says “‘we’’, thus presumably including himself. 


It will not do with Calvin, much to our surprise, to charge the Apos- 
tle with little pious fraud; supposing that he, although he was convinced 
of the distance of the event, nevertheless represented himself as surviving in 
order in this way to stimulate believers to be in a state of spiritual readi- 
ness at every instant. 


It will be well to note first that the revelation of the Lord refers only 
to the chief idea of the relation of the living to the dead at the Lord’s 
coming—that those who are alive will not go before those who are dead; 
but that it does not refer to the question of who shall or who shall not 
be among the different classes in that day. If Paul had said, “I know by, a 
revelation from the Lord that we shall witness the advent of Christ”, 
the case would be different. 

It is, however, unreasonable to contend that the possibility of their 
being alive at the Parousia cannot attach itself to the Apostle’s thought. 
It does look as if Paul should have said, had he thought that the coming 
was to be long delayed, “‘Don’t worry about your dead, for long before 


the Lord comes you will be in the same condition as they are now.”’ In | 


fact it would seem that the whole doctrine could not have the slightest 
468 


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I THESSALONIANS 


practical significance for them unless the coming of the Lord was deemed 
' possible before their death. 


1, That Paul did mean for them to infer the possibility of his own 
and their being alive at that time is accordingly the view of many. 


Lunneman says, ‘‘Every unprejudiced person must, even from these 
dogmatic suppositions, recognize that Paul here includes himself along 
with the Thessalonians, among those who will be alive at the second 
advent of Christ.”’ 


Alford says, “‘Beyond doubt he himself expected to be alive, together 
with a majority of those to whom he was writing, at the Lord’s coming. 
That this was Paul's expectation we know from other passages, especially 
from II Cor. 5.1-10. It does not seem to be so strong toward the end 
of his course. (Phil. 1.20-26.)”’ 


Olshausen says, ‘‘It is unmistakably clear from this that Paul deemed 
it possible that he and his contemporaries might live to see the coming 
again of Christ.” 


Dods says, ‘“TUhat the words of Paul are susceptible of a meaning 
which would imply that he expected to live until the Lord came again is 
evident from the circumstances that some of the Thessalonians, with whom 
the Greek was the mother tongue, did so understand the words.”’ 


On the supposition that this view is correct, Alford, who strongly 
espouses it, says, “It need not surprise any Christian that the Apostles 
should in this matter of detail have found their personal expectations liable 
to disappointment, respecting a day of which it is so solemnly said that 
no man knoweth its appointed time, not the angels in heaven, nor the 
Son, but the Father only.”’ 


What the above quoted authorities have to say about Paul’s convic- 
tion in regard to this matter may be looked upon with favor, but the 
conclusion must not be made to rest too largely upon the inference that 
may legitimately be drawn from this verse. The fact is that the word 
“we” has little if anything to do with the question at issue. Paul doubt- 
less hoped that he might be alive when Christ returned, but he has nowhere 
told us that he believed that he would be of the number living at that time; 
for how, then, could he have spoken so doubtfully about it in Phil. 1.21; 
‘2.17; Il Cor. 5.9, and in a still different tone in II Tim. 4.6? 


Again, in I Thess. 5.1 he says that we do not know the time; conse- 
quently he could not have had any fixed belief about the matter one way 
or the other. 


Again, if by “we” Ree meant to say that he would be alive at the 
Parousia, then the same thing would have to be true of every one of the 
Thessalonians, which thing is manifestly absurd. 

But still again, and this is rather conclusive, if Paul had believed 
that he would be of the number living at the Parousia, and manifested the 
same by the use of the word “we’’, then by the very same argument it is 
conclusive that he believed that he would be dead and in his grave at that 
time, because he said in I Cor. 6.14, “God will raise us up’’. Note also 
that this last is used in the same Epistle in which he said, ““We shall all be 
changed’. (See also II Cor. 4.14 and compare I Thess. 5.10 and Acts 
20,29.) 


469 


I THESSALONIANS 


2. Consequently, there have been those who have maintained that 
Paul here speaks neither of himself nor yet of his contemporaries, 
but of a later period of Christianity. Lunneman says this view 
has been almost universally maintained, and it is indeed the view 
of a very great number of interpreters. (C. B. Fl. Wh. Ca. Era. 
Chr. The. Oec. Mus. Bul. Zan. Hun. Vor. Bal. Lap. Lau. Ben. 
Cali. Theo.) 


‘These expositors take the plural only conversationally as not intend- 
ing the idea that Paul and his readers might be alive at the second coming 
of Christ. . 


We are inclined to believe that Paul did use the plural “‘only conver- 
sationally’’, but this by no means excludes the possibility of the proba- 
bility that Paul did have in mind the thought that he as well as the Thessa- 
lonians might be alive when his Lord returned, although it would hardly 
be legitimate to draw this conclusion, either from the use of the word “‘we’’ 
or from this one verse as.a whole. 


Paul seems simply to have opposed the two classes one to another— 
those who were dead with those who were living—-and of course classed 
himself with the latter and spoke in a representative way, in the sense that 
one could just as appropriately say the same thing today, without believing 
in anything more than the possibility or perhaps the probability of the 
Parousia occurring in our day. Paul certainly had just as much reason 
for believing in the imminency of the Parousia as has anyone today. 


There are other renderings, some of which express possible explan- 
ations of the matter in hand, but which cannot be substituted for the ren- 
dering of the text for grammatical reasons: 


(a) “‘We, provided we are then alive, etc.’ (Tur. Pel. Hof.) 


(b) ‘“‘We, so many of us as are alive, etc.’’ (L.) 


It is certain that it was concerning them that had fallen asleep (verse 
13) the Thessalonians were worried and anxious. It is also evident that 
they expected the Lord to come before they themselves died (wherever they 
got their information), else their worry would have been about their own 
selves after they had died, and their question would have been, “‘What 
about us?’’ Lunneman strangely thinks that the Thessalonians did not 
believe in a resurrection at all. But there is nothing in the passage before 
us to indicate this. Again, Paul did not reprove them for any such belief, 
or unbelief rather, as he did in the case of the Corinthians. Nor do the 
words of verse 13 prove in any sense that they did not believe in the resur- 
rection at all. Olshausen rightly says, “‘Had the Thessalonians believed 
in no resurrection at all, then there could have been no talk of the living 
preceding the dead.”’ 


Lunneman draws his inference from the last clause of the verse, 
“sorrow not even as the others who have no hope’. But this does not say 
that the Thessalonians had no hope, any more than when in Chap. 5.5 he 
says, “Indulge not tn lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God”, it 
proves that the Thessalonians know not God. It is the rather, Because 
you do know Him, be not like those who know Him not. And so in 
verse 13 it is, “Sorrow not as those who have no hope, because you do 
have hope’, that Paul says. 


470 


I THESSALONIANS 


But what kind of a hope did they have? It was the hope of the last 
resurrection, what is known as the general resurrection, which hope of 
course the unbeliever did not have. 


It is supposed by some (O. D. Hof.) that they had no doubt about 
the resurrection at the final consummation, but that they knew nothing 
about a first resurrection prior to that time. If there is a resurrection of 
this kind, then this solution is doubtless the correct one, and the idea would 
be that in the kingdom just at hand, as they supposed, their beloved dead 
have no part. 


It would seem that if the Thessalonians had believed that all the dead 
would rise at the coming of the Lord they would have had none of the 
anxiety that led Paul to say what he did to them, for if all the dead were 
then to arise, most assuredly their own dead would be among the number. 


Olshausen contends that it is only on the ground that they believed 
in the general resurrection at the end of the kingdom, and that Christ was 
soon to come and establish that kingdom in which they, being alive when 
He came, hoped to have a part, that the anxiety could have arisen, because 
in this case their dead would have no part in the kingdom reign and glory. 

“shall in no wise precede’ ,—1. e., get before, so that the dead be left 
behind and fail of the prize. 


Ver. 16. “the Lord Himself’’,—In contrast to any other kind of a 
revelation of Himself through angels or other operations. (O. Es. Ham. 
Bis. ) . 

It seems to be as Alford says, that this is “‘said for solemnity’s sake 
and too that it will not be a mere gathering to Him, but He Himself will 
descend and we shall all be called to meet Him.” 


“with a shout’’,—This refers to a signal shout of any kind given 
by the voice and is usually used as a word of command, 


To whom is the shout to be referred? It seems as though Paul set 
_ forth first and primarily the shout, and then defines it by the two follow- 
ing expressions, “‘the voice of the archangel’ and “‘the trump of God’. If 
this is so, then it would seem best to refer the shout to the archangel, who 
for the publication of it uses partly his voice and partly a trumpet. The 
content of the shout is the imperative call or command which reaches the 
sleeping Christians to summon them from their graves, consequently the 
‘ resurrection-call. (A. E. Jo. Lu. The. Hof. Dod. Cali. Stea.) 


Others have referred the shout to God—to His imperative call to 
bring about the advent. (Hun. Bis.) But this would make it refer to an 
act preceding the descending, and would call for another preposition than 
the one used. 


Still others have referred the shout to Christ. (O. Gro. Oec. Rig.) 
But this comes into collision with the expression, “‘the voice of the arch- 
angel’. Riggenbach says it is the shout of Christ, as that of a victorious 
Captain, whose order summons to battle, for the destruction of His enemies 
and the extermination of the anti-Christian powers. He says, ‘‘We have 
three particulars following each other in rapid succession: the Commander's 
call of the King Himself; the voice of the archangel summoning the other 
angels; and the trumpet of God which awakes the dead and summons 
believers. The sounds will be heard and the signs will be seen.”’ ‘To 
inquire which archangel is futile. 


‘471 


I THESSALONIANS 


‘The trumpet, as used by the archangel, is called the trumpet of God, 
either because it excels all earthly trumpets in the power of its sound (B. 
Ba. Ca. Lap. Wol. Ben. Bol.), or because it will be blown at the command 
of God (O. Bal. Lau. Pelt. Schot.), or because it belongs to God and. will 
be blown in His service (D. A. E. Koc. Stae.). 


“The dead in Christ shall rise first’’,—-Schott arbitrarily attaches 
“in Christ’’ to “‘shall rise’, on the ground that if we conceive of Paul as 
here speaking of the dead in Christ being raised that the doctrine of two 
resurrections is thereby taught. ‘This is a bold but unwarranted exegetical 
stroke to avoid a disagreeable conclusion. 


‘The expression does not denote, as some maintain (Oec. Theo.), the 
first resurrection in contrast to the resurrection of all men at a later period, 
which distinction is left entirely unnoticed in this passage, the contrast 
being only between what will take place in case of the righteous dead and 
the righteous living. (O. A. Lu. Jo. Rig.) , 


Ver. 17. ‘‘then’’,—1i. e., immediately after the dead in Christ have 
arisen. 
“with them’’,—1i. e., with the resurrected dead in Christ. 


“caught up”’,—This is after the change indicated in I Cor. 15.51,52 
and II Cor. 5.2-4. [he word means “‘snatched away”’, and is an expres- 
sion depicting swiftness and irresistible force. 


“in the clouds’’,—1. e., enveloped in the clouds, or perhaps on the 
clouds. The same idea is to be found in Psa. 104.3; Dan. 7.13; Acts 
1.9,11; Matt. 24.30. Alford and Lunneman connect these words with 
“caught up’’, but the meaning is the same whether thus connected or con- 
nected with ‘“‘meet’’. ‘The latter connection appeals to us the better, how- 
ever, from the fact that the words are nearer each other, and “‘caught up” 
already has one modifying clause. 


“and so shall we ever be with the Lord’’,—Some have taken this to 
mean that we are to have our permanent abode with Him in the air. (We. 
Us. Pelt. Stae.) But Il Cor. 5.1 says our permanent abode is in heaven. 


Paul goes no further here because his purpose was accomplished, it 
being wholly and entirely to satisfy the doubt raised by the Thessalonians 
concerning the advent of Christ. It was for this same reason doubtless 
that he remained quiet about the change of believers who may be alive at 
the time of the advent. 


Some have taken the words to indicate that we shall remain with 
Him in the air and in the heavens and that He does not therefore come 
down to earth for the establishment of an earthly kingdom. ‘The fact is 
Paul says nothing about this here one way or the other. However, from 
the fact that the narrative stops with the meeting of the saints in the air 
with the Lord, lends strength to the intimation that what is here said is 
more favorable to an abiding of His people with the Lord elsewhere than 
on the earth in a personal reign. And yet from the words alone one is 
not warranted in drawing any positive conclusion one way or the other. 

Lillie calls attention to the fact that the word used for “‘meet’’ is used 
in only three other places in the New Testament, and in all of them (Matt. 
25.1,6; Acts 28.15) the party met continues after the meeting to advance 


472 





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I THESSALONIANS 


still in the direction in which he was moving previously. This in interest- 
ing, but of course it proves nothing with any degree of certainty in this 
case, 


Olshausen says that after Christ meets the saints He returns with 
them to heaven, into His heavenly abode at the right hand of God, and 
that we nowhere read that Christ and the glorified believers will reign on 
the earth during the Millennium, and that to “‘retgn upon the earth’ in 
Rev. 5.10 is really to “‘reign over the earth’, and that this they can do 
from heaven and that both Christ and the saints may perhaps even now 
and then appear to individuals as Christ did during the forty days after 
the resurrection. 


Ver. 18. “with these words’’,—1. e., the words Paul had just spoken 
to them, and not the doctrines of the faith in general. (O. Ar. FI. Pelt.) 


SHAPTERSFIVE 


1 But concerning the times and the 
seasons, brethren, ye have no need that 
aught be written unto you. 2 For your- 
selves know perfectly that the day of 
the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. 
3 When they are saying, Peace and 
safety, then sudden destruction cometh 
upon them, as travail upon a woman 


with child; and they shall in no wise 
escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in 
darkness, that that day should overtake 
you ‘as a thief: 5 for ye are all sons 
of light, and sons of the day: we are 
not of the night, nor of darkness; 6 so 
then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but 
let us watch and be sober. 


1Or, as thieves 


Vers. 1-6: THE SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED COMING OF THE DAY OF 
THE LORD. 


Ver. 1. ‘“‘times and seasons’,—TVhe same expression is used by 


Chrstinshcts. 1 


Times denotes times in general, while seasons denotes the definite 
points or periods of time in the former. 


It is probable the expression had become a common one for giving a 
greater completeness than either word alone would give and that the dis- 
tinctive meaning of each word, had been somewhat lost sight of. There 
can be, of course, no way to be certain of this, but if the two terms are 
to be distinguished, the above distinction is the correct one. The expres- 
sion, as Campbell Morgan says, is no haphazard one, but refers to the 
‘whole providential arrangement marked out by God, and is here used 
with special bearing upon the time of the end when the Lord was to come 
again. 

Riggenbach thinks that the idea of longer duration lurks in the use 
of the plural of these words as here used by Paul. 


“have no need’’,—It was not because such instruction would not be 
useful to them (Oec. Theo.), nor because no instruction could be given 
unto them (Zw. Es. Fl. Ba. Hun. Koc. From. Pelt.), but because Paul 
had already by word of mouth taught them as much as could be known, 
which was that the time was unknown and could not be known, (A. Lu. 
Rig. Dod.) 


This had doubtless formed the topic of frequent discussions among 
the Thessalonians and perhaps they had sent the question te Paul through 
Timothy. 


473 


I THESSALONIANS 


Ver. 2. “‘the day of the Lord’’,—This is not a day of twenty-four 
hours. It refers to a period of time commencing at His coming but stretch- 
ing out beyond that through the time of the judgment. It is the day 
mentioned by Joel and other prophets as the day of judgment, and must 
not be thought of in any sense as the day of the destruction of Jerusalem 
(Ham. Har. Scho.), nor the day of each man’s death (Chr. Blo.). It 
relates itself perhaps more nearly than any other time-end expression to 


what is in reality the Parousia, which last word literally means “‘presence’’. 
CAs ©; LinkgRigs 


._ Riggenbach says, ‘The reference is, indeed, partly to particular, pre- 
liminary judgments, but more and more to the conclusive, final judgment.” 


“The day of the Lord’ in the Old Testament denotes a time when 
God will manifest His punitive justice and also His goodness and power. 
It is the day. of His wrath on His enemies and of the deliverance of His 


people.) (Joel 1cl5; 211s Bezels 1325. Isa a Zor) 


“thief in the night’’,—The idea of suddenness and unexpectedness 
is the prominent one in this expression. (O. E. A. Lu.) 


The image is conceived from a secure state of worldly complacency 
on which the advent of Christ comes like the unexpected thief into the 
well-guarded house, plundering the members of the house of their pos- 
sessions and of that to which their hearts cling. 


“cometh’’,—This is not used instead of a future (Fl. Vor. Kop. 
Pelt.) , but it is the present expressing, as is so often the case, the absolute 
certainty and truth of that which is predicated. 


Ver. 3. “‘they’’,—1. e., men in general,—the people of the world as 
eA to the people of God. 


“peace and safety’’,—The one word refers to inward repose and the 
other to a secureness not interfered with by outward opposition. 


“as travail upon a woman” ,—The point of comparison is a sudden 
and inevitable occurrence of the rending pain. 


Alford is right when he says that De Wette, followed by Lunneman, 
presses the comparison too closely when he says that it “‘assumes the day 
to be near—for that such a woman, though she does not know the day or 
the hour, yet has a definite knowledge of the period.’’ It is not the woman 
nor her condition that is the subject of comparison, but the suddenness 
and unexpectedness of the pang that comes upon her. 


Ver. 4. “not in darkness’’,—This expression refers to the ruined 
condition of the unbelieving world that knows not God and is expressive — 
of its ignorance and moral slumber. 

“that’’,—It seems as though this must be taken in the sense of “in 
order that’’ as referring to the purpose or design of God. (A. E. Lu, Fri.) 

Lunneman perhaps best interprets the thought for us, ‘“Ye are not in — 
darkness, and thus the design which God has in view in reference to those 
who are in darkness, namely, to surprise them by the day of the Lord, can 
have no application to you.”’ 

Olshausen says that this interpretation, “in order that’, as expressing 
design, does great violence to the sentence. Accordingly many join 


474 





I THESSALONIANS 





Olshausen in translating ‘‘so that’’ as expressive of result. (D. Ba. W-W. 
‘Pl. Rig. Hof. Bis. Jow. Pelt.) 


The idea of result does better suit the thought, but it is hard to get 
that meaning out of the particle used. “This is, however, given in Thayer’s 
Lexicon as a third meaning of the particle.—‘‘with the issue that’. But 
Winer seems to have rather conclusively shown that this meaning cannot 
attach to any New Testament use of the particle, and Thayer says that 
wherever the interpretation ‘‘in order that’ can be taken, it ought by all 
means to be so taken. 


“that day’’,—Here, of course, is meant the day of the Lord, but it is 
called merely “‘the day’’ as the time of light breaking in on darkness. 


Ver. 5. “‘sons of light and sons of day’’,—The “‘day’”’ is a strength- 
ening synonym for “‘Iight’’ and is that in which we have our origin and 
our specific nature. 


Ver. 6. ‘“‘the rest’’,—i. e., the unbelievers. 


23 And the God of peace himself 
sanctify you wholly; and may your 
spirit and soul and body be preserved 
entire, without blame at the ‘coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 


IGr. presence 


Ver. 23. THE BELIEVER PRESENTED IN PERFECT HOLINESS BEFORE 
THE LORD AT HIS COMING. 


“sanctify you wholly’’,—In view of what follows it is best to take 
this in a quantitative sense, as referring to the whole personality, viz., in 
your entire extent, through and through. (A. E. O. D. W-W. Lu.) 


There are those who take it in an ethical sense, ‘‘so that ye be pure 
and blameless’’. (Jer. Lut. Kop. Pelt. ) But this qualitative sense is 
fully enough expressed in the words “without blame’. 


“may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire’’,—The Re 
vised Version we feel has interfered somewhat with the real thought of the 
passage by transferring the word “‘entire’’ to the place it now occupies in 
the text. The word is an adjective and modifies all three of the words, 
spirit, soul and body, although being placed in the Greek just before the 
word “‘spirit’’ it takes its gender from that noun. The word “‘entire’’ 
‘means consisting of all its parts. “The words “‘wholly’’ and “‘entire’’ seem 
to be one the synonymy of the other and refer to that which is perfect, not 
in the ethical sense so much, but spoken of things to which nothing be- 
longing to their nature is wanting, i. e., quantitatively. 


“spitit and soul and body’’,—The Apostle seems here to teach the 
three-fold division of human nature, the spirit being the highest and dis- 
tinctive part of man, the immortal and responsible part, while the soul 
is the lower or animal part containing the passions and desires. 

“without blame’’,—In a word Paul prays that the whole personality, 
each part in its entirety, may be preserved so that it will be found blame- 
less in the day of His coming. 

“coming’’,—The word is as usual, Parousia, meaning, literally, pres- 
ence, and the verse as a whole sets forth the blessed truth that this is the 
time when the believer is to be presented in perfect holiness before his Lord 
and Saviour. 


475 


Il LHESSALONIANS 


SCHEISECOND. EPISTLE OF PAWL TO Tae 


THESSALONIANS 


(Aa) Ort) 


CHAPTER ONE 


4 so that we ourselves glory in you 
in the churches of God for your ‘patience 
and faith in all your persecutions and in 
the afflictions which ye endure; 5 which 
is a manifest token of the righteous 
judgment of God; to the end that ye 
may be counted worthy of the kingdom 
of God, for which ye also suffer: 6 if 
so be that it is a righteous thing with 
God to recompense affliction to them 
that afflict you, 7 and to you that are 
afflicted rest with us, at the revelation 

10r, sted fastness 


of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the 
angels of his power in flaming fire, 8 
rendering vengeance to them that know 
not God, and to them that obey not the 
“gospel of our Lord Jesus: 9 who shall 
suffer punishment, even eternal destruc- 
tion from the face of the Lord and from 
the glory of his might, 10 when he 
shall come to be glorified in his saints, 
and to be marvelled at in all them that 
believed (because our testimony unto 
you was believed) in that day. 


*Gr. good tidings: and so elsewhere. See 
marginal note on Mt. 4.23. 


Vers. 4-10. “THE PERSECUTED BELIEVER’S REST AT THE REVELATION 
OF CHRIST. 


Ver. 5. “‘which ts a manifest token’’,—The word denotes a sign, a 
guarantee, a proof. It is to be taken as referring to all of verse 4 begin- 
ning with “for your patience’, etc. (A. D. E. Lu. Fri. Lil.), and not to 
the subject of “endure’’, i. e., the ‘Thessalonians (Es. Era.), nor to “all 
your persecutions and tribulations’. (C. Zw. Ew. Bul. Are. Wol. Kop. 
Bis. Pelt.) 


“the righteous judgment’ ,—Alford says, ‘“The judgment which will 
be completed at the Lord’s coming, but is even now preparing, this being 
an earnest and token of it.”’ 


The majority of expositors agree with Alford in this, referring the 
‘judgment especially to that which will take place at the coming of Christ. 
(C. D. E. Lu. Lut. Hof. Dod. Pelt.) |The use of the definite article “‘the” 
and more especially the following verse seem to favor this interpretation. 
The unjust sufferings of the righteous show that justice is not meted out 
sometimes as it should be here and that therefore there comes the demane 
for a future judgment. 


Riggenbach and Olshausen strongly contend against this view and 
maintain that the righteous judgments of God were those which the Thes- 
salonians were then suffering on earth, the end of which or the purpose of 
which is that they might be counted worthy, etc. Olshausen asks, ‘How 
can the present patiently endured suffering for the sake of the kingdom of 
God be a sign or an evidence of the future righteous judgment of God?” 
This view of course represents their present afflictions and persecutions as 
the righteous judgment of God upon them, merited because of their sin, 
but endured for their perfection and being made worthy of God’s kingdom. 

If it were not for the following context Olshausen’s view would be 
the preferable one. But in view of what follows, their present sufferings 
may be taken as a proof of the coming judgment upon théir adversaries 


476 





A 


| 
| 
| 
: 


II ‘(TTHESSALONIANS 


and the adversaries of God, because it made it obvious that in this world 
men do not receive their just deserts and therefore a future judgment is 
demanded for the sake of justice. 


Ellicott says, ‘“To refer ‘righteous judgment’ solely to present suffer- 
ings, as perfecting and preparing the Thessalonians for future glory (O.) 
is to miss the whole point of the sentence. “Ihe Apostle’s argument is 
that their endurance of suffering in faith is a token of God’s righteous 
judgment and of a future reward, which will display itself in‘ rewarding 
the patient sufferers, as surely as it will inflict punishment on their perse- 
cutors.”’ 


‘There is no good reason why both views should not be combined 
after the manner of Alford and Fausset. 


“to the end that’’,—This depends on “‘righteous judgment” (A. D. 
Pact omwehige). and not one endure )(B. Es, Za, Bis. Hof.). (It 
means “‘the result of which judgment will be’ (E. Lu.), rather than ‘“‘the 
purpose of which judgment shall be’ (A. D. Ew.Rig.). God's righteous 
judgment, the proof and demand for which is seen in their patient endur- 
ance of affliction, will result in their being esteemed worthy of the kingdom 
in the day of the Lord’s coming. 


“the kingdom of God’’,—This, says Olshausen, is the kingdom to be 
established at Christ’s coming, expected then as quite near at hand. (Lu. 
Bla.) Riggenbach says, ‘““The kingdom of God here mentioned is the 
holy dominion, which shall one day be revealed by the return of the King 
in victorious glory.’ He says, however, that this is a kingdom which 
flesh and blood cannot inherit. 


“for which ye also suffer’’,—Not as purchasing the kingdom by suf- 
fering as meritorious, but they suffer for the kingdom’s sake. 


Ver. 6. “if so be that’’,—This does not express doubt, but is put 
hypothetically for the very purpose of strengthening its import, and to 
indicate that it is altogether incontestable, the writer appealing to the 
reader's own judgment. 


“tt ts a tighteous thing’’,—This points back to the righteous judg- 
ment of verse 5. 


Ver. 7. “rest’’,—Liberation from earthly affliction is one of the 
glories of the kingdom. 


“with .us’,—i. e., with Paul and his companions who were in like 
manner being persecuted; and not with Christians generally (D. Tur.); 
for all Christians were not being persecuted, which is the case as implied in 
our verse; nor with us, the saints of Israel (B. Ew. Mac.), seeing that the 
Thessalonians were Gentiles. 

“at the revelation’’—Riggenbach says, ‘Ihe same thing as Parousia, 
only it conveys more than His presence; He will be unveiled in His glory.” 
The word is “‘apocalypsis’’. 

“angels of His power’’,—Not “‘mighty angels’ (FI. Pis. Oec. Ben. 
Theo.) The power is Christ's; His angels are His servants and the instru- 
mentality through which He manifests His power. ‘They are the executors 
of His power. 

Some translate “‘with His angelic host’’ (Mi. Hof. Dru. Kop. earut 
the Greek word for “‘power’’ is never translated in the sense of ‘“‘host’’ or 


477 


II THESSALONIANS 


“army’’; besides this translation would require the words “‘angels’’ and 
“power” to exchange places. 


“in flaming fire’’,—The natural symbol of perfect purity and unap- 
proachable majesty. This is to be taken as a further specification of the 
mode of His revelation. (A. E. Lu. Rig.) In the Old Testament God is 
described as appearing in flames of fire and especially is His coming to 
judgment described as a coming in fire. Here the description is referred to 
Christ. The words are not therefore to be connected with what follows 
as the instruments of His taking vengeance. (Es. Lap. Har. Mac. Hil. Hof. 
Schm. Mold.) 


Ver. 8. “rendering vengeance’,—i. e., distributing it as their 
portion. 


The rest of this verse is taken by Olshausen and others as referring 
to unbelievers in general who were criminally ignorant of God and who 
obeyed not His Gospel that was preached unto them. (O. C. D. Rig. Tur. 
Hem. Pelt. Schot.) But the repetition of “to them’’ usually compels to 
the distinction of two different classes and so many others take the first 
as referring to the Gentiles and the second to unbelieving Jews. . (B. E. 
A. Ba. Ew. Bis. Kop. Ben. Gro.) 


The fact that the Gentiles are in a number of places elsewhere called 
by Paul, “those who know not God’’, and that disobedience was the char- 
acteristic of the theocratic nation of the Jews, together with the repetition 
of the “to them”’ inclines us to the latter view. 


Ver. 9. “eternal destruction’ ,—‘‘A testimony this’’, says Ellicott, 
“to the eternity of future punishment that is not easy to be explained 
away.” 

“from” and “‘from’’,—Three explanations: 

1. To be taken in a local sense, i. e., separation from. ‘This is by 
far the best explanation and is approved by the majority of schol- 
ars,» (A, By Lu. Rig Bis. Kop? Blo. Pic) Beza Gale oanees 

2. To be taken in the sense of time,—immediately upon the appear- 
ance of His face and His glory, describing thereby the swiftness 
and facility of the punishment; Christ has but to appear. (Va. 
Es. Oec. Chr. Era. From. Theo.) But this is a very artificial 
interpretation. 

3. To be taken in the sense of cause. (Ca. Kop. Bol. Pelt.) ; some 
taking “from the face of the Lord”’ arbitrarily as ‘‘from the Lord”’; 
and others with equal arbitrariness understanding the word “‘face”’ 
as of a wrathful countenance. But this would make the verse a 
mere repetition of verses 7 and 8. 

De Wette objects to the first view on account of the word “might”. 
This word at first glance might seem to favor the second view; but it may 
be taken as a genitive of origin. 

The meaning is “from the glory which is a creation (visible—local- 
ized result,—A.) of his might.’’ (Lu.) 

Alford and Lunneman understand this glory as that imparted to 
believers, and not as Christ’s own glory. But this is a bit far-fetched; 
the parallelism leads us rather to think of something belonging to the 


478 


Il THESSALONIANS 


Lord, although it may extend in reference here to the believers as well who 
are at that time to be glorified. 


Ver. 10. “‘saints’’,-Not angels (Mac. Schr.) , but Christians, glori- 
fied believers. 


“in”’,—Not “through”, as many render; nor ‘‘among’’, but “in’’, 
the element in which, so that the glorification of His saints becomes a glori- 
fication of Christ Himself—as the sun in reflected in a mirror—as a teacher 
is glorified in her scholars. _Dods says, ‘‘The saints are the risen and glori- 
fied companies of believers.”’ 


_ Olshausen says, “‘It is not stated here that Christ comes with His 
saints, as it was said in verse 7 that He comes with the angels, but accord- 
ing to I Thess. 4.17 (their gathering’ together with Him), this must here 
to be necessarily assumed.” 


“to be marveled at in all them that believed’’,—This may mean that 
in the hearts of His believers there is an admiring adoration, but in view 
of the apparent parallelism between the two members, it is better to take 
it that Christ will be admired or wondered at because of those who have 
believed on Him. Lunneman says, ‘The blessedness of believers being 
admired, Christ also is therein admired as the Author of that blessedness.’’ 

If Christ is the object of this admiration, who is the subject? Some 
think it is those who are now stiff-necked. But it is best, however, to 
take it in a universal sense of all creation, even of the angels as well as of 
men believing and unbelieving, the wonder and admiration of the glorified 
increasing, while the unbelievers are at least amazed at such a person. 


“because .. . believed’’,A parenthetical statement designed to bring 
forward the certainty that also the Thessalonians belonged to the believers. 


“tn that day” ,—To be connected with “glorified’’ and “‘marveled 
at’ (A. Lu. Rig.) ; not with “belteved’”’ (Gro. Syr.), taking this last word 
in the future sense. ‘The verb is an aorist and the aorist can never be taken 
in the sense of a future. Nor is it to be connected with “‘testimony”’ (Es. 
Fl. Ba. Ros. Kop.), nor with the too remote “shall come’ (B. O. Zeg. 
Peley. 

There is another of Dr. Brown’s proof texts against pre-millennial- 
ism. He says the expression “all that believed’ must include all that ever 
have believed or ever shall believe on Christ to all eternity, and that hence 
at His coming, when all such admire Him, it is plain that the number of the 
elect must be complete, and that therefore no more can be saved after the 
Parousia takes place. But, however the case may be presented elsewhere, 
Dr. Brown's position can hardly be said to be clearly established by the 
passage before us. Kellogg replies as follows: 

1. When Moses delivered Israel from Egypt he saved all that believed 
on him. Does that prove that none could have believed on Moses 
after that? Will any say that Christ could not be said to be 
admired by all believers at His coming, if any believed on Him 
after His coming? 

2. What proof is there that in this place the word “‘all’’ must thus 
include all that could possibly be put into it? That this word 
is not thus used in every case is so certain as not to be denied by 
anyone. ‘The same principle which Dr. Brown assumes here, 


479 


Il ‘THESSALONIANS 


carried elsewhere would prove from Rom. 5.18 the universal sal- 
vation of all men, and from Col. 1.20 even the salvation of the 
Devil and all his angels. The mere use of the word “all’’ proves 
very little. That in any particular case it has the broadest sense 
possible always needs to be proved. That it has such a sense here 
no evidence is offered. 


3. But when we look at the Greek text of the passage we find that 
the evidence is on the other side; for the particle which is rendered 
in the Authorized Version, “‘them that believe’, is in the past 
tense, so. that the word “‘all’’ is thereby strictly limited to all those 
who have believed before the Advent. The New Testament 
revisers have accordingly rendered the participie in the past, “‘them 
that believed’. The sense of the words, then, is simply that all — 
who up to the time of the Advent shall have believed on Jesus will 
then admire Him. As to whether, after the Advent, others shall — 
be saved or not, the words teach absolutely nothing. They are 
equally consistent with either supposition. 


CHAPTER TWO 


1 Now we beseech you, brethren, 
‘touching the "coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and our gathering together unto 
him; 2 to the end that ye be not 


now, until he be taken out of the way. 
8 And then shall be revealed the lawless 
one, whom the Lord ‘Jesus shall “slay 


Vers. 1-13. 


quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet 
be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, 
or by epistle as from us, as that the 
day of the Lord is just at hand; 3 let 
no man beguile you in any wise: for 
it will not be, except the falling away 
come first, and the man of *sin be re- 
vealed, the son of perdition, 4 he that 
opposeth and exalteth himself against all 
that is called God or “that is wor- 
shipped; so that he sitteth in the ‘temple 
of God, setting himself forth as God. 
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was 
yet with you, I told you these things? 
6 And now ye know that which re- 
straineth, to the end that he may be 
revealed in his own season. 7 for 
the mystery of lawlessness doth already 
work: ‘only there is one that restraineth 
1Gr. in behalf of 


°Gr. presence 

8Many ancient authorities read lawlessness 

4Gr. an object of worship. Acts 17.23. 

5Or, sanctuary 

Or, only until he that now restraineth be 
taken &c. 


Mer tals 


THE DAY OF THE LORD AND THE MAN OF SIN. 


with the breath of his mouth, and bring 


to nought by the manifestation of his 
“coming; 9 even he, whose *coming is 
according to the working of Satan with 
all °power and signs and: lying wonders, 
10 and with all deceit of unrighteous- 
ness for them that “perish; because they 
received not the love of the truth, that 
they might be saved. 11 And for this. 
cause God sendeth them a working of 
error, that they should believe a lie: 
12 that they all might be judged who 
believed not the truth, but had pleas- 
ure in unrighteousness. 

13 But we are bound to give thanks 
to God always for you, brethren beloved 
of the Lord, for that God chose you 
“from the beginning unto salvation in 
sanctification of the Spirit and “belief. 


7Some ancient authorities omit Jesus 

SSome ancient authorities read consume 

"Gr. power and signs and wonders of false- 
hood 

Or, are perishing 

MMany ancient authorities read as firstfruits 

Or, faith 


; 


“touching’,—This translation hardly expresses what the 


preposition contains. Many take it as a form of adjuration, “by”, but 
this meaning the preposition never has in the New Testament. 


It is more correctly taken in the sense of “‘in respect to’. (D. FI. Ba. 
Ew. Zeg. Vor. Gro. Ham. Wol. Noe. Kop. Hey. Win. Wie. Blo. Rig. 
Pelt. Schot.) 


480 





Il THESSALONIANS 


However this is not quite the thought. There seems to be a touch 
of concern about the event as though he would guard it from misrepresen- 
tation, and perhaps it is best to translate with the margin of the text, ‘‘on 
DenaieotesuCA be Lule Erz) 


“coming’’,—Parousia, presence. 
“our gathering unto him’’,— (See I Thess. 4.17). 


Ver. 2. ‘“‘to the end that’’,—The aim and object of “‘beseech’’. 


“shaken from your mind’’,—‘‘mind”’ is to be taken quite generally, 
your mental apprehension of the subject (A. E. Lu.), and not as “‘your 
former more correct sentiment on the subject as received through personal 
instruction by the Apostle’. (FI. Os. Es. Hem. Bul. Pis. Lap. Gro. Hey. 
From. Mold.) 


“shaken’’,—Used especially of a sea agitated by a storm. 


“quickly’’,—1i. e., soon and without due consideration. This mean- 
ing, doubless, soon after the instruction received by them from the Apostle 
(O. Ca. Pis.), though some take it, soon after my departure (Lan.), soon 
as ever the matter is spoken of at any time. (A. Lu. Dod.) 


“etther by spirit’’,—1i. e., prophetical discourses by members of the 
Church and falsely given out as divine revelation. (A. O. Lu. Rig. Dod.) 
(See I Thess. 5.20.) Not a dream (Schr.), nor deceitful revelations by 
spiritual appearances (Schm.), nor falsely understood prophecies of the 
Old Testament (Krause). 


“as from us’’,—1. e., pretending to be from us when in reality it is 
spurious. 


Since all three words are governed by the same word, “‘by’’, some say 
“as from us”’ must modify all three of them, or the last one only. (C. Ew. 
Zw. Rig. Hof. Chr. Theo.) Grammatically this appears to be true. But 
since it cannot modify the first word, “‘spirit’’, inasmuch as a prophetic 
discourse of the Apostle could not be invented, it being necessary for the 
Apostle’s presence for such an utterance, the above authorities have confined 
“as from us’ to the last word only, “‘letter’’, and they take “‘word’’, not as 
some sayings of Paul hawked around, but as a teaching that reasoned per- 
haps from the Scriptures and not from prophetic rapture as was the case 
in connection with the first word, “‘spirit’’. Others, however, refer “‘as 
from us’ to the last two words as closely connected, showing that someone 
carried around a pretended oral utterance, while others did even the same 


with a spurious letter. (E. A. D. Lu. Gro. Wet. Theo.) 


“word” therefore means either “‘teaching”’ in accordance with the first 
view noted, or it means an oral statement attributed to Paul if the second 
view is followed. We incline hesitatingly to this second view. 


By “word” is not meant therefore a traditional falsified word of Jesus 
(Ba.), nor the prophecy of Jesus in Matt. 24, Mk. 13, Lu. 21 (Noe.), nor 
“reckoning’’, with reference to Daniel’s week of years. (Mi. Ty.) 


“epistle’’,—It is a bit difficult to know whether Paul was simply 
referring to the possibility of such a letter being circulated (Jow.), or 
whether he means to say that such a letter was actually in circulation (A. 


Lu.), or whether he refers to his first epistle. (BI. Hil. Bez. Ham. Reu.) 
481 


II THESSALONIANS 


1. The phrase “as from us’’ may intelligibly be made to mean, “‘Be 
not troubled by letter as if I had said,” i. e., do not understand 
my former letter to have taught, etc. 


2. It seems natural that in this his second epistle, which might seem 
to contradict what he had said in his first one, that he would draw 
attention (Chap. 3.15) to his signature as evidence that both 
epistles were from him. 


3. If a forged letter had existed it is probable that he would have 
dealt more severely with it. 


4. It is a bit improbable that while Paul was within so easy reach, 
so daring a forgery would have taken place, and a forgery so 
profitless. 

5. Dods says that if Paul had meant a forged letter he would have 
doubtless used another preposition more distinctly expressing the 
source from which the thing eminates. 

However, all this does not establish the case for a reference to a first 
epistle, and as between the possibility of such a fraud and the actuality of 
it, it is safer to decide for the latter, as more in keeping with the expression 
as used by the Apostle. ; 

“day of the Lord’’,—Preponderating authority is against the reading 
of the Authorized Version, ‘‘day of Christ’’. 

“just at hand’’,—The word means “‘just on the point of commenc- 
ing’ (A-R-V); “immediately imminent’’ (Dod.), or “‘already present’ 
(R-V); “is now present’ (A. Er. Tor. Bla. Rig.), “has really come” 
(Lil.), “is now come’ (E.). ; 

Alford says, and rightly, ‘Paul could not have written as in the 
Authorized Version, ‘at hand’, because he and all other New Testament 
writers had been writing all along that the day of the Lord was at hand, 
but they had never said it was just on the point of coming or was even then 
present. 

Dr. Brown makes strong use of this passage to prove that the Millen- 
nium was still in Paul’s mind many centuries removed. But the Parousia 
of Christ (which others believe is to usher in the Millennium) could still be 
“at hand” and yet be a year or many years away; in other words, “‘at hand” 
is not indicative of nearness as the verb here used implies. The Thessa- 
lonians apparently either thought He had already come and that their rap- 
ture (I Thess. 4.17) had not taken place, or that He was just on the point 
of coming any minute, hour or day. 

Riggenbach says, ‘““The emphatic position of the verb at the front 
shows that the Apostle does not intend generally to put far away the 
expectation of the last day; they were merely not to let themselves be sur- 
prised by the cry, ‘Here it is now!’ The verb denotes a standing at the 
door, immediate presence.’ 

The verb occurs in six other places in the New Testament and Alford 
says always in the sense of * ‘being present’. (Rom. 8.38; I Cor. 3.22, 

72263) Galad 4a Times. leablebe O° 92) 

Says Alford, ‘“They imagined the day to be already come, and accord- 
ingly were deserting their pursuits of life, and falling into other irregu- 
larities, as if the day of grace were closed.”’ 


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II THESSALONIANS 


Blackstone says, ‘“The persecuted Thessalonians thought that they 
were in the Tribulation period, and that the Day of the Lord had set in. 
But Paul corrects them, first by reminding them that the Lord had not 
come for them as yet, as He had said that He would (I Thess. 4.15-17), 
and then by adding certain other things which must occur before the Day 
of the Lord should come.” 


Morgan says, ‘““The people of Thessalonica misinterpreted Paul’s first 
epistle, thinking that the day of Christ had come because they were in 
tribulation. Paul therefore wrote a second letter wherein he corrected this 
error, showing how that day must be preceded by certain signs, and the 
Church waiting for her Lord, will not pass through the tribulation, but 
will be taken from the earth before it comes. In the opening verse of 
Chap. 2 there is a wonderfully clear and concise distinction between the 
‘coming’ and the ‘day’ of Christ. Before ‘that day’ dawns, the final 
apostacy (the definite article is very distinct) is to be inaugurated by the 
revealing of the man of sin—not a system, but an individual.” 


Torrey says, “Che Thessalonians were troubled by the teaching that 
had arisen among them that the day of the Lord was already present and 
that they were in the midst of the judgment, ‘the day of the Lord’. ‘They 
were greatly excited and perturbed by the fact. Paul shows them that this 
could not be because the ‘man of sin’, who was to be especially dealt with 
in ‘the day of the Lord’, had not yet been revealed. The ‘day of the Lord’ 
is not the coming of Christ to receive His Church, but that which follows 
upon it. It is the time of the Lord’s coming to the earth.”’ 


C. H. Mackintosh says, ‘“The Christians at Thessalonica were passing 
through intense persecution and tribulation, and it is evident that false 
teachers had been disturbing their minds by leading them to think that 
they were even then surrounded by the terrors of the day of the Lord, that 
it was already present. He beseeches them, first, on the ground of the 
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the rapture (verse 1) not to so think, 
thus drawing a clear distinction between the coming at the time of the 
rapture of the saints and the ‘day of the Lord’. And then further he 
reminds them that ‘that day’, i. e., the day of the Lord, shall not come 
except there be first a falling away from the faith and the revelation of the 
man of sin.”’ 

Kellogg says, “What troubled the Thessalonians was not the possible 
imminence of the Advent, which could only have filled them with gladness, 
but what had been suggested by some false teachers, who taught—like 
some in our own time—that the ‘day of the Lord’ was ‘now present’, and 
had brought with it no personal return of the Lord, and no resurrection 
of those whom they had laid to sleep in Jesus.” 

Dods says, ““The expression, ‘shaken out of your mind’, implies that 
wild spiritual excitement prevailed among the Thessalonians; that they 
were really acting as people who had lost their senses, giving up perhaps 
their ordinary occupations and scandalizing sober-minded people.”’ 

But no wonder, if they thought that the “‘day of the Lord” had really 
come, and that the events of I Thess. 4.15-17 had not taken place. 


But let us examine the matter a bit more carefully. It is not so easy 
to think that the Thessalonians believed the day of the Lord had already 
come; because they knew that no rapture had taken place, no gathering 


483 


II TTHESSALONIANS 


together unto the Lord in the air (not even of Paul himself), no resurrec- 
tion of “‘the dead in Christ’, no appearance of their Lord, as they had been 
taught in the first epistle of Paul, to them would take place (I Thess. 4.15- 
17). Then again if they had so thought, would not Paul have reminded 
them most clearly and emphatically that they were mistaken, by the very 
fact that these things had not taken place, and then have added, as another 
reason why their actions were unwarranted, the fact that there must first 
come the apostacy and the revelation of the man of sin? But instead of 
this Paul emphasized only the latter reason, telling them that the apostacy 
and the revelation of the man of sin had first to take place prior to the 
time to which reference is had in the passage. 


Now we are not so sure that the Thessalonians or other Christians of 
their day knew of the distinction, much emphasized in our day by certain 
teachers concerning the end-occurrences, between the “‘coming of Christ’’ 
and “‘the day of the Lord’”’ or His revelation, at least in the sense that the 
latter occurred some time after the former, a period, as some believe, of 
seven years intervening. 

Campbell Morgan says this distinction was made “‘very distinct’’ as 
between the last verses of the fourth chapter and the first verse of the fifth 
chapter of First Thessalonians. But certainly this noted expositor’s 
vision must be exceedingly keen to gather with such emphatic assurance 
this knowledge from the passages in question. 

Even C. H. Mackintosh, one of the staunchest champions of this 
school of interpretation, says, ““They knew that Jesus was to return; but 
as for any distinction between His coming for His people and His coming 
with them at a later time, between His coming and the day of the Lord, 
they were, at the first, ( i. e., until Paul made it plain in the verses to 
which Morgan refers) they were wholly ignorant.” 

At any event the distinction is not well drawn. Does not the “‘day 
of the Lord” begin at the same moment with the coming of Christ for His 
people (if not before) ? 

Even Morgan says, ‘“The day of the Lord is, in one sense, begun by 
His coming; but it is a whole period which stretches out beyond that 
coming, the Millennium itself being included in that phrase.”’ 

So also W. J. Erdman, a strong pre-millennarian, who says, ““The 
rapture is the opening event of the day of the Lord.” 

And most certainly the Thessalonians thought of the day of the Lord 
in this sense, and not as something to take place a number of years later by 
a single event, when Christ was to come back with His risen and glorified 
saints, because it was doubtless the persecution and suffering through which 
they were going that led them to believe that the day of the Lord was either 
present or just breaking upon them. 

If therefore this time distinction is to be conceded it should be made, 
not between the “coming of Christ’? and the “day of the Lord’’, but be- 
tween the “coming of Christ’’ and “‘the revelation of Christ’? with the “day 
of the Lord’’ between the two and stretching on out past the “‘day of 
Christ’s revelation’’, including, if you wish, the Millennium, even as Mor- 
gan maintains, 

Now it would seem that it was in the sense just set forth that Paul 
thought of “the day of the Lord’, viz., as beginning immediately after 


484 





Il THESSALONIANS 


the coming of Christ, if not before, but at least not as beginning seven 
"years or any number of years after that coming. ‘This seems apparent 
because it was the matter of the persecution and suffering of the Thessa- 
lonians that became the moving cause of his admonitions to them. 


Now we have further to state that so far as the expression, ‘‘shaken 
from your mind’, is concerned, it denotes, as Olshausen has rightly said, 
“all violent passions of joy, grief or fear’. Lunneman has likewise said, 
“This effect might be produced both on those who regarded the advent 
with longing desire and on those who regarded it with fear.”’ 


Now, for the reasons already given, we repeat it is difficult to think 
of the Thessalonians as imagining that the time had passed for the rapture 
and the resurrection, and that they were in the “day of the Lord’ which 
was to follow immediately thereafter. If this be the case, then their state 
of mind was indeed one of fear and overwhelming despondency. But if, 
on the other hand, because of the persecution and trial that was beginning 
to gather so hard about them, they thought the coming of Christ was just 
about to take place, then their state of mind would naturally be one of great 
joy and extravagant excitement due, as Ellicott says, ‘‘to wild spiritual 
anticipations’’, in which they may well be pictured as forsaking their daily 
vocations and dissipating their property because of the happy prospect of 
the coming rapture and departure from the earth to meet the coming Lord. 
It is to this latter view we find ourselves inclined, and for this reason prefer 
the reading of our text, “‘as that the day of the Lord ts just at hand’. 


W. J. Erdman even identifies the expression, “the day of the Lord’, 
with the “‘coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together 
unto Him” of verse 1. He says, ‘“The Apostle beseeches the saints touch- 
ing (Gr., in behalf of) this very coming (Parousia) of the Lord to gather 
them together into His presence, not to be troubled or shaken from the 
teaching they had received from him; and he beseeches them concerning 
this coming and gathering together as something that has not taken place 
and cannot take place before the ‘man of sin’ has been revealed.”’ 


Now it would seem from this that in either case the Apostle puts the 
“apostacy”’ and the “revealing of the man of sin’’ before the coming of 
Christ for His saints, and if this be true, just because this revelation of the 
man of sin must be thought of as during the day of the Lord, the supposed 
period of time between “the coming of Christ’? and “‘the revelation of 
Christ’’ vanishes altogether, or shrinks, as it were, into a mere point of 
time, thus bringing the two events together and throwing the period, “‘the 
day of the Lord’, before them both, and this again would mean that the 
Church will go through the “‘day of the Lord’, which is the same with the 
“time of great tribulation’. 

Thus W. J. Erdman, ““The Church throughout the world will be 
contemporary with the ‘man of sin’ and in the ‘great tribulation’. The 
man of sin is the author of the great tribulation; the Day of the Lord (he 
means what we have designated as the revelation of Christ) in which he 
meets his doom, comes after the great tribulation; the Church is delivered 
at the opening of that day from the wrath which overtakes him; therefore 
the Church must have been contemporary with him and in the great tribu- 
lation.” 

We therefore see no reason thus far in the Apostle’s teaching to con- 
sider the day, the coming, the appearing, the manifestation and the 


485 


II ‘THESSALONIANS 


revelation of Christ other than one so far as the time element enters into 
their conception. 


And thus Dwight, with many others, ‘““The question whether the 


Apostle thought of the Parousia as probably to take place within twenty 
or thirty years or not, must be determined so far as this passage is con- 
cerned, by the length of time which must be allowed for the occurrence of 
what he declares is to take place before the day of the Lord.” 


Ver. 3. “beguile’’, This is better than “‘decetve’’ of the Author- 
ized Version because the word does not precisely carry the idea of deceit 
from an evil intention. ‘“‘Befool’’ is a good rendering. 


“in any wise’’,—Neither by any of the three ways mentioned, nor 
by any other way. 


“for....’’,—There is an elipsis here, but it is not necessary to think 
of the Apostle intending to fill it out but forgetting it after the lengthy 
description which follows (Lu.), but the elipsis supplies itself readily in 
the reader’s mind, as in either the rendering of our text or that of the 
Authorized Version. 


Two things must precede that day, the apostacy and the revelation of 
the man of sin. 


“falling away’’,—Apostacy. This is preceded by the definite article 
“the’’, and therefore refers to the apostacy as well known to the Thessa- 
lonians, either through the oral instruction of the Apostle (verse 5), or 
through the Old Testament prophecies, or the prophecy of Jesus in Matt. 
24.10-12. 

It must be taken in the sense of a religious apostacy and not in a 
political or semi-political sense. This is made certain by the relation of 
Antichrist to it, by the description of it in verse 7 and by the constant 
Biblical usage. ' 

“man of sin’’,—Not the cause of the apostacy (D. Pelt., appealing to 
verses 9 and 10), but the historical completion and climax of it. (A. Lu.) 

“revealed’’,—As Christ in His time, so Antichrist in his time is to be 
revealed. 


“the son of perdition’’,—The primary meaning is that perdition is 
his inheritance (A.); he falls a prey to perdition (Lu. Rig.), and not that 
he is the cause of perdition to others (Pelt); although we see no good 
reason for not including the latter in the former, as do many (O. Hey: 
Oec. The. Schot.). Olshausen aptly says, ‘“He not merely has sin and 
falls into destruction, but that sin and destruction proceeds from him as 
their source and he drags every one else into sin and destruction after him.” 


The article “‘the’’ before ““man of sin’’ only admits of the reference to 
a definite, known personality. 

Olshausen says, ““The name ‘man’ characterizes him at the same time 
as a real man with body and soul, whom Satan, the princ'ple of evil, thus 
makes his dwelling, as the Son of God united Himself with the man Jesus.” 

Zwingli and a few others take the word collectively as denoting every 
bad man altogether fallen under the power of sin, but the article forbids 
this and the following description shows plainly that a single personality 
is in Paul's mind. 


486 


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Il THESSALONIANS 


Ellicott says, “‘Even as Christ is now spiritually present in His 
- Church, to be personally revealed more gloriously hereafter, even so the 
power of Antichrist is now secretly at work, but will hereafter be made 
manifest in a definite and distinctive bodily personality.”’ 


The man of sin means the one who wholly belongs to sin (Rig.), in 
whom sin predominates, the genitive of predominating quality (E.), in 
whom sin is the principle matter (Lu.), in whom sin is personified as 
righteousness is in Christ (A.). 


‘That by “the man of sin’, the Apostle means the Antichrist is shown; 


(a) By the connection with apostacy. 

(b) By the genitive “‘anomias’’, verse 7. 

(c) By the words, “‘son of perdition’’. 

(d) By the words, “‘he that opposeth’’, etc. 

(e) By his sitting in the temple of God. 

(f) By the connection of his coming with the working of Satan. 

(g) By the application to him of the words ‘ Pacousia’’ and other 
words which are used of Christ’s coming. 

(h) By the contrast of the deceit of unrighteousness it the truth. 


The Antichrist is not the Devil himself because he is distinguished 
from the Devil in verse 9. He is, according to verse 9, the instrument of 


the Devil. 


Ver. 4. “he that opposeth’’,—Whom does he oppose. Not the 
human race (Mi. Ba.), but God (see immediately following) and more 
especially Christ, as the entire context shows. (A. Lu. Hey. Schot.) He is 
the Antichrist (I John 2.18), the antagonist, the adversary and caricature 
of Christ. 


“against all that ts called God’’,—Not only against the true God but 
against heathen gods as well. He treads all religion under his feet. He 
does not promote idolatry, but seduces men from the true God and from 
all idols as well, and sets himself up as the only object of adoration. He 
wants to be the only god and suffers none else beside himself. 

“Compare”, says Alford, ‘‘the close parallel in Dan. 11.36,37.” 

Says Ellicott, ‘““This characteristic of impious exaltation is in such 
striking parallelism with that ascribed by Daniel to ‘the king that shall do 
‘according to his will’ (Dan. 11.36), that we can scarcely doubt that the 
ancient interpreters were right in referring both to the same person— 
Antichrist. The former portion of the prophecy in Daniel is apparently 
correctly referred to Antiochus Epiphanes, but the concluding verses (verse 
36, etc.) seem only applicable to him of whom Antiochus Epiphanes was 
merely a type and a shadow.”’ 

Riggenbach says, ‘“The Apostle’s brief picture reminds us of Dan. 

7.8,11,20, etc. The modern interpreters see in this for the most part 
Antiochus Epiphanes; more correctly we shall recognize in this little horn 
of the 7th Chap. the yet future adversary of whom Antiochus Epiphanes, 
described in similar terms, was but a type.” 

“that is worshipped’’,—A generalization of the idea God—whatever 
else is an object of divine adoration. 

“he sitteth in the temple of God’’,—Because of the word “‘sitteth’’, 
and the repetition of the article “‘the’’, many say the one definite temple 


487 


II THESSALONIANS 


of the one definite God is meant, 1. e., the temple at Jerusalem. (D.E. Lu. 
Wh. Gro. Cle. Wie. and Scho.—with reserve). But the article is no 


formidable reason for this view because the very same expression is used — 


elsewhere in a metaphorical sense, as all acknowledge. There is some 
strength in the argument from the word “‘sitteth’’. It seems as though it 
means a literal setting of one’s self down. And the fact that the temple 
no longer exists is not sufficient argument against it because some are ready 
with an argument, not without some strength, that the temple is to be 
rebuilt. For this reason Ellicott leans strongly to an ultimate fulfillment 
in a future temple (Ezek. 37.26) at Jerusalem. However, the figurative 
sense of holding a place of power, sitting as a ruler, is very frequently 
found in connection with the same word, as for instance where our Lord 
is said to “‘sitt on the right hand of God”’. 


Inasmuch as this is true and Paul used the expression, “‘the temple of 
God”’ metaphorically in I Cor. 3.17 (See also I Cor. 6.16 and Eph. 2.21), 
others have taken the expression in a metaphorical sense. We see no 
reason why it should be interpreted with such rigid literality as that of 
Lunneman and others. ‘The passage will be satisfied if the homage due to 
God is drawn aside to something human. ‘The reference is said by Ols- 
hausen and others to mean the Christian Church as such in all lands; and 
indeed the Church is called the temple of God. 


But what Paul does is, as Riggenbach says, ‘‘to depict an act, which 
as a symbol of permanent spiritual significance, is confined to no locality, 
and means to say: He places himself in God’s room and forces himself 
on mankind as a Divine ruler. He portrays, indeed, an outward act that 
connects itself with the temple; but this act is the expression of an abiding 
disposition and purpose that is not confined to the one house of stone. 
Who will see beforehand where or in what form of outward action it will 
come to pass that the Man of Sin shall force himself on all the world as 
God? ‘The language of a prophet must be understood according to the 
analogy of the prophets.”’ 

This interpretation does not necessarily conflict with the literal one 
and yet it both satisfies the prediction and relieves it of whatever embarrass- 
ment the literal interpretation might attach to it. If, however, it can be 
shown that the temple is to be literally rebuilt in Jerusalem there can then 
be no embarrassment in accepting the literal interpretation of our passage, 
and it would seem that it ought under such circumstances to be so accepted. 


“setting himself forth as God’’,—Publicly predicating of himself 


divine dignity and worthiness of adoration, and this perhaps not only in’ 


word (D. O. Rig. Bis. Hey. Oec. Chr. Theo. Schot.), but by deceitful 
miracles (verse 9). 


Ver. 5. Inserted with a slight accent of surprise mingled with a tone 
of reproach that they should have made so little of this previous oral in- 
struction. He was telling them nothing new apparently. Notice the 


” € 


force of the “‘elegon’’, “J was telling, I used to tell’. It appears somewhat 


as though he had repeatedly talked to them of the advent and the things. 


about which he was now writing. 


Ver. 6. ““now’’,—There are four explanations of the connection: 
1. A particle of transition to a new communication, i. e., “And now 
—to pass to another point—ye know’”’, etc. They knew this 


488 


ae 


II THESSALONIANS 


from Paul’s oral instruction and needed only to be reminded of it. 
This is by far the most commendable view. (D. A. E. Lu. Ew.) 

Other views are: 

2. A temporal adverb in opposition to “‘yet’’ of verse 5, the present 
time in contrast to the time Paul was with them, i. e., “I told you 
orally that the Antichrist must come before the advent of Christ, 
but now after my written declaration (verse 3) ye know that 
the apostacy must come before the Antichrist.’ (B. Fl. Hil. 
Storr.) But this is not what the verse says. It says, ““ye know 
what restraineth’’, and of this Paul had written nothing in verse 3, 
for surely the apostacy is not the same as that which restraineth. 
Even so, to have expressed this contrast would have taken a dif- 

_ ferent construction. 

3. A temporal adverb modifying Heerraineth: i. e., “And ye know 
that which now restraineth’’. (O. Wh. Ba. Hey. Wie. Bis. Mac. 
Schr.) But with this we would have expected the word “‘now”’ 
to have been placed immediately before ‘‘restraineth’’. 

4. A particle of time, i. e., ““And now, when ye recall my oral instruc- 
tion, ye know’, etc. (Rig.) Riggenbach says the oral instruc- 
tion would then have extended to an explanation also of that 
which restraineth, and that this may account for the brevity with 
which Paul mentions it here, having referred to it more fully in 
his oral instruction. 

“that which cestratneth”’,—1i. e., hinders. Not what hinders me from 
expressing myself freely about the Antichrist (Heinsius), nor the coming 
of Christ (No.), but that which hinders the appearance of the Antichrist. 
The expression is a neuter one and so denotes a power or a principle, while 
the “‘one that restraineth’’ in verse 7 is a masculine and denotes a person. 
At least, says Riggéenbach, ‘‘this is apriore the most natural suggestion.”’ 


“his own season’’,—1i. e., the time appointed him by God. 


Ver. 7. “‘mystery’’,-Made very emphatic by being placed first and 
by being separated from its further definition ‘‘of lawlessness’ by the verb 
and the adverb. 

“lawlessness’’,—i. e., ungodliness, wickedness in general. It cor- 

responds to the apostacy of verse 3. ‘There are three views as to its gram- 
matical relation, each of which amount to the same thing. It is either: 

1. A genitive of apposition—the mystery which consists in lawless- 

Hesse ee AL) Lu.) sor 

2. A genitive of possession—the mystery which belongs to lawless- 

ness; or 

3. A genitive of characterizing quality—the mystery which is char- 

acterized by lawlessness. (E.) 

It refers to a concealed, mysterious wickedness—to lawlessness insofar 
as it is still a mystery. 

Olshausen goes beyond Scripture when he makes the expression equiv- 
alent to the Antichrist himself as an incarnation of Satan. 

“doth already work’ ,—1i. e., in a yet hidden, mysterious way, which 
perhaps many as yet did not recognize, but in it all, Paul sees the beginning 
of the final rebellion against final grace. 


489 


Il THESSALONIANS 


“only’’,—This word must be connected with what follows. It can- 
not be connected with what precedes, either with ““‘mystery’’—only as a 
hidden mystery (Wor.), or with “work” (Ky.), because this word is. 
defined by “‘already’’. 


The rendering of our text is certainly very awkward. It is better 
to supply the verb, ‘‘will restrain’, as is done in the Authorized Version, 
which certainly gives the proper sense to the verse. (B. Es. Wh. Zw. Os. 
Vul, Syr. Era. Bez. Zeg, Bal. Lap. Gap. Lan? Sto, Cali, Pelt eral) aan ae 
Authorized Version, however, has an unhappy rendering of the verb 
supplied. It is, however, perhaps better, especially from a grammatical 
standpoint, to supply nothing, to conceive of “‘one that now restraineth”’ 
being placed before “‘until’’ for the sake of emphasis, and to transfer in 
thought “‘until’’ to its- proper place immediately after “‘only’’, and read, 
“Only until he who now restraineth is taken out of the way’, i. e., ““The 
mystery of lawlessness doth already work, but only will it work in this 
hidden, mysterious way until he who now restraineth is taken out of the 
way. (A. Rig. Lil. Ros. Hey. Noe. Schot.) 


Some supply “‘there ts’’, as in our text, (W-W. Ba.), but this does 
not get rid of the troublesome “until’’ except in what is rather an awkward 
way, although the sense is the same. All in all we prefer the marginal 
reading of our text. 


“be taken out of the way’’,—The phrase is used of any person or 
thing which is taken out of the way whether by violence or death or any 
other way. 


What the restraining power is and who the restraining one is (if this 
distinction is allowed to stand) is the darkest point in the whole passage. 
It will be discussed a little later. 


Ver. 8. “‘the lawless one’’,—The same as the Man of Sin—the 
Antichrist. 


“revealed’’,—He will then throw off every veil, bringing himself 
forth into the light. The same word (apocalypsis) is used of Christ, 

“slay’’,—1. e., destroy; consume. 

“with the breath of his mouth’’,—This is an expression denoting the 
ease with which omnipotence accomplishes its object. It is not to be taken ~ 
in a sensuous way, as of a fiery wind; nor to be idealized so as to mean a 
“word” or “‘shout of command’’. It is a figure of speech. As Lunneman 
says, “It describes the power and irresistible might of the reappearing 
Christ, the breath of whose mouth is sufficient to destroy his opponents.” 
(Compare Rev. 19.15,21, “‘a sharp sword out of His mouth’’.) (Compare 
also Isa. 11.4, ““with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked’’.) 

“bring to nought’’,—1. e., overthrow; not as Olshausen says, “‘de- 
prive of influence’ merely. (See Rev. 19.20.) 

“manifestation of His coming’’,—Coming is Parousia,—Greek, 
“presence”. “The Authorized Version rendering is rather thoroughly 
backed up, since it is approved by many strong authorities. (Os. Wh. 
Mus. Bul. Hem. Lap. Era. Cle. Tur. Ben. Mac. Kop. Bol. Hey. Wie. Schm. 
Cali. Scho. Pelt. Schot., et al.) 

It is better, however, to adhere to the original meaning of the words 
and take them in the sense they are used elsewhere by Paul; and so even 


490 


Il THESSALONIANS 





preferable to our text is the rendering, ‘“‘appearance of His coming’. The 
mere advent of His presence (Lu.), the mere outburst of His presence (A.), 
the first gleam of the advent (B.), is enough to bring the adversary to 
nought. 


Lillie remarks, ‘That there is an interval of time between our Lord’s 
descent from the right hand of the Father into the region of the air, where 
His gathered saints are admitted into His presence, and His coming ‘with 
them’ to the judgment of the nations, is not only in itself a perfectly 
reasonable and scriptural idea, but one of use in harmonizing the various 
and at first sight apparently discrepant descriptions of the manner of the 
advent, and the condition of the world in that day.’’ This is the first 
remark of this kind we have found among the expositors. 


Ver. 9. “‘whose coming’’,—Antichrist too has a Parousia (Gk. 
presence). 


ee 


is’, —The present as describing the certainty of the coming in the 
future. 


“according to the working of Satan’’,-—i. e., in conformity with it, 
the Devil working in and through him. Satan gives him power even as 
God gives power to Christ. 


“with all power’’, etc..—It is better to read as in the margin, ‘“‘with 
all power and signs and wonders of falsehood’. Both “all’’ and “‘false- 
hood” belong to all three nouns. They all have falsehood as their base, 
essence andaim. (A.E. D. Lu. Ar.) 


Is the reference to a deception of the senses by sham miracles, or real 
miracles misleading to a false belief in them as if performd by divine power. 
Riggenbach says that Augustine prefers the second explanation as most 
others do. Roos says, “They are miracles of falsehood because men who 
regard them as proofs of the divinity of the Antichrist are thereby miser- 
ably deceived.’’ Riggenbach says, ‘‘Performed by dark, gloomy powers, 
they are at bottom nothing but assumptions, imitations, manifestations of 
a sham strength which at last is a wretched impotence—monstrosities with- 
out any saving object, but not therefore mere juggleries.”’ 


Ver. 10. “deceit of unrighteousness’’ ,—i. e., deceit which leads to, 
‘belongs to and consists in unrighteousness. (D. A. Lu. Es. Ar. Gro. Rig.) 
It is the agency of the Man of Sin. 


“for them that perish’’,—Here is a limitation of his power and influ- 
ence. Only those who are perishing succumb under it. It is a present 
participle and thus characterizes this future fate as already decided. Some 
restrict the connection of this phrase to “‘with all deceit of unrighteous- 
ness’ (FI. Lil. Hey. Hof.), but it is better with Riggenbach and Lunne- 
man to conceive of it as belonging to the whole sentence from verse 9 
onward. 


“because they received not the love of the truth’’,—-They loved false- 
hood and darkness more than truth and light. The natural man has no 
love for truth and the awakening of a love for truth must precede the 
reception of the truth itself. When every advance of grace to stir up the 
love of truth is repulsed, there neither can truth itself be subsequntly 
received. ‘The high degree of guilt is thus represented. ‘Truth is here 


Ol 


Il ‘THESSALONIANS 


not necessarily the Christian truth but truth generally as opposed to false- — 


hood which characterizes the workings of the Man of Sin. 


Ver. 11. “‘and for this cause’’,—1i. e., because they received not 
the love of truth. 


“God sendeth’’,—Not merely permits to come, but sends. To be 
compelled to believe the lie they chose to believe is their punishment—sin 
punished by sin. ‘‘It is’, says Lunneman, “‘a holy ordinance of God that 
the wicked by their wickedness shall lose themselves always the more in 
wickedness.” 


“a working of error’’,—1. e., the active power of seduction. 


“that they should believe a lie’’,—-Not a definite lie, but rather the 
element of falsehood in opposition to the truth. Alford and Ellicott take 
it, because it has the article “‘the’’ as referring to the definite falsehood 
which the mystery of sin is working among them. 


Ver. 12. ‘“‘that’’,—The ultimate purpose of God. It depends on 
“believe” of the preceding verse. 


“be judged’ ,—1i. e., condemned (A. Lu.), as the context shows. 


“the truth’’,—Here the Christian truth is meant as’seen by its contrast 
to unrighteousness. 


THE TEACHING CONCERNING ANTICHRIST 


The teaching concerning the Antichrist may perhaps be conveniently 
classified under a fourfold division. 


iF ia teaching is not prophecy at all. 

. Paul was speaking of his own subjective anticipations of the 

future of Christianity. (D. Jow.) 

(a) But this involves the question of Inspiration or No Inspira- 
tion. It is enough to assert again that we believe, as Alford 
says, ‘‘that Paul.was giving utterance not to his own subjec- 
tive human opinions, but to truths which the Spirit of God 
had revealed to him.” 


2. Paul was simply quoting opinions from a letter received from the 
‘Thessalonians, and step by step refuting these opinions. As if he 
were saying, ‘You certainly wrote to me saying that the day of the 
Lord will not come except there be first a, etc., but don’t you 
remember I told you about this when I was with you, etc.” 
(Tychsen. ) 

(a) This view only deserves attention on account of its strange- 
ness and hardly deserves any refutation. 
II. ‘The teaching is prophecy already fulfilled; the coming of the Lord 
took place in the destruction of Jerusalem. 

Under this view (1) The Antichrist, (2) The Apostacy, (3) "That 

which restraineth, and (4) The one who restraineth, were accorditia 

to the different authorities as follows: 
(1) Simon Magus, (2) the falling off of Christians to Gnostt- 
cism, (3) the union between the Christians and the Jews, (4) 
the civil law. (Ham.) 


OD 


| 


he 


Il ‘ITHESSALONIANS 


(1) The rebel Jews and their leader Simon, (2) the rebellion 
of the Jewish people against the yoke of Rome, (3) whatever 
hindered the open breaking out of that rebellion, (4) King 
Agrippa and the Roman Pontifices. (Cle.) 

(1) The Jewish people, (2) the falling away of Jewish converts 
to Judaism, (3) the Roman government, (4) the Emperor Claud- 
ius. (Wh.) 


(1) Pharisees, Rabbis and Doctors of the law, (2) the rebellion 
against Rome, (3) and (4) the Christians in prayer. (Scho.) 
Other authorities found the Antichrist in Caligula, Titus, the 
High Priest Ananias, the Jewish Zealots, etc. 


But all these interpretations which conceive of the prophecy as ful- 
filled already, and that, in the coming of Christ at the destruction of 
Jerusalem have against them the one fatal objection, viz., that it is 
utterly impossible to conceive of the destruction of Jerusalem as in 
any sense corresponding to the Parousia as the term is used by the 
Apostle Paul. 


The teaching is prophecy yet unfulfilled. 


1. The Church Fathers, for whose opinion profound respect must 
of course be held. 
These all agree in referring the prophecy to the personal coming 
again of Christ yet to take place, and in conceiving of the Anti- 
christ as an individual. Most of them took “‘that which restrain- 
eth’ as the Roman Empire, and “the one that restraineth’’ as the 
Roman Emperor. 
Some of these authorities, however, took “‘that which restratneth”’ 
as the purpose of God. This view would naturally make “the 
one that restraineth’’ to be God Himself. But how then can it 
be said that God must be taken out of the way? It is contended 
by some that the expression can be made equally applicable to a 
voluntary withdrawal. It was the usual expression among the 
Greeks for declining battle. 


2. The Reformers who stood out in opposition to the Church as 

she rose to the head of secular power with an imposing hierarchy 
at her own head. ‘They looked upon the Pope as the Antichrist. 
The Pope in turn said the Antichrist was Luther. They explained 
“that which restraineth’’ and held back the destruction of the 
Papacy to be the Roman Empire, i. e., the imperial power which 
they held to be a revival of the old Roman Empire. 
The Apostacy, they taught, was the fall from pure evangelical 
doctrine to the traditions of men, and the “‘one that restraineth”’ 
they said was the Roman Emperor. ‘The temple of God they 
held to be the Christian Church and the “‘sitting tn tt’’ to be the 
tyrannical power which the Pope usurps over it. (C. N. B. Zw. Os. 
Ar. Ca. Za. Mi. Bez. Wol. Lan. Tur. Ben. Mac. Lut. Schm. Cali.) 
Some of the Reformers referred to Mohammed as the Antichrist, 
and said the apostacy was the falling off of many oriental and 
Greek churches to Mohammedanism. Some held that there was an 
eastern and a western Antichrist, Mohammed and the Pope. (Mel. 
Bul. Pic. Bucer.) 


493 


II THESSALONIANS 


3. Moderns. 


(1) Those who made the Antichrist to be Napoleon; the Apos- 
tacy the enormities of the French Revolution; the power that 
restraineth, the German Empire. This Empire, however, 
ended in 1806 and this alone convicts this view of error. 


(2) Those who give the description a general, ideal or symbolical 
sense. 


(a) Paul was following the general import of Jewish expec- 
tations that there was to be a season of ungodliness be- 
fore the end, the full eruption he expected only after 
his own death, he himself being the one that restrain- 
eth. (Kop.) 


(b) The Man of Sin is Atheism, with its ones authority 
and contempt for religion. (Ni.) 


(c) Many of the interpretations of the past are right but do 
not exhaust the import of the prophecy. The various 
untoward events and ungodly persons which have 
hitherto been mentioned, including the godlessness of 
the present time, are all prefigurations of Antichrist, but 
contain only some of his characteristics, but not all. 
It is the union of all in some one personal appearance 
that shall make the full Antichrist. That which 
restraineth is the moral and conservative influence of 
political states, restraining this great final outbreak. 
(O.. E. A. Ba. Bis. Hof. Lud. Gers Thi Heabsntaess 


authorities all agreeing in the main.) 


So far as the Fathers are concerned, their idea of interpreting “‘that 
which restraineth’ and “‘he who restratneth’’ as respectively the temporal 
political power and he who wields it, may be considered appropriate. “hey 
then of necessity referred to the Roman Empire and the Roman Emperor. 
But these have passed away and the Antichrist has not yet come, and so 
in the particularization they were of course wrong. 

So far as the Reformers are concerned the Pope does not and never did 
fulfill the prophecy, and furthermore if Papacy be the Antichrist, then 
has the Antichrist been revealed and endured now for more than 1500 
years, and yet the Day of the Lord has not come, which, as Alford says, 
‘‘by the very terms of our prophecy such manifestation is to immediately 
precede.”’ 

We still look for the Man of Sin, as the final and central embodiment 
of lawlessness and resistance to God. The Apostacy is still going on, 
Papacy, Mohammedanism, Mormonism, Christian Science, etc. Of “that 
which restratneth’’ and “‘the one who restratneth’’, the one, the general 
hindrance and the other, the person in whom that hindrance is sumnied up, 
Alford says, “‘As the Fathers took them of the Roman Empire and the 
Roman Emperor, standing and ruling in their time, repressing the out- 
breaking sin and enormity,—-so have we been taught by history to widen 
this view and understand them of the fabric of human polity and those © 
who rule that polity, by which the great upbursting of god ies is kept 
down.” 


494 


I TIMOTHY 


Ellicott says, ““The restraining power of well-ordered human rule, the 
principles of legality as opposed to those of lawlessness, of which the 
Roman Empire was the then embodiment.” 


Riggenbach says, ‘“The falling away is the general rush of violent 
departure from the faith that precedes the final disclosure of the Anti- 
christian despot.”’ 


Heubner says, ‘‘However the delicate and tender-hearted may shudder 
at the idea of such a degenerate, atheistical, as it were devilish generation, 
yet according to the course of things it is probably what we have to 
expect.’’ (For other quotations see Lange Commentary on II Thess., 
page 138.) 

Others think that since the restrainer is a person—‘‘he’’, and since a 
“mystery” always implies a supernatural element, this Person can be none 


other than the Holy Spirit in the Church. (Sco.) 


Torrey says, “‘It is only natural to think that this restraining power 
has something to do with the Church; and the inevitable implication seems 
to be that the Church must be removed from the earth before ‘the lawless 
one’ can be revealed on the earth.” 


Says Scofield, ‘“The order of events is: (1) The working of the mys- 
tery of lawlessness under divine restraint which had already begun in the 
Apostle’s time (verse 7) ; (2) the apostacy of the professing Church (verse 
3); (3) the removal of that which restrains the mystery of lawlessness 
(verses 6, 7); (4) the manifestation to the lawless one (verses 8-10); 
(5) the day of Jehovah (verses 9-12); (6) the coming of Christ in glory 
and the destruction of the lawless one (verse 5).”’ 


THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO 


TIMOTHY 


(A. D. 65) 


CHAPTER FOUR 


1 But the Spirit saith expressly, that 
in later times some shall fall away from 
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits 
and doctrines of demons. 


Ver. 1. THE APOSTACY OF THE LATTER TIMES. 


“but’’,—Connects this verse, and by way of contrast, with the be- 
ginning of verse 16 of Chap. 3. 


“expressly’’,—Distinctly, in express words. ‘This is the only place 
in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is said to have spoken “expressly’’. We 
are inclined to think this was a direct prophecy by the Spirit to Paul him- 
self, although it may have been through the words of others spoken by 
the Spirit. Paul may have been familiar with the word spoken by our 
Lord in Matt. 24, and the predictions of other Apostles and of the prophets 
then present in the church, These suggestions may be looked upon with 


495 


I TIMOTHY 





favor, but the suggestion of Wiesinger that Paul had before him prophecies 
of this kind in which allusion was had to the prophecies of the Old Testa- 


ment is at least doubtful, since in that case he would doubtless have said, 


“The Scriptures Saito, Or...) hey l_ord. saith. : 

“in later times’’,—There is an interesting distinction here to be noted. 
Expositors all seem pretty much agreed that this expression is not quite 
equivalent to the one in II Tim. 3.1. Our verse, they say, points simply 
to the future, while that of II Tim. 3.1 (II Pet. 3.3; James 5.3) points 
to the last time of the future immediately preceding the second coming 
of Christ. (A. E.; Hu. Oo. Hof,) 

“some’’,—1. e., those who are led away from the faith by the heretics. 
(id.; Oo) Pi) 

“seducing spirits’’,—The reference here is to the evil spirits which 
inspire the heretics, and which are the tools of the Devil himself. (A. E. 
Wi. Oo. Hu. Pl.) (See Eph. 2.2.; 6.12.) Mack and Coray, on grounds 
quite insufficient, think they refer to the heretics themselves. 

“doctrines of demons’’,—i. e., doctrines of which demons are the 
source. (E. A. B. O. D. Wi. Oo. Hu. Con. The. and the Fathers gen- 
erally.) It is not doctrines regarding demons (Hey.), nor are these demons 
to be referred to the heretics. (C. Mos. Mack.) 

We wonder if there is not a bit of evidence here to show that the 
spirits which are around in the Spiritualistic seances and sittings of the 
present time are not the spirits of our departed loved ones at all, but spirits 
whose distinguishing characteristics are a cloven hoof, a forked tail and a 
lying tongue. 


CHAPTER SIX 


14 that thou keep the commandment, show, who is the blessed and only 
without spot, without reproach, until Potentate, the King of *kings and Lord 
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; of “lords; 

15 which in ‘its own times he shall 
1Or, his °Gr. them that reign as kings 


3Gr. them that rule as lords 


Vers. 14,15. “THE APPEARANCE OF JESUS IN GOD’S OWN TIME. 


Ver. 14. “commandment’’,—i. e., all that Christ has commanded, - 


the rule of the Gospel, the Gospel viewed as the rule of life. (O. A. E. 
Hu. Wi. Hof. Leo.) Not merely the exhortation to fight the good fight 
(Oo.), nor the commandment to flee avarice (verse 11), nor even yet all 
the doctrine that had been enjoined upon Timothy. (C. D. Bez.) 

“without spot, without reproach’’,—Timothy is charged to keep 
the commandment that it may not be stained and open to reproach. (A. E. 
D. Hu. Oo. Pli. Hof. and nearly all ancient interpreters.) 

These epithets are in the New Testament as a rule, if not always, 
referred to persons and for this reason some refer them to Timothy. (Wi. 
Es. Leo. Mat. Hey. Bez.) Estius says they can only refer to persons, but 
De Wett has shown with examples from classical Greek that this is not 
the case, and the construction here and the general good sense thus secured 
seem to make it preferable to refer them to the commandment. 

“appearing’’,—This does not refer to Christ’s coming to Timothy 
in death (Chr. Theo.), but to the visible appearing of our Lord at His 


496 





PeLIMO CEYy 


second coming. It is the time mentioned in I Thess. 4.16,17 and is the 
day of reward for the saints. (II Tim. 4.8.) It is the word, as Huther says, 
that “‘brings into prominence the element of visibility in the Parousia’’. 
‘From such passages as: this’, says Alford, ‘‘we see that the apostolic age 
maintained that which ought to be the attitude of all ages, constant expec- 
tation of the Lord’s return.” 


This verse has been used by many as a proof that Paul believed the 
second coming of Christ to be near at hand. (D. Hu. Pl. Oo. Reu.) 


Ellicott says, “It may perhaps be admitted that the sacred writers 
have used language with reference to their Lord’s return which seems to 
show that the longings of hope had almost become the convictions of 
belief, yet it must be observed that (as in the present case—‘its own 
times’) this language is often qualified by expressions which show that 
they also felt and knew that the hour was not immediately to be looked 
for (II Thess. 2.2), but that the counsels of God, yea, and the machina- 
tions of Satan must require time for their development.”’ 


Alford calls this a mistake and says that the word “‘‘epiphany”’ 
(appearing) and the very words “tn its times’ should have kept Ellicott 
from making it. We cannot see how the expression “‘in tts own times” 
lends any weight one way or the other in regard to the nearness or remote- 
ness of that coming, and whatever argument Ellicott gets for his view of 
this matter from II Thess. 2.2 depends entirely upon his interpretation of 
that much disputed passage. 


Our verse is by no means a strong proof passage for the belief for 
which Paul has been given credit by the authorities mentioned above, but 
whatever ground they feel they have for the view taken doubtless comes 
from the fact that Paul told Timothy to thus keep the commandment 
until the appearing. The Greek for this last word is “‘epiphany’’. It is 
found in five other passages (II Tim. 4.8; I] Tim. 4.1; Titus 2.13; Acts 
2.20; II Thess. 2.8) and is rendered “‘appearing’’ in every passage except 
II Thess. 2.8, where it is ‘brightness’. 


Ver. 15. “its own times’,—This is better translated “his own 
times 72 (A... Hu. Oo. PL) 

These words at least show that even if Paul did entertain a hope of 
the near return of Christ, it did not lead him to fix arbitrarily the day 
when that return would take place. 

“‘he’’,—God. 

“shall show’’,—1. e., cause to appear, make visible, display. 

This passage shows that it is God who will bring to pass the epiphany 
of Jesus Christ, and He will do this in His own times. (See Titus 1.3; 
dle ae lain 2.0. Actsy 1.7.) 

The following ascription beginning with “who ts the blessed’’, etc., 
refers to God. 


~ 


497 


Il TIMOTHY 


THE SECONDIEPIS DEE Ober AL ian 


TIMOTHY 


CHAPTER ONE 


10 but hath now been manifested by 
the appearing of our Saviour Christ 
Jesus, who abolished death and brought 
life and ‘immortality to light through 
the *Gospel. 

12 For which cause I suffer also these 
things; yet I am not ashamed; for I 
See Rom. 2.7. 


1Gr. incorruption. 
°Gr. good tidings 


know Him whom I have believed, and 
I am persuaded that He is able to guard 
“that which I have committed unto Him 
against that day. 

18 The Lord grant unto him to find 


mercy in that day. 


8Or, that which he hath committed unto me. 
Gr. my deposit 


Verstl 0 121 Se. PAUL'S CONFIDENCE AS TO His SECURITY IN THE DAY. 


OF His LORD’sS COMING. 


Ver. 10. “the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus’’,—The word 
is “‘epiphany’’ and it is the only place in the New Testament where this 
word is applied to the first coming, the incarnation, of our Lord. 


Ver. 12. ‘“‘For which cause’’,—1i. e., because he was appointed as a 
preacher of the Gospel, and yet it was not because of the appointment con- 
sidered in itself alone but to the fact that to this appointment was related 
Paul’s activity in proclaiming the Gospel. It refers to the immediately 
preceding verse. (A. E. Oo. Hu. Wi.) 


“suffer also these things’’,—Paul was in prison. 


“not ashamed’’,—Prison for Paul was not a disgrace but a matter 
for glorying. Said with reference to verse 8 and as an encouragement to 
Timothy. 


“him’’,—i. e., God. 


“know Him’’,—I have the most unquestionable proof of His power 
and His love—I know Him. 


“whom I have believed’’,_—The literal of this is 
given my faith’. The figure is that of a deposit made and the depositor 
trusting the depositary, and it is this which has induced the Revised Version 
rendering (“‘guard’’), although there is really no better translation than 
that of the Authorized Version. 

“that which I have committed unto Him’’,—The literal Greek is 
“my deposit’, and this may mean what I have deposited with God or 
what God has deposited with me, as in the margin. 

The former is without doubt the correct view, but what, according 
to this view, did Paul deposit with God? ; 

1. His eternal reward, the crown laid up for him. (Wi. Oo. Pli. 

Ca. Tho. Bez. Wol.) But Alford rightly remarks that ‘“This 
represents this reward not as a matter of God’s free grace but as 
Paul’s own delivered to God for safe keeping.” 

2. His salvation. (C. Am. Hu.) This is quite similar to the view 

just noted and is open to the same objection. 


498 


“‘to whom I have. 


ee.” es Le ea a ee 


Il TIMOTHY 


3. The believers who had been converted by his means; his converts. 
But this is unsupported by the context and hardly needs refu- 
tation. 


4. His soul, himself, as in I Pet. 4,19.. (A. B. Gro. Pau. Con. Hof.) 


What did God commit to Paul according to the second view? ‘The 
meanings assigned to “‘my deposit’ are very numerous and it must be con- 
fessed that not one of them is free from difficulty. 


The Holy Spirit. (The.) 

‘The Gospel and its proclamation to the world. (E. FI.) 
The apostolic office as a stewardship. (D. Hei.) 

His own soul as entrusted to him by God. (Bret.) 

His converts as committed to him by God. 


UI BWhN 


In verse 14 and in I Tim. 6.20 we have the same word, “deposit’’, 
and used with the same verb, and because of this De Wette and others 
argue that the sense and meaning must be the same. But this is a lax 
and careless way of reasoning. Asa rule this is possible and true but it is 
by no means necessary. Wiesinger gives three good reasons why in this 
case it proves just the reverse: 


1. In these other references Timothy is the guardian and in our verse 
the guardian is plainly God and the guardian is usually the one 
to whom the deposit is committed. 


2. In these other references the deposit seems to refer to the doctrines 
committed to Timothy, while in our verse it is a personal pos- 
session which belongs to Paul. 


3. In these other references it is a question of right action on Tim- 
othy’s part, while in our verse it is a question of confidence and 
consolation in the right action of another, namely, God. 


I am inclined to think, therefore, with Alford that when we inquire 
what this deposit was, the answer is to be found in the previous words, 
“tn whom I have belteved’’; and that Paul had entrusted himself, body, 
soul and spirit, to the keeping of his heavenly Father, and lay safe in His 
hands, confident of His abiding and effectual care. 


“against that day’’,—The day meant here is the day of Christ’s 
* second coming, the Parousia, ‘“The day of the coming of Christ’’, says 
Oosterzee, ‘‘when the crown of life will be given to all who love His 
appearing.’ It is the day referred to in I Thess. 4.16,17. 

Another strong reason in our mind against taking the “‘deposit’’ as 
something committed to Paul is that Paul would then have to render up 
his trust, whatever it be, at the end of his life, and “‘that day’’ here referred 
to would then mean the day of his death; and this is entirely contrary to 
usage on the part of Paul. 


Ver. 18. “tn that day’’,—The same day as that mentioned in verse 
12, the day of the Parousia, of the second coming of Christ. 

“the Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord’’,—The repeti- 
tion of the word “‘Lord”’ seems at first glance a bit confusing. Some refer 
both words to God while others again refer both to Christ. Some refer 
the first word to God and the second to Christ, while others just reverse 


499 


I STIMOC AY. 


this order, and each with a reason of course sufficient for himself. Inas- 
much as all judgment is said to be committed to the Son (John 5.22), 
it would seem best to refer the second word to Christ regardless as to whom 


the first word is referred. But why not refer them both to Christ. Paul © 


had used the well-known formula, ““The Lord grant’, and might simply 
have finished by saying, “to find mercy tn that day’’, but in his mental 
vision of the judgment, seeing Christ as Judge, he writes down, “from the 
Lord’, just as it occurs to him, without recalling that he had begun with 
“The Lord grant unto him’. 


CHAPTER TWO 


12 If we endure we shall also reign 
with Him; if we deny him, he also shall 
deny us. 


Ver. 12. THE BELIEVER SHALL REIGN WITH HIS COMING KING. 


“we shall also reign with Him’’,—All are agreed as to the reference 
of this reigning to the time after the Parousia, when the Messianic king- 
dom shall be revealed in its full glory. (A. E. Oo. Pl. Hu. Wi.) 


(SeédRom.5217;.8: 17 le Core4 SeeMattealor ag) 


Not only shall we live with Him but we shall be kings with Him 
and share in His glory and dominion. 


CHAPTER THREE 


1 But know this, that in the last days men, as theirs also came to be. 
grievous times shall come. 13 But evil men and impostors shall 
9 But they shall proceed no further; wax worse and worse, deceiving and 
for their folly shall be evident unto all being deceived. 


Vers. 1,9,13. THe Last DAYs ARE TO BE TIMES OF DISTRESS. 


Ver. 1. “in the last days’’,—That the reference here .is to a time 
still in the future ought to be sufficiently evidenced to an unbiased mind by 
the use of the future verb, “‘shall come’’, and with this practically all un- 
biased scholars agree and refer the time to that immediately preceding the 
second coming of Christ, the Parousia. (A. E. Oo. Eb. Wi. Hu. Pl.) It 
is the “last hour’’ of I John 2.18, and Alford again calls attention to the 
fact that they of that time wrote and spoke of that hour and that day as if 
it were to appear in the not very far away future. 


The time referred to is not, therefore, the time between the first and’ 


second coming of Christ, as Heydenreich maintains, nor as Mack says, the 
time in which the errors spoken of shall come to an end. Such renderings 
are purely arbitrary. 

As another evidence that Paul thought the end not far away is noted 
the fact that by verse 5 it would seem as though the times mentioned had, 
at least in their beginnings, already set in, inasmuch as he tells Timothy to 
turn away from these evil men who are to come in the last days. 


“grievous times’’,—The idea is of distress rather than of danger as 


conveyed by the word “‘perilous’’ of the Authorized Version. By De 
Wette it is translated “‘critical times’’ and by Wiesinger, ‘‘severe times’’, 
“evil times’. 


500 


——— 


oS ae ee 


SO ee a ee 


Il TIMOTHY 


‘The following verses describe in what sense the “‘last days’’ are to be 
grievous. 

Ver. 9. “but they shall proceed no further’’,—There seems to be a 
contradiction between these words and those of verse 13 and of Chap. 2.16. 
Paul certainly does not mean to contradict himself, nor is it likely, if it 
could be possible at all, that he would do it in statements so close together. 
The apparent difficulty must be relieved in one or the other of two ways: 
either conceive of Paul as not speaking of the same people or as having in 
mind a different kind of progress to be made by the same people, and of the 
two the latter is without doubt the better explanation. 

What the Apostle says is that there shall be no real and ultimate 
advance. In Chap. 2.16 the Apostle seems to be speaking of an imme- 
diate spread of error, while here he is looking to its ultimate defeat and 
distinction. Wiesinger says verse 13 treats of an intensive progress and 
the more rapid their advance to the worse the more speedily will their folly 
expose itself. The advance is not denied, but what is denied is the suc- 
cessful advance without detection and exposure. The authorities are 
quite agreed as to this explanation. (A. E. Oo. Hu. Wi. PI. Chr.) 

“as theirs also came to be’’,—1. e., as the folly of Jannes and Jambres 
of verse 8. (See Ex. 8.18 and 9.11.) 

Ver. 13. The chasm is to grow wider and wider until the final issue. 


“But’’,—The contrast is rather with verse 12, to the godly in their 
persecutions (A. E. Oo. Wi. Mat. Chr. Hey.), than with verse 10, Paul's 
godly life (D. Hu.). Either reference is permissible but on the whole 
that with the immediately preceding verse 12 is preferable. 

“evil men’’,—i. e., evil men in general, and then particularized by 
the next word, “‘tmpostors’’, the impostors being included in the general 
term. 

“tmpostors’,—This comes from a word meaning incantations by 
howling, and from this it passes to the practice of magic arts in general, 
and then by a very natural transition to deception and imposture. The 
word really means “‘magicians’’ and Paul doubtless uses it with express 
reference to verse 8. 

Ellicott aptly says, “We cannot indeed definitely infer from this term 
that magic arts were actually used by these impostors, but there is certainly 
nothing in such a supposition inconsistent either with the context, the 
primary meaning of the word, or the description of similar opponents 
mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.” 

“wax worse and worse’,—The language here not only can, as De 
Wette says, but must be taken intensively, as practically all are agreed. It 
is the same word as used in verse 9, but it denotes a greater degree of 
wickedness while verse 9 refers the rather to increase in extent. 

“deceiving and being deceived’’,—Here the mode of progress is indi- 


cated. ‘‘He who leads others astray’’, says Huther, “‘is himself led astray.”’ 


CHAPTER FOUR 


1 "I charge thee in the sight of God, 
and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the 
living and the dead, and by his appear- 
ing and his kingdom; 

'Or, J testify, in the sight... dead, both of 
his appearing &c, 


3 For the time will come when they 
will not endure the “sound “doctrine; 
but having itching ears, will heap to 
themselves teachers after their own lusts. 

°Gr. healthful 


8Or, teaching 


Il TIMOTHY 


Vers. 1,3. “THE APPEARING OF CHRIST AN INCENTIVE TO MINISTERIAL 
FIDELITY. 


Ver. 1. “in the sight of’’, etc..—As though both God and Christ, 


as visible witnesses, were considered personally present. 


“the living and the dead’’,—It is altogether wrong to suppose with 
Peile that the spiritually living and dead are meant, but all expositors are 
agreed that it is the physically alive and the physically dead who are to be 
judged at the time in question. 


I have found no distinction in the minds of any of the expositors as 
to any difference in the time of the judgment upon the living and the dead 
respectively. If there is such a distinction, this verse assuredly must not 
be taken as one of the proof references, although a fair exegesis does not 
prohibit its interpretation in harmony with such distinction. 


Of course the judgment in question is related in some temporal way 
with the appearing, the coming of Christ. It is doubtful, however, 
whether this verse says so in so many words. According to the Author- 
ized Version it does. ‘This version reads, ‘“‘at his appearing and his king- 
dom’, and very many expositors adopt this reading and interpret “‘at 
as a preposition of time modifying the word “‘judge’’. But Tischendorf, 
Tregelles, Lachmann, and by far the best manuscript authority favor the 
conjunction “and” of the Revised Version and make it modify the word 
“charge’’. 

In considering the question of time it might be well also first to note 
the distinction between the words ‘‘appearing’’ and “kingdom’’, ‘These 
words do not refer to one and the same thing, but the first refers to Christ's 
epiphany, His coming as mentioned in I Thess. 4:16,17, and the second 
refers to His kingdom then to reveal itself in glory. Notice the repetition 
of “his’. This is not without significance; each point is conceived inde- 
pendently and in its own full significance; His coming at which we shall 
stand before Him and His kingdom in which we hope to reign with Him. 
It is without doubt the kingdom which begins with the return of our Lord. 


Still the question as to the time of the judgment is before us. “Those 
who place the time of Christ’s coming after the Millennium refer this verse 
to the general judgment of all the living and all the dead at that time, and 
they of course quote I Thess. 4.16,17 and I Cor. 15.51,52 as being in 
harmony with this interpretation. 


Those who place the time of Christ’s coming before the Millennium. 
place the judgment of the living at the beginning of the Millennium and 
the judgment of the dead at its close (Mack). As we have already said, 
the verse may be made exegetically to conform to either view, but it can 
scarcely be said to lend evidence one way or the other, and the matter must 
be settled by one’s thought in regard to the matter as shaped by the teach 
ing of other portions of the Word. 


There is an interesting turn in the expression, “‘shall judge’, whieh 
we have noticed nowhere else; it really means ‘‘about to judge’. There is 
no doubt but that grammatically this rendering is correct. [he word 
‘“‘mellontos’’ does carry, according to all lexicons consulted, the idea of 
“to be about to do anything’, and this is all the more true when used 
with a present infinitive. [hus Thayer in his lexicon defines the word, 
with the infinitive present, ‘‘to be on the point of doing something’. It 


502 





Lie IMOSEY 


cannot therefore be thought over-refined or arbitrary to see in the expres- 
“sion, as used by Paul, an added evidence of his feeling that the coming 
again of his Lord was not to be conceived of as in the far distant future. 


Ver. 3. “the time will come’’,—The same time is here meant as 
that in Chap. 3.1, the time he has been talking about. 

“not endure’,—They will find it intolerable because it is not con 
sistent with their desires. 

“itching ears’’,—TWhe word means to scratch or tickle. Their desire 
is to hear something tickling to the.ear. 

“heap to themselves’’,—The idea here is to procure in multitudes, 
and the word involves the idea of contempt. 
; “after their own lusts’’,—i. e., their, own willful, selfish desires 
instead of obedience under the divine will. 


8 henceforth there is laid up for me me at that day, and not to me only, but 
the crown of righteousness, which the also to all them that have loved his 
Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to appearing. 


Ver. 8. “THE HOPE OF HIS COMING IS INCONSISTENT WITH UNRIGHT- 
EOUS LIVING. 


“henceforth’’ ,—i. e., as to what remains for me. At the end of his 
life-course nothing remains but to receive the crown. 

“laid up’’,—The prize is already prepared and laid up for him and 
cannot possibly escape him. 

“the crown of righteousness’’,—This is to be explained as the crown 
which is bestowed as a recognition of righteousness—that which rewards 
the righteous course of life. (A. E. D. Wi. Pl. Pli. The. Chr.) 

There is another explanation which takes the word righteousness as 
an apposition to crown, that in which the crown consists. (Hu. Oo. Dw. 
Leo. Holt, Grimm.) Reference is made to Jam. 1.12; I Pet. 5.4; Rev. 
2.10, where this kind of construction doubtless prevails. 

This view is of course possible, but if it is accepted, “righteousness” 
must be vested only with its ordinary meaning, and not with the forensic 
sense as though it were the righteousness of Christ imputed, as Calovius 
and Mosheim take it. Analogy with the other passages mentioned seems 
‘to favor this view, but since the word “‘righteousness’’ in all cases in these 
epistles appears to have not a dogmatical but a practical reference, it seems 
better to take the first view. Wiesinger well remarks that righteousness 
could hardly be taken as the reward of righteousness, and that the reward 
is always elsewhere represented as life or glory, and that the first view is in 
harmony with the figure being used, which is not true of the second view. 

“the Lord” ,—i. e., Jesus Christ. 

“shall give’’,—Alford reads ‘“‘shall award’. ‘The word itself does 
not necessarily convey any sense of due, requittal, reward, although, as 
Ellicott says, ‘‘such a meaning can be grammatically sustained and con- 
firmed by examples’, and in keeping with our explanation above it is 
better for us to so take the word here. 

“at that day’’,—1i. e., the day of His appearing; the day of Christ’s 
Parousia, which Paul now of course no longer expected to see on earth. 


(1 Thess. 4.16,17.) 
503 


PIMOS 


“have loved’’,—i, e., those who at that day shall be found to have 
loved, and still to be loving—those who have looked forward with longing 
and earnest joy. 


“his appearing’ ,—His Parousia, the epiphany at the second coming. 


18 The Lord will deliver me from 
every evil work, and will save me unto 
his heavenly kingdom; to whom be the 
glory “forever and ever. Amen. 

1Gr. unto the ages of the ages 


Ver. 18. THE KINGDOM AWAITING THE BELIEVER IMMEDIATELY UPON 
DEATH. 


S Lie ord jis—ie Cr brist, 


“every evil work’’,—This does not mean from the evil one (Mos. 
Pel.), nor from every evil circumstance (Lut. Mat.), which would be out 
of harmony with verse 6 and would be against the essential meaning of 
the word “‘evil’’, which in the New Testament always refers to moral evil 
and not to external affliction. 


‘There are two other views, each of which has many strong advocates: 


1. The evil works which he himself might do, i. e., yield to tempta- 
tion and apostatize through faint-heartedness. (A. D. Pl. Gro. 
Hey. Bez. Chr.) 


Oosterzee well remarks, “‘But at this high state of his spiritual 
development, and with death immediately before him, as he well 
knew, it is not probable that the aged Apostle could have felt and 
expressed fear in this respect.”’ 


2. The evil acts and designs of his enemies toward him. (E. Oo. 
Wi. Hu. Hof.) It was not that Paul expected ‘to be delivered 
from prison (verse 6), but that he knew that through the Lord 
he would be delivered from the attacks of the evil One and his 
agents so that they could do him no harm. In other words, 
“Stone walls do not a prison make; nor iron bars a cage.”’ Of 
course so far as outward circumstances went, his enemies had the 
best of him, and could do with him as they pleased and this Paul 
knew. ‘The Lord in His providence had not seen fit to deliver 


him from them in this respect, and this does not seem to enter: 


into Paul’s concern. If any harm then came to him or was at all 


likely to come to him through their treatment of him, and from’ 


which he might well hope to be rescued, it would be that of faint- 
heartedness and apostacy, but the possibility of this being so far 
removed for the reasons above stated, it would seem on the whole 

best to adhere to the second view as above. 
“his heavenly kingdonr’’,—This is the only place in the New Testa- 
ment where this exact expression occurs, and some have declared that the 
term and the idea are alike foreign to the Apostle, who knows only of a 


kingdom of God which Christ will introduce at His coming. But surely 


this is an ill-considered conception. ‘There is a three-fold aspect of the 
kingdom and Paul is familiar with them all. A glance back at verse 1 
shows his familiarity with the idea of the kingdom to be established at 
Christ’s coming. In Col. 1.13 he says that we.as Christians are already 


504 


TITUS 


translated into the kingdom of His dear Son; and in Phil. 1.23 the Apostle 
' anticipates for believers immediately after death an entrance into a heavenly 
kingdom in which there is a fuller fellowship with Christ than that which 
any earthly existence can afford. The kingdom referred to in this verse is 
the same as that in Phil. 1.3. . 


“Why then’’, says Wiesinger, ‘even though the precise expression does 
not occur elsewhere, regard the idea as un-Pauline, when the Apostle recog- 
nizes elsewhere a being with Christ after death, regards Christ as reigning 
in the heavens, and the establishment of His kingdom on earth, to which 
he naturally adverts when he would mention the closing period, as but the 
manifestation of the sovereign authority with which He is already 
invested?”’ 


TROP IS GIsheObeRPAUL TO 


TITUS 


PAT e OD) 


CHART ERAnLWO 


13 looking for the blessed hope and 
appearing of the glory ‘of the great God 
and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

1Or, of our great God and Saviour 


Ver. 13. THE BELIEVER’S BLESSED HOPE. 


“looking for’’,—And of course expecting. (Lu. 2.25; Mk. 15.43.) 


“the blessed hope’’,—Looking for a hope sounds strange, but this 
strangeness is relieved when we remember that hope here does not so much 
designate subjectively the form or the act of hoping, as rather objectively 
the contents and the object of the hope, the thing hoped for. And yet it 
will not do to take ““hope’’ too objectively. It is rather hope contemplated 
under objective aspects, our hope being thought of as something definite 
_ and substantial. 

Alford aptly says, ““Nearly objective,—the hope as embodying the 
thing hoped for; but keep the vigour and propriety both of language and 
thought, and do not tame down the one or violate the other.’ 

“‘blessed’’,— This hope is thus described because it brings the expected 
blessedness, and the expectation of it blesses the believer. 

“appeating’ ,—The Greek is epiphany. ‘There are two great epipha- 
nies, the Epiphany of Grace (verse 11), when Christ first appeared in 
humility, and the Epiphany of Glory (this verse), when Christ is to 
appear again in power, which last Epiphany beyond doubt denotes the 
Second Coming of Christ. 

Epiphany, it seems, differs only from Parousia in that it emphasizes 
the visibility of the Second Coming. 

“glory’,—It is better to join this word with both “‘hope’’ and 
“appearing” rather than with the latter word alone. 


505 


HEBREWS 


The rendering of the Authorized Version, ‘‘the glorious appearing”’, 
is incorrect and unfortunate. 


“of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ’’,—This is the rendering | 
of the Revised Version and it makes the “‘Saviour Jesus Christ’ to be the 
great God, while the rendering of the Authorized separates the two. [he 
authorities for these two renderings are about evenly divided. 


The settlement of this question does not lie within the scope of the 
purpose of this study. It may be said, however, in passing that even 
Winer admits that the question cannot be settled on purely grammatical 
grounds. 


Ellicott says, “‘It does indeed seem difficult to resist the conviction 
that our blessed Lord is here said to be our great God, and that this text 
is a direct, definite and even studied declaration of the divinity of the 
eternal Son.” 


We are inclined, for reasons not in place here to enumerate, to feel 
about the passage rather much as Wiesinger says, ‘““‘Whoever will simply 
read and translate the words without doctrinal prejudice will have as little 
hesitation in referring them to one and the same subject, as in understand- 
ing, for instance, in II Pet. 1.11, the words, ‘kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ’, as relating to the same subject.”’ 


APE Beis vee Om itih 


HEBREWS 


(A. D. 64) 
CHAPTER ONE 

2 God hath at the end of these days **Thy throne, O God, is for ever and 
spoken unto us in *his Son, whom he ever; 
appointed heir of all things, through And the sceptre of uprightness is the 
whom also he made the *worlds; sceptre of thy *kingdom. 
8 but of the Son he saith, 

1Gr. a Son 8Ps, 14.6 f. 

°Gr. ages. Comp. 1 Tim. 1.17 4Or, Thy throne is God for &c. 


5The two oldest Greek manuscripts read his 


Vers. 2,8. THE END OF THESE DAYS AND THE EVERLASTING KING- ° 
DOM OF CHRIST. 


Ver. 2. “at the end of these days’’,—It is very plain that the end 
of any time may be thought of as a point of time, the terminus itself, or as 
a portion of time. In this latter sense we speak of a week-end visit, mean- 
ing the end of the week in the sense of one or more days. It is in this 
sense the word “‘end’’ is used both by the prophets of the Old and New 
Testament writers. 

What days are to be understood? Of course the particular time to © 
which the writer referred is the same as that meant in Chap. 9.26, “‘at the 
end of the ages’, the time between the coming and the crucifixion of 
Christ, the time when the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy commenced. 


506 





HEBREWS 


___ But how is “‘the end of these days’’ to be interpreted in harmony 
with this statement of the case? Just what did the writer mean by “‘these 
days’ and “‘the end’’? 


Lunneman says he means the very days in which he and his readers 
were actually living, and he says the writer uses “the end’’ because he was 
thinking of the near approach of the Second Coming, i. e., the closing 
days of “these days’, the last part of them, their culmination. 


But the period between the coming and the crucifixion of Christ was 
at the beginning and not at the end of those days. If Lunneman were 
right it would be quite as appropriate for us to say the same thing in these 
days of ours, and certainly the time when God spoke through His Son is 
not A. D. 1923! 


The reference cannot be to the days of the prophets because those 
days did not extend down to the time of Christ, and furthermore the an- 
tithesis between “‘days of old”’ and “‘these days’’ would then be lost. 


With good reason therefore we must refer the phrase to the technical 
Old Testament expression, ‘“‘be-acharith-ha-yamim’” (Num. 24.14), 
which in the Septuagint is rendered so many times, “‘in the last days’’ or “‘at 
the end of the days’’. These expressions which in themselves denote simply 
the end of certain days, became to the ancient Jews an expression for ‘‘the 
times of the Messiah’. Thus what Peter meant at Pentecost was, ‘“‘We 
are now in what Joel called ‘the last Cause (Acts 2.1/5) 


‘The Jews divided the religious history of the world into two periods. 
One period they called Olam Hazzeh, the time before the Messiah whom 
they were expecting, the time which preceded the fulfillment of prophecy 
concerning the Messiah. ‘The other period they called Olam Haba, the 
time after the Messiah had come, which coming, in their minds, was to be 
accompanied by the resurrection. [hey knew nothing of a second com- 
ing and a delayed resurrection. 


The Jews called the former of these periods ‘‘this age’’ (Greek, aion 
outos), and the latter period they called ‘‘the age to come’ (Greek, aion 
mellon). 

Now the actual days of the Messiah seem to have been regarded as a 
. transition between these two ages, sometimes being included in the former 
and sometimes in the latter. “They could therefore very properly be said 
to be the end of the pre-Messianic age (which the Jews called ‘“‘this age’’), 
and they could quite as properly be called the beginning of the post- 
Messianic age (which the Jews called ‘‘the age to come’). In fact this 
Messianic period was by the Rabbis sometimes reckoned with the one and 
sometimes with the other. 

The Jews of course did not and could not foresee that it would be 
necessary for the Apostles and for us to again divide the portion of time 
known as the end. But they rejected the Messiah and He went away, 
promising that He would come back again, and consequently to all who 
believe i in this promise there is still another ‘‘age to come’’, another “‘future 
age’, which is to begin at the time of our Lord’s return, and the days that 
now are and which were in the writer’ s time are in a sense, chronologically 
distinct from Jewish conception, ‘‘the present age’, ‘‘this age’ (aion 


outos). 
” 


507 


HEBREWS 


The following diagram will help in distinguishing these various 
divisions of time, the expressions above the line being the Jewish expres- 
sions of the times as related to the Messiah, while those below the line are © 
made from the Apostolic and Christian standpoint, the star standing for 
the actual days of the Messiah and the arrow for His return. 


Olam hazzeh 
aion outos 
this age 


Olam haba 
aion mellon 
age to come 


the last days 

the latter days 

be-acharith-ha-yamim 

ok 

this age age to come 
aion outos aion mellon 
the last days 

the latter days 


As the Christians believed that the Messiah had come, the former 
period, as conceived by the Jews, had, in their mind, already ended, and 
they themselves were living in the Olam haba, in what was in reality the 
“‘age to come’”’ of the Jews. 


Now Moll says, ‘““The ‘these days’ are not the days in which the 
readers and the author lives, but they correspond to what the Jew knew as 
‘this age’ (aion outos), and the ‘end’ is to be taken as indicating the close 
of the pre-Messianic time.”’ This will be found consistent with what we 
have already said if the actual Messianic days be counted with the former 
of the two Jewish divisions of time as the ending days of that period. 

But why did the writer say “these days’? All agree:as to the time | 
which was actually in the writer’s mind, and the only difficulty is to 
harmonize the word “‘these’’ with it. 


There can be only one answer to this question and that is that the 
writer would have them know that the days in which they were living 
belonged to “‘the end of the days’, not the end in the sense that the Second 
Coming of Christ was near kogatagr Lunneman), but the end in the Old 
‘Testament technical sense. 


Says Lindsay, ‘The word ‘these’ was added plainly to indicate that 
the days referred to had already begun. They were styled ‘the end of the - 
days’, ‘the last days’ from the most ancient times; but now, says Paul, they 
are ‘these last days’ because the long expected Messiah has appeared.”’ 


The explanation of Moll is indeed most simple and there is much 
to say in its favor, but between it and this other we are inclined to the 
latter. In the former, “‘these’’ points to time before the arrival of the 
Messiah and in the latter to time after His arrival, and we cannot get away 
from the conviction that the writer used the word with the latter thought 
in his mind. 


Ver. 8. “Thy throne, O God, ts forever and ever’’,—That the word 
“God”’ is here in the vocative case and applies to Christ there can be no 
doubt. Other explanations are absurd and sometimes preposterous. The 
marginal reading of the Revised Version will not do; it puts Christ above 


’ 508 





HEBREWS 


God, as he who sits upon a throne is always superior in dignity and im- 
portance to the throne itself. 


“forever and forever’’,—Greek, “‘unto eternity of eternity’. The 
phrase is unique in the New Testament and means that the dominion of 
Christ is to endure forever. 


Lindsay says it is His mediatorial throne to which reference is here 
to be seen. 


CHAPTER THREE 
7 Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit day, so long as it is called Today, lest 


saith, *Today, if ye shall hear his voice, any one of you be hardened by the 
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the pro- deceitfulness of sin. 
vocation, like as in the day of the trial 15 While it is said, “Today if ye shall 
in the wilderness. hear His voice, harden not your hearts 
13 But exhort one another day by as in the provocation. 
7Ps, 95:7, ff. 


CHAPTER FOUR 


7 He again defineth a certain day, Harden not your hearts. 8 For if 
Today, saying in David so long a time *Joshua had given them rest, he would 
afterward (even as hath been said be- not have spoken afterwards of another 
fore), "Today if ye shall hear His voice, day. 

HPAL A sie 2Gr. Jesus. Comp. Acts 7.45 


Here are a number of instances in which the word “‘day’’ is used to 
express a greater period of time than twenty-four hours. In verses 7,13,15 
of Chap. 3 and verses 7 and 8 of Chap. 4, the word will have, as West- 
cott says, “‘various interpretations in accordance with its connections. For 
the Church it is the whole time until Christ's Second Coming. For the 
believer it is the period of his life.”’ 


Specifically ‘“‘today’’ refers to the day when this word of God is read, 
whether in private or when the Psalm from which it is taken was read 
in public as it was accustomed to be read, Aiea PAS ILOLa Says, 

“that might be’. 


The “‘certain day’’ of Chap. 4.7 is the “‘today’’ mentioned in the 
various other verses. 


“The day of temptation’ in Chap. 3.8 refers specifically to the second 
‘murmuring against Moses and Aaron for want of water at the close of the 
fourth year’s wilderness experience, while “‘the provocation’ refers to the 
first murmuring of the same kind at the beginning of the wilderness expert- 
ence; hence the whole forty years are covered by the two expressions. (See 
Num. 20.1-13 and Ex. 17.1-7.) 


CHAPTER EIGHT 
7 For if that first covenant had been and with the house of Judah; 9 Not 


faultless, then would no place have been according to the covenant that I made 
sought fora second. 8 For ‘finding fault with their fathers, in the day that I 
with them he saith, “Behold the days took them by the hand to lead them 
come, saith the Lord, that I will *make forth out of the land of Egypt; for they 
. a new covenant with the house of Israel continued not in my covenant, and [| 


1Some ancient authorities read finding fault 
with it, Ze saith unto them &c. 

"Jer. 31.31 ff. 

3Gr. accomplish 


509 


HEBREWS 


regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 
For this is the covenant that “I will 
make with the house of Israel after those 
days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws 
in their mind, and on their hearts also 
will I write them; and I will be to them 
a God, and they shall be to me a people; 


11 And they shall not teach every man 
his fellow-citizen, and every man his 
brother, saying, Know the Lord. For 
all shall know me, from the least to the 
greatest of them. 12 For I will be 
merciful to their iniquities, and their 
sins will I remember no more. 


4Gr. J will covenant 
Vers. 7-12. “THE NEW COVENANT IN CHRIST. 
Nets 


fulfilled perfectly the purpose to which it pointed. 
the fault lay with those who received it. 


“«f that first covenant had been faultless’’,—1. e., if it had 
The law is not blamed; 


“no place... for a second’’,—1i. e., no place in the development of 
the divine purpose and consequently no place in the history of the world. 


Ver. 8. ‘“‘them’’,—1i. e., the Israelites. Grammatically this word 
can be taken either with “finding fault’’ or “‘saith’’. “The authorities are 
about equally divided, but all things considered it seems best to retain the 
reading of our text, thus making it the people who are blamed and not the 
covenant. If it is taken with the word “‘saith’’ then some word must be 
supplied as the object of “finding fault’’, and the sentence would read, 
“finding fault with (it, i. e., the covenant) He saith to them.” 


“the days come’’,—The words are from Jeremiah 31.31-34, and the 
days to come are the days to be introduced by the Messiah. 


““‘make’’,—This is not the same word as that used in verses 9 and 10. 
This word really means “‘to accomplish’’ and seems to be used inten- 
tionally to set forth the completeness of the new covenant (A. Lu.) and 
to emphasize the efficacy of it. (W. Del. Aug.) 


“Tsrael and Judah’’,—Both went into captivity after the prophecy 
here quoted was made by Jeremiah, and both are specified in God’s promise 
of grace and restoration. The once divided and exiled people are again 
to be brought together, says Jeremiah; the schism is to have no existence 
under the new covenant. 


That Jeremiah, when he made the prophecy here quoted, had in mind 
a broader conception than merely that of national Israel seems rather cer- 
tain because the writer of Hebrews quotes him and uses his words, “‘Israel 
and Judah’’, with a reference wide enough to take in all the people of God. 
The new covenant, the New Testament Covenant, takes in all of us who 
are God’s people and the writer speaks of it as a covenant with the house 
of Israel and the house of Judah. Therefore it would seem that this 
expression means something more than Jews, at least so far as this passage 
goes, 


Ver. 9. “with’’,—The preposition here used really means “‘to’, 
and it therefore excludes the notion of reciprocity in the covenant making, 
the people of Israel being only recipients and not co-agents in the making 
of it. 


“regarded them not’’,—1i. e., did not concern Himself about them as 


formerly. Yet their unfaithfulness did not annul the faithfulness of God, 
for this He proved by establishing a new covenant when the old one failed 
to accomplish His gracious purpose. 


510 


Le ESL a ee a et ee ec eee Oe 


co. ee 





HEBREWS 





Ver. 10. “house of Israel’’,—This refers to the whole nation; the 
_ division having ceased the people of God is again called by its own name. 
The reference here also as understood by the writer of Hebrews is to the 
people of God in general and not to Israel after the flesh. 

“after those days’’,—This may be taken either with Delitzsch as 
meaning “‘after the days that are coming”’ as mentioned in verse 8, which 
is the same from the viewpoint of time as “after the end of these days’ in 
Chap. 1. 2 as advocated by Westcott; or it may be taken with Alford as 
meaning ‘‘after those days of disregard” as mentioned i in verse 9, which is 
the same thing from the viewpoint of time as ‘‘after the days which precede 
the coming days of verse 8’’, as advocated by Lunneman. The latter 
explanation seems to be favored more by the context and the more precise 
meaning of the preposition “‘after’’. 

“mind... hearts’’,—Says Lindsay, ‘‘They are not only to be known 
and remembered but loved, cherished and obeyed.” 


Ver. 11. This does not mean that there shall be no religious instruc- 
tion but that the knowledge of the Lord would be widely spread in the 
Church. There needs to be no privileged class interposed between the 
mass of men and God, but the people being brought by the Holy Spirit into 
true fellowship with God are themselves to be privileged by an immediate 
knowledgeron tims (Read “Joel @2.28,293"Isan54.135 Matt. 1 loll 32Lu. 
7.28; John 6.45; I John 2.20,27.) 

“from the least to the greatest’’,—There is to be no distinction of 
age, station or endowments. 


Ver. 12. The New Covenant rests upon forgiveness on the part of 
God and not on performance on the part of man. It is this fact that 
insures us against any repetition of failure such as the Old Covenant had 
produced. As yet this prophecy has received only partial fulfillment, and 
we look patiently forward to its more ample and complete fulfillment in 
the days when ‘ ‘The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the 
waters cover the sea.’ 


CHAPTER NINE 


25 Nor yet that he should offer him- . 27 And in as much as it is ‘appointed 
self often, as the high priest entereth unto men once to die, and after this 
into the holy place year by year with cometh judgment; 28 so Christ also, 
blood not his own; 26 else must he having been once offered to bear the sins 
often have suffered since the foundation of many, shall appear a second time, 
of the world; but now once at the ‘end apart from sin, to them that wait for 
of the ages hath he been manifested to him, unto salvation. 
put away “sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

1Or, consummation 3Gr. laid up for. Col. 1.5; 2 Tim. 4.8 


20r, by his sacrifice 


Vers. 25-28. CHRIST’S APPEARING THE SECOND TIME UNTO THEM 
THAT LOOK FOR HIM. 


Ver. 25. “nor yet (hath he entered into heaven) that he should 
offer himself often’’,—By many authorities “offer Himself’ is referred to 
His sacrificial death upon the cross. (W. D. Lu. Ow. Lin. Tho.) 

By as many others it is made the offering of Himself before God, His 
self-presentation in the heavenly holiest place. (A. An. Dw. BI. Del. 
Hof. Mol. Kur. Boe. Schli.) 


Jit 


HEBREWS 


The argument in favor of the first view rests upon the general usage 
by the writer of the word “‘offer’’. This argument has considerable 
weight for the word used is the usual one for the taking of the victim to 
the altar and not for the carrying of its blood within the veil. 


This single argument, however, weighty as it may be, is hardly 
weighty enough to outbalance what is to be said in favor of the other view.. 
Dwight has well said, ‘“The high-priest’s ministry in the presence of God 
is the thing or the subject constantly kept before the reader’s mind through- 
out, and the sacrifice here, as everywhere in this section, is subordinate to 
the offering of the blood in the sanctuary.” 


This fact, together with the use of the word “‘suffered’’ in verse 26, 
which refers to His death on the cross, the “‘entered tn’ and “‘to appear’ of 
verse 24, the “entereth’’ of verse 25, the contrast with “‘suffered’’ of verse 
26, all seem to show that the word “‘offer’’ denotes Christ’s presentation 
of Himself with His blood before God in the heavenly Holy of Hollies. 


Ver. 26. “‘else’’,—Here must be supplied, “if that were the case’. 


“often have suffered since’,—But how could Christ have suffered 
often? How could He have offered Himself in sacrificial death more than 
once? We might well say the thing is impossible, and yet explanations 
have been given. 


ILunneman says by a series of incarnations and crucifixions and en- 
trances into heaven, while Delitzsch says He would have had to sacrifice 
Himself just as many times on earth as He expected to present Himself in 
the heavenly sanctuary, i. e., accumulate, as it were, a stock of sacrificial 
deaths on earth. 

Moll, who with Hofman, Alford and others supports this last explan- 
ation, says it is far more probable than the more common view of Lunne- 
man. I see very little to choose between the two, but the view of Delitzsch 
it seems to me is much the harsher and the more unnatural and improbable 
of the two. 

But the speculation is a useless one, for this very verse (verse 26) 
shows the unreasonableness of them both and relieves us of making any 
choice between them, and for this purpose it would seem the first clause of 
this verse was introduced. : 

Christ entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies free from the neces- 
sity of returning for further sacrifice of Himself and without any necessity 
for having suffered more than once before He went. 

““now’’,—1i. e., as things actually are. “The word does not express 
any temporal idea. 

“once’’,—1i. e., once for all, without need of renewal. 

“at the end of the ages’’,—Ages is here plural to imply that the course 
of history is regarded as a succession of various periods, of which the appear- 
ance of Christ forms the conclusion. 

The word for “end’’ in the original is one which expresses rather a 
consummation, an end involving more than one part or phase. 

The end of the ages marks a point of termination of a series of prepar- 
atory ages, the ages being pre-Messianic and covering the whole period 
indicated by “‘stnce the foundation of the world’. 


512 





HEBREWS 


By many the expression is taken as denoting the end of the world 
and there is much to be said in favor of this interpretation. 


Wherever “‘ages’’ occurs in the plural in the Epistle to the Hebrews 
it means the world. _ (Chaps. 1.2; 11.3.) In the Gospels the word here 
used for ““end”’ repeatedly occurs with the singular or the plural of the word 
“age’, and always means the end of the world. The contrast between 
this expression and the “foundation of the world’’ seems also to call for 
this meaning. 

Then, too, there is a sense in which this rendering is perfectly proper. 
Two thousand years have now passed since the first coming of Christ, but 
certainly this is not what the primitive Church was expecting. ‘The first 
Christians’, says Alford, “‘universally spoke of the second coming of the 
Lord as close at hand, and indeed it ever was and is.’’ In comparison 
with the long ages gone the writer might well conceive of the end of the 
world as near, even though he allowed it to be several hundred years away, 
although evidence does not seem to be wanting that he thought of it as 
nearer than that. Paul contended that he was living in “‘the last times’’ 
and he might have thought of those times as the end of the world, which in 
a very certain sense they were and are. 

There is, however, one fact that inclines us to the view we have 
already taken, that the ages refer to pre-Messianic times, the end of the 
Jewish economy. It is this: In the expression, “foundation of the world’, 
the writer had just used another word for “world’’ (kosmos), and had he 
meant “world” in our passage we most certainly would have expected him 
to use the same word. (W. A.C. St. An. Fa. Lu. Del. Mol. Mac. Tho. 
Ham.) 

_ “hath he been manifested’’,—1i. e., in the flesh at His incarnation. 

“put away sin’’,—The word really means ‘‘annulment’’. Sin is 
vanquished, set at naught in its guilt and in its power. 

“by the sacrifice of himself’’,—This belongs to “put away sin’’ and 
not to “‘manifested’’. 


Ver. 27. “And tn as much’’,—This introduces a reason for what 
has been said. As in the case of man it is appointed unto him to die but 
the once, so is this true of Christ who is a partaker of our human nature. 


“judgment’*,—Since judgment follows death, Christ upon His return 
will not again have to offer Himself for the cancelling of sin as He has 
already once done, and nothing remains for Him but to return as Judge 
in glory. The judgment is therefore not passed upon the soul at death 
(Fa. Kur.), but at the last day. (W.B. A. BI. Lin. Bis. Del. Mai. Tho.) 


Ver. 28. “having been once offered’’,—The verb is passive, the 
offering being on one side voluntary but on the other the result of some 
outward compulsion. For the agent some supply ‘“‘by Himself’’ (Chr.), 
some ‘‘by God” (Kur. Hof.), and some “‘by men” (Del., “the demoniac 
violence of the act of betrayal and crucifixion’). If an agent must be 
supplied, Alford has given perhaps the best answer to the query, i. e., 
“through the Eternal Spirit, as in verse 14—the divine submission of our 
Lord subjecting Himself to the external force which was exerted against 
Him—that force being in some part the agent, but not without His own 
will cooperating.” 


aae, 


HEBREWS 


“to bear the sins of many’’,—The reference here is plainly to Isa. 
53.12, where the same word is used in the Septuagint, the original Hebrew 
of which combines the meaning of “‘bear’’ and “take away’’. The former 
meaning “‘bear’’, i. e., ‘‘to take upon one’s self’, is the only one properly 
represented by the word in our text. The thought therefore is that of the 
vicarious sacrifice, to bear the penalty of, make atonement for, the vicarious 
endurance of punishment for the sins of others. (D. A. Eb. Ew. Es. Del. 
Aug. Boe. Bis. Mai. Mol. Kur. Hof. Con. Rie. Schm.) 


““many’’,—i. e., mankind in general. The notion is simply that of 
multitude without any regard to the question whether this plurality con- 
stitutes the totality of mankind or not. (A. C. W. Lu. Del. Lin.) 


“appear a second time’’,—This is the same verb as the one usually 
used of the appearances of Christ after His resurrection. It refers here 
of course to His second appearance before the eyes of men at His Parousia. 

“apart from sin’’,—These words form a contrast, not to. Christ’s 
character during His first visit to this world, but to His work in reference 
to sin. It does not mean, therefore, as Edward Irving contended, that 
Christ had not been altogether without sin when first in this world. ‘The 
sense is manifestly, ‘“‘without any further sin laid upon Him’’. He is to 
come, when He returns, not as a sin bearer, but as a Judge. 

“to them that watt for him’’,—The believers who cease not to desire 
the return of their Lord and wait for Him even as the people of Israel 
waited for the return of the high-priest from the Holy of Holies after 
the atonement had been made. 

“unto salvation’’,—These words belong to “appear’’ and not to 
“them that wait’. He comes to accomplish or rather to consummate 
salvation. It was worked out by vicarious atonement during His first 
appearance, but its complete realization awaits His second coming, — 


CHAPTER TEN 


13 henceforth expecting till his ene- 
mies be made the footstool of his feet. 


Ver. 13. PATIENT WAITING FOR THE LORD’S RETURN. 


“henceforth’’,—1. e., from the time of His sitting down at the right 
hand of God. 

“expecting’’,—1i. e., looking for Him, awaiting with expectancy, in 
fulfillment of the divine promise that He is one day to come again. 


“tll’,—4. e., until the time of His Parousia, waiting until the time 


of His second coming, which waiting period was expressed in ““henceforth’’. 

“enemies’’,—All opposing powers. 

The order of the subduing of His enemies Paul describés in I Cor. 
15.23-26, between which passage and this one in Hebrews there is no 
discrepancy, as some maintain there is. It is said that here all enemies ‘are 
represented as subdued before Christ leaves the right hand of God and 


returns to earth, while in Corinthians Christ first comes to earth and then ~ 


subdues His enemies. 


But the fact is that in Hebrews the second coming of Christ is not 
taken into account, 1. e., it is not the thing stressed. It is rather the con- 
trast between the suffering and triumphant Christ that is’ stressed in 


514 


De ai tie te ee 


HEBREWS 


Hebrews, whereas in Corinthians the Apostle concerns himself especially 
with the order of events. 


Then, too, as Lindsay says, ‘“We must not attach a too local concep- 
tion to ‘the right hand of God’. That simply means participation in the 
rule of the universe, and Christ’s return to this world, so far from being 
an abdication of His authority, is an exercise of it. When a prince leaves 
his palace and capital for a distant part of his dominions, he does not there- 
by give up his right and title. The real thing that is meant by the figure 
of Christ sitting at the right hand of God, really continues after Christ’s 
return to this world.’’ How splendidly Paul brings this out in Cor- 
inthians; first, He comes (verse 23), then He subdues His enemies (verse 
24), and then what? “For He must reign until He hath put all enemies 
under Hts feet.’’ (verse 25.) 


25 not forsaking our own assembling 
together, as the custom of some is, but 
exhorting one another; and so much the 
more, as ye see the day drawing nigh. 


Ver. 25. THE LORD’S RETURN AN INCENTIVE TO FIDELITY. 


“not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together’’,—The right 
interpretation is that the writer means to admonish them against neglect- 
ing the practice of coming together at stated periods for worship. (A. D. 
Boe cbr Ans ha. lineChr. Del Thos Hof*Mol,) 


The expression, “assembling ourselves together’, must not be taken 
as meaning the Church and the whole phrase as embodying an admonition 
against apostacy. (C. Bl. Kui. Cap. Sey. Bret.) The Church is always 
styled ‘‘ecclesia’’ and the word used for “‘gathering’’ is never applied to the 
Church or the religious community. Furthermore the following phrase, 
“as 1s the custom’’, shows that apostacy is not meant, inasmuch as apos- 
tacy is not a custom or a habit. 

In the neglect of public worship the writer no doubt saw the danger- 
ous germ of apostacy, as seems evident from the following admonition, 
“exhorting one another’’, and by the awful caution which is found in the 
next verse. 

“exhorting one another’’,—In the place of public worship and in 
- private to fidelity, love and good works. 

“the day’’,—The day of Christ’s second coming, the day of His 
reappearing, the Parousia. It is the day of days, “‘the breaking up’’, as 
someone has said, “‘for the Church of the redeemed the night of the 
present.” Of all the various designations of Christ’s second coming this 
one is the briefest. 

Lunneman says, “‘It is the day of the coming in of the Parousia of 
Christ, which the author thinks of as quite near at hand (verse 37), and 
which the readers themselves already saw drawing nigh in the agitations 
and commotions which preceded the Jewish war, such as had already begun 
to appear.” 

Lindsay thinks the writer here refers to the destruction of Jerusalem 
because they could “‘see’’ the signs of this day approaching, but not of the 
other far away day of the second coming. But as to this the signs may 
as easily have been those referred to by Christ Himself in Matt. 24, as the 


515 


HEBREWS 


signs of His coming. And then, too, verse 37 clearly refers to the second 
coming of Christ. 


That the New Testament writers thought the Parousia of Christ to - 


be not far away is too clearly revealed to be denied, and who knows but 
that they may have thought the forthcoming destruction of Jerusalem 
would be the time of that coming. It was at least one of the great types 
ae foretastes of it, “the bloody and fiery dawn”, as Delitzsch finely calls 

“of the Great Day.’’ He further says, ‘“Uhe approaching judgment on 
Theor of which so many signs filled the sky, brought home the heuer 
of His coming in a peculiarly vivid manner. 


37 *For yet a very little while. He 
that cometh shall come, and shall not 
tarry. ‘ 

*Hapi coms 


Ver. 37. “THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS NOT TO BE LONG DELAYED. 


“a very little while’’,—The original is ‘‘a very, very little while’, or 
“a little, little while’, or more literally still, ‘for yet how, how little’. 


“He that cometh’’,—Literally, ‘‘the Coming One’’, so-called because 
since His ascension He has always been coming, His return being a matter 
of constant expectation. 


It is by nearly all commentators rightly referred to Christ’s personal 
second coming, although by some (Me. Eb. Din. Ern. Hei. Blo. Carp.) 
referred to the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


The words, “a very little while’, are not a part of the quotation, but 
proceed from the author himself. It is perhaps a reminiscence of and may 
be an allusion to Isa. 26.20, where they are found. That which follows 
is a quotation from the Septuagint rendering of Hab. 2.3,4. 


In Habakkuk it runs, “Jf it delays, wait for it; it comes, tt comes; 
it will not tarry.’ By “‘it’’ is meant the vision, and the vision concerns the 
overthrow of the Chaldeans by the judgment of God. Now the word 
“vision’’ in Hebrew is feminine, and the Septuagint in making their trans- 
lation used the masculine form in the verb “‘comes’’, thus evidently referring 
to some one indicated by the vision. The writer of Hebrews uses the 
quotation as found in the Septuagint, not necessarily adducing it as a 
proof, but evidently as expressing his own ideas in regard to the coming 


of the Messiah a second time; and he makes it clear that he refers to this. 


coming person because he attached the article “‘the’’ to the word “‘coming 
one’, which article is not found in the Septuagint. 


“shall not tarry’’,—There is to be no delay beyond the final term 
fixed by the divine wisdom, long-suffering and mercy. 


Blackstone says, ‘“There is no prophesied event which has to be ful- 
filled before His coming in the air to receive His Church.’’ To those who 
complain that it has been more than “‘a little while’, he says, ‘““Wait until 


you have realized a few of the mighty cycles of eternity, and then these 


eighteen centuries will indeed appear to be ‘a very, very little while’. God 
speaks to you as an immortal soul. The ‘little while’ of Hag. 2.6-7, we 
believe has not ended yet, and it certainly covered the 500 years up to 
Christ’s first coming.’ 


516 


a tab 





ee 


Shs ew eg a a 


HEBREWS 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 


35 Women received their dead by a 
resurrection: and others were tortured, 
not accepting their deliverance; that 
they might obtain a better resurrection. 


Ver. 35. TORTURE NOT WORTHY TO BE COMPARED WITH THE RESUR- 
RECTION OF THE JUST. 


“by a resurrection’ ,—These examples here are without doubt taken 
from the life of the woman of Sarepta and of the Shunamite who received 
their children back in the way of resurrection. As the women are men- 
tioned by the writer, rather than the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who, 
respectively, by the power of God, raised the dead in question, it is doubt- 
less the faith of the women rather than that of the prophets that he had 
in mind. 

“others were tortured’’,—From the term used it is probable that the 
reference is to a mode of torture in which the victim was stretched on a 
wheel and then beaten to death with a club. 


“that thy might obtain a better resurrection’ ,—While this refers, of 
course, to the resurrection of the just “‘at the last day’’, it can hardly be 
urged, with Blackstone, as an argument for a first resurrection as distin- 
guished from a later one at the end of the Millennium. 


It is possible that the future resurrection is here called “‘better’’ in 
comparison with the temporal “‘deliverance’’ previously mentioned (Lu. 
Tho. Mol. Win. Hei. Ham. Schm. Gerh.), but it is far more natural to 
refer it to the resurrection already spoken of. These blood-witnesses gave 
up their lives to obtain a resurrection to eternal life which was far better 
than a mere restoration from death back again into this life. (O. A. B. D. 
Eb. Bl. St. Chr.’Lin. Del. Boe. Schu.) Others, again, understand the 
expression as contrasted with the resurrection of the ungodly to judgment, 
using Dan, 12.2 as a reference verse. (Oec. Theo.) But there is nothing 
in what goes before to suggest this idea; and besides there is nothing good 
at all in the resurrection to judgment, and the word “‘better’’ therefore, 
according to this interpretation loses entirely its force. 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


26 Whose voice then shook the earth; fieth the removing of those things that 
but now he hath promised, saying, *Yet are shaken, as of things that have been 
once more will I make to tremble not made, that those things which are not 
the earth only, but also the heaven. 27 shaken may remain. 

And this word, Yet once more, signi- 
tHag. 2.6 
Vers. 26,27. “THE OLD EARTH AND HEAVENS GIVING WAY TO THE 
NEw. 


Ver. 26. “‘then’’,—At the promulgation of the Mosaic law. 


“shook the earth’’,—This refers to a literal shaking (A. An. Ed. Lu. 
Lin. Mol. Del.), and not to a figurative one, the emotions produced among 
the Israelites. (Es.) 


“now’’,—i. e., under the New Testament dispensation hath he 
(God) whose voice it was that spoke at Sinai, promised, etc. 


pil7. 


HEBREWS 


Without a doubt the promise referred to is the prediction in Haggai 
2.6, and the “‘now”’ points to the period to which the prediction referred, 
i. e., With regard to the present Christian dispensation hath He promised, 
etc. 


“yet once more’’,—This expression implies that the shaking is to be 
such as makes any repetition of a similar shaking superfluous. It means 
“once more and then not again’. “All that admits of being shaken will 
then forever have been removed’’, says Westcott, 


What the writer in verse 26 appears to say is that the God whose 
voice shook the earth in the old dispensation at the giving of the law on 
Mount Sinai, hath “now’’. with reference to this dispensation, promised to 
shake not only the earth but the heaven and that with a shaking which 
was to be final; and in verse 27 he says this ‘“‘yet once more’, this final 
shaking signified that all things shakable were by the shaking to be removed 
and the unshakable things were then forever to remain. 


There are two views as to the reference contained in these verses: 


1. It is the opinion of Lindsay and others (Coc. Lap. Boe. Klee) 
that “‘mount Zion’ and “‘the city of the living God” and “‘the heavenly 
Jerusalem’ of verse 22 are figures of the new order of things, in short of 
the Gospel Church, and they accordingly understand the shaking of heaven 
and earth here mentioned as figurative descriptions of the great political and 
social changes which accompanied the introduction of the Gospel. 


2. On the other hand there are those, and these are the great majority, 
who take the expressions of our passage as descriptive of the great physical 
convulsions by which a new heaven and a new earth are to emerge out of 
the ruin of theold. (A.O.D. W.S. An. Ed. Lu. Bl. The. Era. Bez. Tho. 
Mol. Del. Theo.) . 


Lindsay says these authorities refer the expressions of verse 22 to “‘the 
glorious condition that awaits the saints after the resurrection’”’ and upon 
this build their explanation of the passage now under consideration. 


We are inclined to think, however, that Dr. Lindsay allows the expres- 
sions found in verses 22-25 too large a part in the explanation of the pas- 
sage before us. Not one of the authorities, who take the second view, says 
anything one way or the other, as he deals with the three expressions in 
verses 22-25, as to the time element being either after or before the resurrec- 
tion of the saints. 


But altogether apart from what the three expressions in verses 22-25 
mean, there are other expressions in the verses noted, some of which evi-° 
dently refer to the saints now on earth and some to such saints as are now 
in their glorified condition, and that too before their resurrection, as prac- 
tically every one of the authorities supporting the second view above men- 
tioned admits. 


For instance, “the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven”’ 
(verse 23) without doubt refers to the saints living on earth, the Church. 
below (A. An. Bl. Eb. Mol. Gro. Mos. Boe. Kui. Lin. Tho. Del. Hof. 
Prim. Schu. Schli. Knapp, Riehm), although some (C. B. S. Lu.) insist’ 
ise already glorified are meant, and others still would include both 

It is equally certain that “the spirits of just men made perfect’, 
whether we include in the expression Old Testament saints only (D. BI. 


518 


HEBREWS 


Eb. Lap. Wol. Schu. Schli.), or New Testament saints only (B. Ba. Lu. 
Gro. Mos. Schm.), or both (A. An. Fa. Lin. Del. Tho. Bis. Boe. Kui. 
Mol. Knapp, Riehm), (and of this we are convinced) refers to the saints 
who are now in glory. 

Those who take the second view above mentioned are quite ardent 
in its support. Thus Alford says, “‘It is clearly wrong to understand this 
shaking of the mere breaking down of Judaism before the Gospel, or of 
anything which shall be fulfilled during the Christian economy, short of 
its glorious end and accomplishment.’ ‘hus the prophecy of Haggai seems 
to point to the same great final bringing of all the earth under the kingdom 
of God, which is spoken of in Zech. 14, when the Lord shall come with 
all His saints. [he heaven that is to be shaken here is the material heaven 
stretched above the earth. 


Few points have been more contested than this. On hardly any 
portion of the Epistle have commentators left us so much in the dark. 
Interpreters, who otherwise are rich in exegetical pearls, have seemingly 
hurried over this passage as an undesirable place to tarry. 


It is true, as Lindsay says, that the primary object of this Epistle is to 
show that under the New Covenant we have advantages and privileges that 
were not enjoyed under the Old, and that contrast all along has been 
between the heavenly, spiritual elements of the New Dispensation and the 
worldly, material, perishable elements of the Old. But what the writer 
of the Epistle is doing here is to base upon that contrast, so finely and fully 
brought out in verses 22-24, certain much needed warnings and instruc- 
tions. He therefore says, ‘‘See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh, whose 
voice then (at Mount Sinai) shook the earth, but who now (as regards 
this Dispensation) hath promised to shake not the earth only, but also 
heaven.’’ We repeat therefore that we must not look back to verses 22-24 
for the key to the interpretation of the passage under consideration. 


Furthermore to confine the fulfillment of the promise of Haggai to 
that which took place at the introduction of the Gospel by the first coming 
of Christ, as does Lindsay in the first of the two views noted above, is to 
put upon the prophecy the stamp of at least partial failure, for most assur- 
edly that prophecy does not seem as yet to have met with its full and com- 
plete accomplishment. 

Again, this Epistle does not anywhere describe the passing away of 
the Old Covenant as a violent catastrophe, but rather as that of something 
which has grown old and decayed, whereas the coming death of the Lord 
is elsewhere and often spoken of as accompanied with great convulsions 
of nature. 


The fact is that the prophets of the Old Testament made no distinc- 
tion between the beginning and the consummation of the age to be inaugu- 
rated by the appearance of the Messiah they foretold. “They expected the 
consummation to come speedily upon His arrival. To them it was not 
given to see the two thousand years which God in His longsuffering has 
allowed to intervene while He is gathering out a people for Himself. The 
two advents of the Messiah are therefore regarded as one, even as two . 
peaks in a mountain range seen from a distance seem to be one close upon 
the other or practically together but which are in reality many miles apart, 
and the shaking which was promised began at the first advent of the 
Messiah and will be completed at the second; the convulsions connected 


ag 6) 


JAMES 


with the overthrow of Jerusalem foreshadowing those which shall take 
place upon the return of the Lord, the announcement of which is to the 
ungodly a terror but to believers a promise to the fulfillment of which they 
can look forward with joy. This is practically the view of Alford and 
the majority to which attention has already been called. 


Ver. 27. The last clause of this verse, beginning with “‘that’’, is 
most properly joined to the word “‘removing’’ as indicating some inferiority 
in the things that were shakable and hence removed. (A. W. D. S. Lu. 
BI. An. Lin. The. Oec.) 


It has by others been joined to the preceding word “‘made’’ and two 
explanations of the thought are set forth: 


1. “‘made to the end that the unshakable things might remain’, i. e., 
remain by the passing away of the unshakable things. (B. Gro. 
Tho. Del.). This thought is beautiful enough indeed but this 
connection not only destroys the logic and the rythm of the sen- 
tence, but it is forced and unnatural. Of course if the things are 
unshakable they must of necessity remain. 


2. “‘made in order that they may await the unshakable things’, i. e., 
that they may remain until the unshakable things arrive. (Sto. 
Boe. Kui. Klee, Bauldry.) But this would rather call for the 
present tense than the aorist, and besides it gives to the Greek word 
a sense (wait) hardly suitable to the scope of the passage. 
Eternal reality abides only in the ideal. The material world is 
unreal and evanescent. When it has served its purpose, it will be removed 
and the new heavens and the new earth, God’s heavenly city and eternal 
kingdom, the things unshakable, will abide forever. 


HE EPIST MO 


JAMES 


CAS Ds O0F 
CHAPTER FIVE 

3 Ye have laid up your treasure in 8 Be ye also patient; establish your 
the last days. hearts; for the ‘coming of the Lord is 

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until at hand. 9 Murmur not, brethren, one 
the *coming of the Lord. Behold, the against another, that ye be not judged: 
husbandman waiteth for the precious behold, the judge standeth before the 
fruit of the earth, being patient over it, doors, 
until *it receive the early and latter rain. 

IGr. presence : 


2Or, he 
Vers. 3,7,8,9. EXHORTATIONS IN VIEW OF THE COMING OF THE LORD. 


These are the only four verses in the whole of the Epistle of James 
which are devoted to the subject of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 
It is evident, however, from these four verses that he shared in the preva- 
lent hope of the near approach of “‘the Parousia of the Lord’. “To him it 


520 


JAMES 





was both a day of blessing for the Christian and a day of judgment for 
the ungodly. 


Ver. 3. “‘in’’,—Not “‘against’’ nor “‘for’’ as in the Authorized 
Version; neither is the word ‘‘wrath”’ to be supplied to the word “‘treas- 
ures’, as in Rom. 2.5 (C. Es. Lau.). The treasures are amply described 
in the foregoing verse as treasures of riches. 

“the last days’’,—In harmony with the rest of the Epistle these words 
are to be taken as the last days before the Second Coming of Christ (A. G. 
Hu. Pl. Gl.), and are not to be referred to the last days of their lives (Wol. 
Mor.), nor to the last days just before the coming national judgment on 
the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem (L.). 


Ver. 7. “‘patient’’,—The literal is “‘longsuffering’’ and it is an 
exhortation to forbearance toward their oppressors and to a trustful wait- 
ing on God for deliverance. 

“coming of the Lord’’,—James uses the usual expression, Parousia— 
presence. By “Lord” is meant Christ (A. L. Fr. Hu. Wi. Bru. Bou.) 
according to constant Christian usage, and not God (D. Aug. Thie.). 

The whole context shows that James is thinking of Christ’s Second 
Coming as the judge of the wicked ones, and of course at the same time 
as a rewarder of the righteous. 

Some, of course, relate the matter to the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
Fronmuller says that the Apostles thought that the coming of Christ at 
the end of the age was to take place at the same time with the destruction 
of Jerusalem, and so combine the two views. 

“early and latter rain’’,—The rain of Autumn and Spring. James 
is illustrating by example. 


Ver. 8. “‘establish’’,—This means to confirm and strengthen, which 
things are required for patience to which he had been exhorting them. 

“ts at hand’’,—The literal here is “‘hath drawn near’. The verb is in 
the perfect tense; if the coming of the Lord had drawn near, it was then 
most assuredly “‘at hand’. ‘The reference is of course to the Second Com- 
ing at the end of the age. 

How could James say this? It was certainly the general expectation 
of the day, but James would not base his statement upon this unless he 
had reason for believing it. Was he, as some say, looking through the 
eye of faith and seeing as God sees, that one day with the Lord is as a 
thousand years? No, hardly. He was saying what he did as a comfort 
to the Christians to whom he was writing as something which might take 
place in the near future, not necessarily before they died, yet there is little 
if any doubt but that believers in that day were taught to live in constant 
expectation of the coming again of their Lord. 


Ver. 9. “murmur not one against another’’,—The reference here is 
to a sinful irritability towards each other because of impatience, and not 
to an imprecation of divine vengeance on one another (C. L. Hot. Mor. 
Geb.). 

“that ye be not judged’’,—i. e., when the day of judgment comes. 
Murmuring thus involves judging one another, and this violates our Lord’s 
injunction in Matt. 7.1. 


521 


DOPE 


“the judge standeth before the doors’ ,—This of course can be taken 
in no other sense than that it is used to indicate the nearness of Christ's 


coming to judgment, and is evidently quite equivalent to the expression | 


used in the preceding verse.’ It gives all the more reason why the Christian 
should be patient and leave all judgment to the Lord. 

The sneering ones at Jerusalem used to ask Saint James, ‘““‘Which is 
the door of Jesus?’’, ““By which door will He come?”’ 





SUMEVPIRSD IEPs TLECOR 


PETER 


(AD Ds 60) 


CHAP TER ONE 
5 who by the power of God are 


(= ee 


guarded through faith unto a salvation 
ready to be revealed in the last time. 

7 that the proof of your faith, being 
more precious than gold that perisheth 
though it is proved by fire, may be 
found unto praise and glory and honor 
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 


your mind, be sober and set your hope 
perfectly on the grace that ‘is to be 
brought unto you at the revelation of 
Jesus Christ. 

20 who was foreknown indeed before 
the foundation of the world, but was 
manifested at the end of the times for 
your sake. 


13 Wherefore girding up the loins of 
1Gr. is being brought 


THE REVELATION OF CHRIST THE TIME OF FULL 
SALVATION. 


Metso s/h ore UO 


Ver. 5. “by the power of God’’,—This expression is related to the 
omnipotence of God, and is not to be understood of the Holy Spirit, as 
some do. The Holy Spirit is never so designated in Scripture; not even 
in Lu. 1.35. God’s power is the efficient cause of the guarding, while 
“through fatth’’ is the effective means by which the power of God effects 
the preservation. 


“ready to be revealed’’,—This refers, of course, to the salvation. 
Says Fausset, ‘“When Christ shall be revealed, it shall be revealed.” 
There are those who are ever insistent that Paul shall be made to say 


the coming of the Lord is near if the language used permits of the least 


possible turn in this direction. Here this turn is found in the word 
“ready”. Fronmuller, for instance, remarks, “Paul thinks of the salva- 
tion as not far distant but as close at hand, and he says in Chap. 4-5, 
‘Who shall give an account to Him that 1s ready to judge the quick and 
the dead.’ Sharing the opinion of the other Apostles concerning the near- 
ness of Christ’s advent to judgment, he describes the salvation as ready to 


bejirevealed: (See Jam..5.7,8; Rev. 1:3; 22.10,20; Hébs 10.25737-) tee 


18; I) John 2.18; Rom. 13.11,124 1 Cor, 13,513" ll /Corat>e7 se ae 


4 Seale bess. 4 aly jay 


And Huther says, ‘‘When this time will be the Apostle does not say, 
but his whole manner of expression indicates that in hope it floated before 
his vision as one near at hand.”’ 


ars 





ead 3274 3 OA 


We might say that it is in no wise certain that the reference in Chap. 
4.5 refers to the nearness of the judgment, and furthermore that the stress 
of being “‘ready’’ here is not on the nearness of the “‘revelation’’, but on the 
fact of the salvation being ready, prepared, completed for the revelation 
when it comes. 


The tense of the infinitive after “‘ready’’ gives the idea of the rapid 
completion of the act of the revelation as contrasted with the guarding 
mentioned. 


“tn the last time’’,—This is elsewhere called “‘the end of the age’”’ 
(Matt. 13.39,40). It is absolutely the last time, beginning with the 
Parousia, and is not to be thought of in the Jewish technical sense as “‘the 
last times’’ beginning at the first advent of Christ. 


“The last time’’, says Fausset, “‘is the last day, closing the day of 
grace; the day of judgment, of redemption, of the restitution of all things, 
and of perdition of the ungodly.” “‘It is’, says Salmond, ‘‘the time clos- 
ing the present order of things, and heralding Christ’s return. Pre- 
Messianic times began to fade to their extinction with Christ’s First Advent; 
post-Messianic times entered conclusively with Christ’s Second Advent. 
The former was known as ‘this age’, to which, although Christ had ap- 
peared, the Apostle’s own time was spoken of as belonging. The latter 
was called ‘the age to come’, the final reality of which was as near as was 
the Messiah’s glorious return. “This Second Advent, therefore, was the 
crisis once for all separating the two, and the time which marked the end 
of the one period and ushered in the other was ‘the last day’ ,‘the last time’. 
Christ’s return will announce the close of the ‘last time’ of the old order, 
and in a moment uncover what God has prepared in secret.”’ 


““The hope of the Church’’, says Morgan, “‘is, in this aspect, a salva- 
tion to be revealed in all its fullness when Jesus Christ Himself shall come.” 
This salvation, or ‘‘inherittance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away’’, for which the Christian is guarded, and which is said to be 
“ready to be revealed tn the !ast time’’, is in verse 4 said to be reserved 
in heaven. ‘This means, of course, that the inheritance, which has been 
prepared for us from the beginning, has been laid up in reserve for us in 
the heavens where God Himself is. It is thus made doubly safe in that 
it is laid up for us, as Lillie says, ‘‘among God’s own treasures, under His 
own eye, and within the shelter of His omnipotence’, and we are guarded 
and kept by the power of God through faith against the day of its reveal- 
ing. [he expression, however, “‘reserved tn heaven’’, was much used by 
the Fathers and Greek interpreters as an argument against the Millennarian 
doctrine. 


Fausset says, “‘It does not follow that because it is now laid up in 
heaven, it shall not hereafter be on earth also.”’ 


Ver. 7. “‘at the revelation of Jesus Christ’’,—The reference is to 
the Parousia, when Christ, who is now withdrawn from our sight, will 
appear again, and with His revelation shall come also the revelation of 


thessaints of.God, (Rom. 8.9;)1\ John 3.2.) 


Ver. 13. “at the revelation of Jesus Christ’’,—This is to be taken 
in the same sense as in verse 7. (A. D. C. Hu. Fr. Es. Wi. Oec. Gro. Car. 
Sta. Bez. Sem. Hof. Theo. Pott.) ; 


PE, 


1) PEPE 


However, there are those who take it as the revelation of grace made 
by the Gospel in which Jesus Christ is revealed. (B. Zo. Ca. Wei. Era. 
Gerh. Steig.) But in no passage is the revelation of the Gospel called 
“the revelation of Jesus Christ’, and this view is not only contrary to the 
New Testament usage of this expression, but it is contrary to the immedi- 
ately previous usage by John in verse 7, and contrary as well to the general 
significance of the present participle, “ts being brought’, which is the literal 
rendering and which cannot be taken in the sense of a past tense, but must 
be looked upon as a realization of the future. 


Ver. 20. “‘mantfested’’,-This same word occurs in Chap. 4.4 of 
the Second Coming of Christ, but here it refers to His first coming, which 
is represented as an emerging, as it were, from obscurity through the mani- 
festation of the incarnation. 

“at the end of the times’’,—This expression in Chap. 1.5 and in 
II Pet. 3.3, where it is “‘the end of the days’, refers to time yet future, 
immediately preceding the Second Coming of Christ, but the expression is 
here conceived of in the technical sense as “‘the last times’, the entire period 
beginning with the first coming of Christ. 


Alford has put it, ‘“This manifestation of Christ marks this time, this 
present dispensation, as ‘the end of the times’ and it will endure only so 
long as the ‘manifestation’ requires.”’ 


CHAPTER ‘FOUR 


5 who shall give account to him that 13 but insomuch as ye are partakers 
is ready to judge the living and the dead. of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the 

7 But the end of all things is at revelation of His Glory also ye may re- 
hand; be ye therefore of sound mind joice with exceeding joy. 


and be ye sober unto prayer. 


Vers. 5,7,13. “THE RETURN OF CHRIST AN TGSEaR TOG TO SOBER 
MINDEDNESS AND PATIENT ENDURANCE. : 


Ver. 5. “ready to judge’’,—Here again many expositors read into 
the word “‘ready”’ the idea that the judgment is pointed out as near at hand. 
But this is far-fetched. It simply states that God is fully prepared; all 
the means and necessary conditions are in His hand. 


“the living and the dead’, Whether living or dead at the appearing 
of the Judge, none can escape. (See remarks under II Tim. 4.1.) 


It is strange that by anyone.this should be understood of Christians 
only (Wic. Schot.), or that others should refer it alone to those who speak 
evil. It refers, of course, to all who are living or dead at the time when 
the judgment mentioned is to take place. “There can be no doubt, how- 
ever, that there is a special reference here to the blasphemers and the natural © 
inference is that Peter was saying that they should not remain unpunished 
whether they die before the day of judgment or not. ‘There is to be found 
here consequently just another touch of that thought of the nearness of the 
end which seemed to hold the minds of the Apostles and early Christians. 


Ver. 7. “But the end of all things ts at hand’’,—It is hard to see 
how any one can find anything in this expression other than just what its 
surface meaning indicates, namely, that Peter thought that the end of all 
things was about to transpire, and that with the coming of the Lord there 


524 





PPE GeR 


was to arrive a time of joy and reward for the believer and a time of wrath 
_ and destruction upon the ungodly. Consistent with this we call attention 
to the following quotations, hundreds of which of similar import might 
be added: 


Alford,—‘‘This was the constant expectation of the Apostolic age.’’ 

Huther,— ‘That the Apostle, without fixing the time or the hour of 
it, looked upon the advent of Christ and the end of the age therewith 
connected, as near at hand must be stmply admitted.” 

Salmon,—‘The vivid realization of the nearness of the end, which 
appears in all the Apostolic writings, is especially characteristic of Peter; 
to him the close of the present dispensation was so near that nothing seemed 
to stand between him and it. 

FPronmuller,—‘‘Peter in common with the other Disciples expected 
that the second advent of Christ and the end of the whole present dispen- 
sation were nearly impending.”’ 

Says John Calvin, “It ought to be the chief concern of the believer to 
fix his mind constantly on Christ’s second advent.”’ 


Ver. 13. “at the revelation of hts glory’’,—The expression is found 
only here and it refers to the time of His Parousia. Whoever is a partaker 
of Christ’s sufferings and rejoices therein will one day have the glad privi- 
lege of rejoicing everlastingly in His glory. Otherwise the day of the 
revelation of Christ and His glory would be to them a day of terror. 


CHAPTERWFIVE 


1 The elders therefore among you | 4 And when the chief Shepherd shall 
exhort, who am a fellow elder, and.a be manifested, ye shall receive the crown 
witness of the sufferings of Christ, who of glory that fadeth not away. 


am also a partaker of the glory that shall 
be revealed. 
Vers. 1,4. “—THE BELIEVER’S GLORY AT THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
LORD. 


Ver. 1. “the glory that shall be revealed’’,—The reference is to the 
day of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter may have had in mind the 
words of his Master in John 13.36, but it is safer exegesis to think he was 
_ glancing back to the “‘revelation of glory’’ in Chap. 4.13. 

The present participle is used here and Alford, as is his invariable 
custom, reads into it the idea of nearness and translates ‘‘about to be’’, but 
the rendering of the Revised Version, “‘shall be’, is better. The participle 
with the passive infinitive, which is used here, expresses something that is 
determined and certain rather than something that is near, although the 
verb from which the participle comes (mello) does mean ‘‘about to be’’. 


Ver. 4. “‘shall be manifested’’,—This word like the word “‘revela- 
tion’ relates to the visible return of the Lord. While the reference is 
clearly here to the Second Coming, Peter uses the same word, as seen in 
Chap. 1.20, to express the first coming of Christ. 

Says Alford, “It would not be clear from this passage alone whether 
Peter regarded the coming of the Lord as likely to occur in the life of his 
readers, or not; but as interpreted by the analogy of his other expressions 
on the same subject, it would appear that he did.” 


War 


IPEPER 


Lae OSS INIB Paley Ms (Ol 


PETER 


CHAPTER ONE 


11 for thus shall be richly supplied 
unto you the entrance into the eternal 
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 

16 For we did not follow cunningly 
devised fables, when we made known 
unto you the power and the ‘coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye- 

IGr. presence 


witnesses of his majesty. 

19 And we have the word of 
prophecy made more sure; whereunto 
ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a 
lamp shining in a “dark place, until the 
day dawn and the day-star arise in your 
hearts. 


2Gr. squalid 


Vers. 11,16,19. THE RETURN OF THE LORD, THE DAY-DAWN OF-THE 
HEART. 


Ver. 11. “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ’’,—Whether you take this to be the kingdom into which the believer 
enters at the moment of his death or that which the Lord established at His 
Coming will depend upon your conclusion from the study of the entire 
subject of the “‘kingdom’’ as presented throughout the Scriptures, and 
whether you consider the Second Coming of Christ to take place before or 
after the Millennial period. 


Notice it is ‘“‘the’’ entrance, the well understood entrance which formed 
the object of every Christian’s hope. 


Verl1 6: 


““power’’,—The whole treasure of divine power is centered in Him. 
(Matt. 28.18.) 
17,18), and “‘power’’ denotes, as Salmon says, “‘the fullness of might of 
the glorified Lord as it will be more especially revealed in His Coming.” 

“coming” ,—The word here is the usual Greek word, ‘‘Parousia’’, 
and in harmony both with New Testament usage, and the connection of 
the thought here (verses 4,17; Chap. 3.4), relates to the Lord’s Second 
Comingus CAD AHu- Es: SemmDient ote KnaabLue) 


It must not, therefore, be taken as referring to His human birth, 


His first coming (Va. Hor. Jac.), nor to His presence during the time He — 


appeared on earth (Schm.), nor to “‘his appearing with miraculous powers 
in the flesh along with His expected appearance in glory’. (Fr. Han.) 


Ver. 19. “in your hearts’’,—These words make the interpretation 
of the whole verse somewhat difficult. 

They do not belong to “take heed’’ (Schot.), nor to the following 
“knowing this first’ (Hof.), to which is opposed the position of the words. 


They belong to the clause immediately preceding, “until the day dawn and © 


the day-star arise’ (D. Hu. Fri. Wi. Bru.), which clause itself is to be con- 
nected not with “‘shining’ (B. Hof. Schot.), but with “take heed” (A. 
Hu.). Because of the words “tn your hearts’ some think, as Salmon says, 
that a subjective application must be given to the whole verse and the 


526 


“the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’’,— 


The Apostle is thinking of the Transfiguration (verses 


—_— 


a 


UR Ses A GENS 


following explanations are made of the various terms: 
“dark place’’,— 


Fronmuller refers this to the condition of the readers before they 
were Christians, and the “‘day dawn’’, etc., to the idea of a man’s conver- 
sion. But the context makes clear the fact that Peter’s words were to those 
who were Christians. 7 


By others the words are made to refer to a low state of spiritual 
knowledge and experience which is to give way to a higher state of illumi- 
nation and assurance in the case of Christians. 


‘The time when the day dawns in the hearts of the Christians and the 
morning star arises, and when consequently they can do without the light, 
has been variously interpreted. The expression is taken by Grotius te 
mean their attainment of the gift of prophecy; by De Wette, “‘the arrival 
at the full conviction of the certainty of the coming of Christ’; and by 
Alford, ‘‘that degree of Christian experience where faith rests not on exter- 
nal evidence, but upon the inward revelation of the Holy Spirit.” 


The “‘day-star’’ means, of course, the morning star which always 
accompanies the dawning of the day and is added here to complete the 
picture. 


On the other hand there are those who take the objective interpreta- 
tion of the words to be the proper one and think of the “‘dark place’ as a 
figure of the world itself. 


The time spoken of, as is seen by the very wording of the verse, must 
be the time present with the readers, and therefore any reference to Old 
‘Testament times is out of place. It is the world in its present condition 
to which reference must be had. (Hu. Wi. Bru. Sal. Die.) The place 
where the Christians are and where the light shines are one and the same, 
and if they did not take heed unto this light they would be in darkness. 


The analogy of similar figures (Rom. 13.11) favors the objective 
view. The majority of those. who take this objective view refer it to the 
Parousia, the Second Coming of Christ. 


“The reference therefore’, says Salmon, “‘seems to be to the day of 
_Christ’s Second Coming, in comparison with which the present state of 
the world is the time of night and darkness.”’ 


According to this view the particular point of time in view is that 
immediately heralding the Second Advent itself, “‘the time when the sign 
of the Son of man appears’ (Matt. 24.30), when believers are to lift up 
their heads because their redemption draweth nigh (Lu. 21.28) when 
accordingly the morning star which ushers in the day shall arise in their 
hearts, i. e., in their hearts shall arise a light and an assurance like the dawn 
of day with its morning star. 


There is no doubt that the evidence warrants the application of the 
expression to the Second Coming of Christ, although it is possible, as 
Alford says, that ‘‘the Apostle may have mingled both ideas together as 
he wrote the words; seeing that even in our hearts the fullness of the 
spiritual will not have arisen until that time when we see face to face and 
know even as God knew us.”’ 


527 


Il PETER 


CHAPTER TWO 


4 For if God spared not the angels 
when they sinned, but ‘cast them down 
to “hell, and committed them to ‘pits of 
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 


9 the Lord knoweth how to deliver 
the godly out of temptation, and to 
keep the unrighteous under punishment 
unto the day of judgment; 


1Or, cast them into dungeons 
“Gr. Tartarus 
3Some ancient authorities read chains. Comp. 


Wisd. 17.17 


Vers. 4,9. “THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF JUDGMENT. 


Ver. 4. “when they sinned’’,—The reference is to the revolt. of 
Satan and his associates. (See Jude 6.) . 

“cast them down to hell’’,—The word is ‘“Tartarus’’ and is found 
nowhere else in the New Testament nor in the Septuagint. It is not 
“‘hades’’, and it is not synonomous with ‘‘Gehenna’’, which is the place of 
final punishment; but it is the intermediate scene or state of punishment, 
the preliminary place of confinement and state for the spirits similar to 
what sheol is for men. 

“judgment’’,—The final judgment. Jude reads, “unto the judgment — 
of the great day’’. ) 

“reserved’’,—The word has in it the idea of being held in custody. 


Ver. 9, “temptation’’,—TIncluding, as in I Pet. 1.6, not only temp- 
tation in the limited sense, but all species of trials, persecutions and the like. 

“under punishment’’,—-Not ‘“‘to be punished’’, as in the Authorized 
Version, but held in reserve “‘for the final judgment of the great day’. 
(A. Hu. Fr. Wi. Sal. Bru. Schot.) 


CHAPTER. TAREE 


3 knowing this first, that *in the last 
days mockers shall come with mockery, 
walking after their own lusts. 4 and 
saying, Where is the promise of his 
“coming? for, from the day that the 
fathers fell asleep, all things continue 
as they were from the beginning of the 
creation. 5 For this they wilfully for- 
get, that there were heavens from of old, 
and an earth compacted out of water 
and *amidst water, by the word of God; 
6 by which means the world that then 
was, being overflowed with water, per- 
ished; 7 but the heavens that now are, 
and the earth, by the same word have 
been ‘stored up for fire, being reserved 


1Gr. in the last of the days 
"Gr. presence 

8Or, through 

4Or, stored with fire 


against the day of judgment and de- 
struction of ungodly men. 8 But for- 
get not this one thing, beloved, that one 
day is with the Lord as a thousand 
years, and a thousand years as one day. 
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his 
promise, as some count slackness; but ~ 
is longsuffering to you-ward, not wish- 
ing that any should perish, but that all 
should come to repentance. 10 But the 
day of the Lord will come as a thief; 
in the which the heavens shall pass away 
with a great noise, and the “elements 
shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and 
the earth and the works that are therein 
shall be “burned up. 


‘Or, heavenly bodies 
®*The most ancient manuscripts read dis- 
covered 
7 


Vers. 3-10. MOoOcCKERS OF HIS COMING AND THEIR DESTINY. 


Ver. 3. “knowing this first’’,—They are to consider it as a principal — 
point of the prophetical words they are now to read. 

“in the last days’’,—Literally, ‘‘in the last of the days’. The times 
referred to are those immediately preceding the Second Coming of Christ, 


528 





IDSRESCER 


and, says Salmon, “immediately introducing the age described as ‘the 
age tocome’ ”’ 


_ “mockers shall come with mockery’’,—The form of the expression 
gives sharp emphasis to their conduct, and the Authorized Version by 
omitting ““with mockery”’ strips the statement of its most graphic stroke. 


“walking after their own lusts’’,—Says Salmon, ‘The lustful life and 
the scoffing voice are not associated here without a purpose.”’ 


“own lusts’’,—This brings out the self will and the opposition of 
these men to the will of God—no longer wolves in sheep’s clothing, but 
walking openly in their wolfish natures. 


Ver. 4. “Where is’’,—Implying that it is nowhere; it has passed 
away and disappeared. 


“promise’’,—That made by Jesus in the Gospels and especially the 
promise in Acts 1.11. 


“his’’,—They did not use the name of Christ because of their disdain 
for His name, say some. (Fr. Wi. Hof. Gerh.) 


The question shows how familiar the subject was among everybody 
in that day. 


“fathers’’,—The first generation of Christian believers received the 
promise and lived in the hope of its sure and speedy fulfillment. They 
died without witnessing it, and this would be used as an argument with 
their children for discrediting the promise itself. (D. Fr. Hu. Sal. Hof. 
Thi. Hes.) 


Wiesinger refers the word to the Old Testament patriarchs, but the 
fact that they died before the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord's 
return would be a strange argument for these mockers to urge against the 
Christian hope. 

Wiesinger argues that the time element will not permit our interpre- 
tation; but this was written in A. D. 67, and then it must be remembered 
that Peter is speaking from the standpoint of the last times, some little time 
at least in the future. 


“as they were’’,—Better, ‘‘as they are’. [he meaning is well ex- 
pressed as follows, “‘Ever since the death of our fathers to whom the 
promise was given, things have continued as we now see them and as they 
always have continued even from the beginning of the creation.”’ (A. Fr. 
Sal.) The fact that the scoffers would ask such a question shows that the 
people of that time expected by reason of some great manifestation or 
world disturbance to know when Christ came. This is a strong argument 
against the Millennial Dawn teaching of His unobserved coming, and that 
only gradually will it dawn upon the world that He is here when once 
He does come. 


Ver. 5. “‘For’’,—Introducing the reason for their making such a 
statement as that in verse 4. 


“wilfully forget’’,—Shut their own eyes. Some authorities refer the 
word “‘this’’ to the assertion of the preceding verse and give to “wilfully” 
the meaning of “‘asserting’’, and read, ‘‘For, asserting this, they forget’, 
etc. But this gives a most unusual sense to the word “wilfully’’, and 
nearly all commentators hold to the rendering of the Revised Version. 


529 


TEEPE E 


“from of old’’,—From the first origin of all things. 

““compacted’’,—i. e., brought together, made solid, “‘consisting of’’, 
as in the Authorized Version of Col. 1.7. 

“by the word of God’’,—Not of its own will, not by a fortuitous 
concurrence of atoms, but as in the record of the Word of God. 

Our rendering, ““compacted’’, looks to the water as the material “out 


of’’ which the earth was made, and the meaning of the word is strongly in 
favor of this, the Revised Version reading. (A. Hu. Sal.) 


The Authorized Version reads ‘‘standing” for ‘compacted’, and so 
makes the earth rise up “‘out of’ the water in which it lay buried. (B. W3, 
Win. Hof. Schot.) 


Ver. 6. Peter shows that the world was once destroyed and that 
therefore the assertion that it had continued as it was from the beginning 
of creation was not true. 


““pertshed’’,—This means, not that it was annihilated, but that it lost 
its form and substance as a world; reduced to another form and state. 


“by which means’’,—These words are to be explained in one or the 
other of three different ways: 

1. They may refer to the “heavens” and the “earth’’, the heavens 

opened and the fountains of the earth broken up to cause the 
destruction. (Fr. Hof. Bez. Oec. Wol. Horn, Steinf.) 
Some of these authorities take “‘the world that then was’’ as the 
world of living creatures and some take it as the material system 
which perished by means of the very things by which it consisted, 
while still others combine the two, which last is certainly, if the 
view under consideration is accepted, the proper way to take the 
expression. 

2. They may refer to “water’’ and “the word of God’, 1. e., the 
seemingly constant order of things perished through the agents that 
first formed it. (Wi. Bes. Bru. Sal. Gerh.) With this view it is — 
also best to take “the world that then was’’ as the whole order of 
things, the earth with men and other living creatures occupying it. 

3. They may refer to “‘water’’ alone, out of which and through 
which the heavens opened and the fountains of the deep broke up. 
“The world that then was’ is, under this view, to be taken in 
the same way as that preferred above. (A. C. Hu. Lum. Pott. 
and the majority.) 

‘These views are all equally substantial. The third view makes the 
flow of thought a bit easier than the others, while the reference in the next 
verse to the word of God again, “by the same word’’, seems to favor the 
second view. 


Ver. 7. “for fire’’,—Some would have this modify “‘reserved’’ (A. 
Hu. Fr. Bru.), but with others we prefer the arrangement of our text. 
(Wi. Sal. Hof. Schot.) Why should anyone think that Peter got this idea 
of the destruction of heaven and earth by fire from Greek or Stoic philos- 
ophy or Oriental mythology when the Old Testament is full of it, and 
the more especially since it was promised that the world would not again 
be destroyed by water, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah would 
naturally be taken by him as a type of the future judgment of: the world. 


530 


IPE TER 


Ver. 8. This is not a second refutation of the scoffers but a removal 
of an obstacle which believers might find in the delay of Christ’s coming. 


As he quotes from Psalm 90, the “‘Lord”’ here is not to be referred to 
Christ, but to the Lord of the Psalms, Jehovah, God. 


Says Stier, ““‘He who created the heavens and the earth in six days 
because He thus willed it, may also suddenly accomplish in one day that 
which under other circumstances would require a thousand years; in like 
manner He may ordain thousands of years to be to the world week-days 
and work-days before His great Sabbath begins to dawn.”’ 


Ver. 9. God’s purpose in the delay concerning the promise of the 
coming again of Christ is a gracious one. 


““some’’,—The reference here, we feel, is primarily to believers of 
weak faith (Fr. Hu. Sal.), and not to the scoffers (A.), although of course 
these are still in his mind. - 

“as some consider slackness’’,—1i. e., as some consider it to be, namely, 


His delay. 


Ver. 10. “‘shall come’’,—This is placed at the head of the sentence 
for emphasis. He will come in spite of the delay and of the assertion of 
the scoffers. 

“as a thief’’,—The idea is that of unexpected suddenness rather than 
that of dread. 

“day of the Lord’’,—The Lord here, as throughout the passage, is 
evidently not Christ but God as in verse 12. 

“a great notse’’,—The better translation is ‘‘a rushing sound’. The 
word has in it the idea of whirring, whizzing motion as well as of sound. 
De Wette refers it to the crash with which the heavens shall fall, and 
Oecumenius to the actual noise of the flames. The writer probably thinks 
of both. 

“elements’’,—The reference here is doubtless to the heavenly bodies, 
the constituent elements making up the heavens. “The word means the 
component parts which make up a thing, and while it is true that wherever 
else used in Scripture it has an ethical sense, it has in Peter clearly a physical 
sense, and it seems best to take it here in a broad sense as applying to the 
- parts of which the heavens in particular, or the system of things generally, 
are made up, and it doubtless denotes much the same as “‘the powers of the 
heavens’ in Matt. 24.29, the idea being that these heavens shall pass away 
by having their constituent parts dissolved. 

It will not do to think of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water 
(Be.), nor just “earth, air and water’’, because fire would not be repre- 
sented as being consumed by fire (Horn), nor yet as ‘‘air and water’ (Es.). 

“with fervent heat’’,—The word is a participle which means “‘being 
scorched up”’ and properly belongs with “‘elements’’, but the Revised Ver- 
- sion rendering gives the right thought exactly and may be allowed to 
remain. , 

““works’,—The works of God and man, nature and art. (B. Wi. 
Fr. Die. Bru. Schot.) It is not merely man’s works (Ros. Hof. Steinf.), 
nor yet merely God’s work, the earth and the fullness thereof (Hu.), nor 
is it to be taken only as the wicked works of man after I Cor. 3.15. 


531 


TISPEWGER 


“burned up’’,—lIt is true that “‘burned up’’ is difficult to account for, 
the best manuscript authority being in favor of the marginal reading, 
““‘discovered’’, and this reading is supposed by the latest scholarship to have 
arisen from a corruption of another, which would mean “‘shall flow (or 
melt) away’. The wide variety of readings is a witness to the early 
uncertainty of the text. One manuscript reads, “‘shall disappear’’; one 
version inserts a ‘‘not’’, and reads ‘‘shall not be found”. 


If the word “‘discovered’’ be retained, the sense would likely be, 
“found out judicially’’ or ‘“‘made to appear as they are’. Some turn it 
into a question, ‘‘Shall the earth and the works therein be found then?’’, 
i. e., shall they continue? ‘There is, however, no uncertainty whatever as 
to the sense that is meant to be conveyed. 


11 Seeing that these things are thus 
all to be dissolved, what manner of per- 
sons ought ye to be in all holy living 
and godliness, 12 looking for and “earn- 
estly desiring the "coming of the day of 
God, by reason of which the heavens 
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the 
“elements shall melt with fervent heat? 
13 But, according to his promise, we 
look for new heavens and a new earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye 
look for these things, give diligence that 
ye may be found in peace, without spot 
and blameless in his sight. 15 And 
account that the longsuffering of our 

10r, hastening 


Lord is salvation; even as our beloved 
brother Paul also, according to the wis- 
dom given to him, wrote unto you; 16 
as also in all his epistles, speaking in 
them of these things; wherein are some 
things hard to be understood, which the 
ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they 
do also the other scriptures, unto their 
own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, be- 
loved, knowing these things beforehand, 
beware lest, being carried away with the 
error of the wicked, ye fall from your 
own stedfastness. 18 But grow in the 
grace and knowledge of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the 
glory both now and “for ever.. Amen. 
4Gr. unto the day of eternity 


*Gr. presence 
8Or, heavenly bodies 


Vers. 11-18. HASTENING THE COMING OF THE DAY OF.THE LORD. 
Ver. 11. 


before mentioned, 

“to be dissolued’’,—This is the present of certainty (A. Hu. Fr.), 
and not “‘are dissolving’, are now in process of dissolution, as Salmon 
DUS Cw . 

“what manner’, etc..—Beginning with these words the Revised 
Version takes all the words to the end of verse 12 as a question. The 
arrangement of the words in the Revised Version cannot be improved 


upon, but it is more in accord with usage to take the whole expression as a. 


solemn declaration in an exclamatory sense. (Hu. Sal. Hof.) 


Ver. 12. “‘earnestly destring’’,—The passages quoted in support of 
this rendering by the Revised Version really do not support it at all. They 
all mean to prosecute with zeal something that is present. We are inclined 
most strongly to the marginal reading of the Revised Version and to the 
text of the Authorized, ‘“‘hastening’’, i. e., hurry on. (A. B. D. Wi. Hu. 
Fr. Era. Hof. Sal.) The idea is that of accelerating the advent of that 


day by our holy lives and oyr labors for the advancement of the Gospel. 


“the coming (presence—Parousia) of the day of God’’,—This ex- 
pression is found only here and this is the only place where we read of the 
Parousia of a day, it being commonly used of a person, and usually of 
the presence or advent of the Lord Himself. 


552 


“these things’’,—Not merely the works, but all the things 


TIVE RSRER 


Lachmann says that Peter had given up the hope of Christ’s return, 
and mixed it up with God’s future day of judgment. This is sheer non- 
sense. Peter treats of the coming of Christ in other places in his writings. 
The term, “day of God’’, ought not to surprise us if we have due respect 
to teaching of the Old Testament. 


“by reason of which’’,—1. e., by reason of the day of God. 
“fervent heat’’,—As in verse 10. 


“melt’’,—There is no gainsaying the fact that the word means 
“melt’’ in the most literal sense, although De Wette says the meaning is 
not to be literally pressed. Alford on the other hand says, ‘““‘Why not?”’ 
and refers to the liquefaction that has actually taken place in the crust of 
the earth wherever the central fires have acted upon it. He asks, ‘“‘Why 
should not that day, in its purifying process, produce a similar effect on 
the earth again?” 


In spite of the strong expressions used by the writer, it is not decid- 
edly stated that the world is to be dissolved into nothing, and the passage 
cannot be said to finally settle the dispute as to whether annihilation or 
transformation is in the writer's mind, whether the dissolution refers to 
substance or to quality. Salmon has said very aptly that the use to be 
made of the passage must be a very guarded one, so far as theorizing about 
the nature of the end is concerned. He says that Peter is speaking in terms 
of the lofty imagery of the Old Testament. The idea is not annihilation, 
says Alford, but change. (Wor. Sal.) 


Ver. 13. “his promise’’,—-God's promise in the Old Testament. 
(isasOpc143;"66,22;) 


Ver. 14. ‘“‘found’’,—i. e., at His coming. 
“tn peace’,—With God and man and one’s self. 


Ver. 15. The delay is not slackness but longsuffering, which is to 
be valued as “‘salvation’’, that is in the sense of the suspension of judgment 
with a view to a prolonged offer of grace. 


“wrote unto you’’,—Doubtless in the First Epistle to the Thessa- 
lonians, although there is a great diversity of opinion as to what writing 
Peter actually refers to. 


Ver. 16. ‘“‘these things’’,—1. e., the things of the Second Coming 
of the Lord about which Peter had been talking, the things of the end. Of 
course those who contend that the “‘even as’’ of verse 15 does not refer to 
the things of which Peter had just been discoursing, the Day of the Lord, 
must refer “‘these things’ to something else, i. e., doctrines of justification 
and so forth. 


“wherein’’,—If it were not for the form of the pronoun this would 
naturally refer to “‘these sayings’, thus affirming the truth that in the 
teaching concerning the Second Coming of Christ there are some things 
hard to be understood, but the form of the pronoun as used compels the 
connection of “wherein”? with “‘epistles’’. 


“other scriptures’’,—referring doubtless to other New ‘Testament 
writings. 
Bi) 


I JOHN 





Ver. 17. “‘before hand’’,—-The announcement of which things had 
cccupied practically the whole of the chapter he had just written. | 


Ver. 18. ‘“‘forever’’,—The literal of the expression is “‘to the day of 
eternity,—the day which shall dawn at the end of time and itself know 
no end’. The word “eternity’’ is literally ‘‘aeon’’, and the expression 
literally translated means, ‘‘unto the day of the aeon’’, and is found only 


here. 


TEHE PIR STEP ow Or 


JOHN 


(A. D. 90) 
CHAPTER TWO 

18 Little children, it is the last hour; the antichrist, even he that denieth the 
and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, Father and Son. 
even now have there arisen many anti- 28 And now, my little children, abide 
christs. in him; that, if he shall be manifested, 

22 Who is the liar but he that de- we may have boldness, and not be 
nieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is ashamed “before him at his “coming. 


1Gr. from him 
2 
“Gr. presence 


Vers. 18,22,28. “THE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST DEFINED. 
Ver. 18. “it 1s the last hour’’,—The expression ee refers in 
some sense to the last period of the world. 


Yet it is not ‘‘the last dispensation’, i. from Christ’s ft coming 
in grace to His Second Coming in judgment (C. D. Be. Sa. Aug. Bez. Luc. 
Wol. Nea.), because: 


1. This idea is unsuited to the context. 


2. Verses 8 and 17 and especially verse 28 show that it is the Second 


Coming of Christ that he has in mind. 

3. The sign “‘whereby we Rnow”’’ proves the reference to be to the 

last part of the dispensation in which John was living. 

4. The fact of many antichrists being already in existence corre- 

sponds well with the prophecy given by the Lord which plainly 
referred to the last days of the present dispensation and to which 
John here no doubt has reference. 

With these reasons and with the view that John referred to the last 
days of the dispensation in which he was living many of the best exposi- 
tors agree. (A. Ba. My. Er. Eb. Hu. Nea. Luc. Ger.) (See A. and Hu. 
in loco.) 

The reference is not therefore to the last hour of John’s life (B.), nor 
of the Apostolic age (Ste.), nor of the Judean nation, the time immedi- 
ately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. (Li. So. Me. Ham. Gro.) 
Dusterdieck refers ‘‘the last hour’’ to the destruction of Jerusalem as open- 
ing the period of judgment which shall precede the end and the lengtpny of 


534 


I JOHN 


which is nowhere laid down. But this leaves uncertain that of which the 
Apostle speaks of with certainty. 


These different explanations arise from the desire to acquit John of 
making a mistake as to the nearness of the time of the Parousia. But 
John speaks as did the other Apostles and as we might well speak today. 


“as ye heard’’,—1i. e., from the preaching of the Apostles, from John 
and especially from Paul. 


“‘cometh’’,—This is a present tense used in the sense of a fixed cer- 
tainty. 

“antichrist’’,—-The word may mean either ‘‘against Christ’’ or ‘‘in- 
stead of Christ’’, i. e., a false Christ. The decision cannot rest on philol- 
ogy alone, but the context shows plainly that John used the word in a 
sense antagonistic to Christ, and this is now commonly recognized. 

A false Christ is not necessarily a willful enemy of Christ. The man 
himself may be deceived. John was acquainted with the Greek for ‘‘false 
Christ’, but he chose not to use it. He used “‘antichrist’’, showing plainly 
that he meant the idea of enmity to be read in the word. Furthermore, in 
the Greek Fathers we do not find a trace of the idea of “‘false Christ’’ in 
Antichrist, but it is always the thought of antagonism that is emphasized. 


“many antichrists’’,—Grotius says there are the false Christs prophe- 
sied by Christ Himself in Matthew, and refers them to the false Christs 
prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, the chief of whom was Barchochebas, 
whom Grotius declares to have been the Antichrist. But the false Christs 
of our verse went out from the Christian Church (“out from us’’—verse 
19), which those to whom Grotius refers, being Jews, most assuredly did 
not do; and furthermore, what would the nearness of the destruction of 
Jerusalem, viewed as a Jewish event, have to do with the subject of this 
Epistle of John? 

These antichrists in John’s time were the heretical teachers who had 
gone out from the Church, who were clothed with the attributes, had the 
spirit of and were the forerunners of the coming personal Antichrist. Does 
John in this verse mean to say that the Antichrist is already here, i. e., 
in a collective sense, being in fact the aggregate of these many antichrists? 
In other words, is the Antichrist collective or is he personal? 

1. Since the antichrists are personal so must the Antichrist be. 


2. Christ and Antichrist stand over against each other and if one is 
personal the law of analogy requires that the other should be 
personal also. 

3. Chap. 4.3 does not say that the spirit then prevalent was Anti- 
christ, but it says that it is the spirit of Antichrist, and in this place 
the article “‘the’’ is used before Antichrist. 

4. The present of fixed certainty (cometh), as referred to Antichrist 
is set over against “‘have arisen’ and “‘is’’, as referred to the anti- 
christs, showing that there is a distinction between the Antichrist 
who is to come and the many antichrists who have already come. 

The word “‘antichrist’’ is found only in the Epistles of John. ‘‘Al- 

most all commentators’, says Huther, ‘have correctly supposed that John 
understands by this enemy the same as Paul speaks of in II Thess. 2.3, 
the features which appear in the description of the Apostle Paul and in the 


535 


I JOHN 


statements of John corresponding too closely to admit of this being 
denied.” 


Ver. 22. “who ts the liarr’’,—The “‘the’’ should not be omitted as 
in the Authorized Version. It refers to the preceding lie of verse 21 as 
embodied in concrete form in the Antichrist. John certainly has the par- 
ticular lie of the antichrists of his time in view, and the “‘lvar’’ and the 
“antichrist’’ are identical. 


‘this’ ,—1. e., the liar just described. 


“denteth the Father and the Son’’,——This is a clause of more particu- 
lar definition, stating the full, unhappy consequence of that antichristian 
lie. Therefore the denial that Jesus is the Christ is in its very essence a 
denial of the Father and the Son. 


Antichrist is obviously here not used as predicating the one person 
in whom the character shall be finally and centrally realized, but as setting 
forth the identity of character with him and participation in the same 
development of the antichristian principle. 


Ver. 28. “‘that, if he shall be manifested’’,—There is no intimation 
in this clause of the time or the nearness of His coming. The particle “1f’’ 
marks reality rather than time, and has been correctly substituted for the 
‘“‘when’”’ of the Authorized Version. Of course in view of John’s thought 


concerning the nearness of the expected return of the Lord, it is doubtless 
true that this was in his mind as he wrote the words of our verse, although 
it will not do to draw this information out of this verse taken in itself. 


“shall be manifested’’, This manifestation of Christ is His Parousia 
which is to take place at the end of the “‘/ast hour’. It is the same word as - 
that used of His manifestation in the flesh at His first coming. (Chap. 
3:048.,) 


“his coming’’,—Parousia,—presence; it is only this once that the 
word is found in John. 


“The ‘if’ in this verse’, says Morgan, ‘“‘casts no doubt upon His 
appearing, but is indicative of His coming at any time. In the words, 
‘boldness’ and ‘ashamed’, an alternative possibility is suggested as to the 
attitude of Christians at that coming. [hey may have ‘boldness’ or they 
may ‘be ashamed’. ‘Boldness’ suggests the freedom of speech that comes 
of the perfect familiarity of friendship; there will be no embarrassment and 
awkwardness of speech arising from the constraint of being strangers to 
Him. The root meaning of the word ‘ashamed’ is ‘disgraced’, so that it is 
allowable to read, ‘and not be disgraced from (the preposition is ‘apo’) 
Him at His coming’. ‘This is not addressed to the outside world, but to 
believers in Christ. In that verse there is a very clear division which, to 
my mind, answers the question as to whether believers may not pass 
through the great tribulation. Some will be ready to enjoy freedom of 
access to Christ and familiarity with Him; but the ‘little children’ of God 
who have been living only in the elements of the world will be disgraced 
at His appearing.” 


536 


I JOHN 





CHAPTER THREE 


2 Beloved, now are we children of him; for we shall see him even as he is. 
God, and it is not yet made manifest 3 And every one that hath this hope 
what we shall be. We know that if *he set on him purifieth himself, even as he 
shall be manifested, we shall be like is pure. 

1Or, it 


Vers. 2,3. PRACTICAL ERFECTS OF THE BELIEVER’S BLESSED HOPE. 


Ver. 2. “‘ts not yet’’,—We have here a past tense and the more 
forceful reading is ‘‘has not yet’’. 


“made manifest’’,—It is not the knowledge of what we shall be that 
is to be manifested (Eb.), but the future condition itself that is meant, i. e., 
shown forth in reality. (A. Hu. Dus. Bra.) 


“tf he shall be manifested’’,—The majority read ‘“‘it’’ for “‘he’’, and 
consequently make “‘ltke him’’ and “‘see him’’ and “‘he ts” (all of this 
verse) and ‘‘on him’’ and “‘he ts’’ of verse 3 refer to God. (A. B. D. Hu. 
pOmepeopslu soda. ba.'bra. Cec, Lut; Ben. RosiNea, Dus, Schli.) 


Grammatically this seems the better view and the translation would 
then call for the following, ““What we shall be has not yet been made mant- 
fest, but we Rnow that if it (what we shall be) 1s made manifest, we shall 
be ltke him’, i. e., like God. 


But in spite of all arguments this does not agree with the context, and 
inasmuch as it is just as grammatical to supply “‘he’’, and inasmuch as 
the thing John is talking about is not primarily that we are the children of 
God, but the significance of the coming of Christ (Chap. 2.28), we are led 
with others to read “‘he’’ and refer the same to Christ, and so throughout. 
(C. Be. Ar. Es. Ca. Wh. Sy. Bez. Hor. Mor. Sem., the Tyndall and Cran- 


mer versions, the Authorized Version and all Revised versions. ) 


“for’’,—The meaning may be made somewhat clearer by translating 
‘because’. It may mean either (1) that we are quite sure we shall be 
like Him, from the very fact that we are to see Him (C. Ri. My. So. Hu. 
Mor. Schm. Pope), or (2) that seeing Him will cause us to be like Him 
(D. A. B-C. Sp. Eb. Nea. Dus. Kos. Bra. Wei.) 


Pope says, ‘The final glorification into the image of Christ is never 
said to be the result of seeing that image; but conversely, likeness to Him is 
the preparation for seeing Him.’’ “Therefore because we shall see Him we 
know that we must and will be like Him. (See II Cor. 3.18.) 


On the other hand, Alford says the “‘for’’ or the “‘because’’ contains 
the real cause and ground of that which follows, and that therefore the 
seeing Him as He is is not merely a proof that we shall be like Him, but 
we shall be like Him because we shall see Him face to face. 


Campbell Morgan says, ‘‘It seems to me that this transformation must 
first take place; and the fact that I am to see Him is the proof that I shall 
be like Him. If my vision of Christ on the resurrection morning is to be 
the cause of my transformation, the presupposition is that I shall not be 
changed until | look at Him, and that therefore my first view of Him will 
be in my unchanged condition. This is, in some respects, a beautiful 
thought, but incorrect, as I think. I believe we shall be changed in a 
moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and that when changed by the power 
of God, we shall look at Christ. Almost all who have any right to deal 


Di 


I JOHN 





with the original tongue lean to this exposition rather than to the other.”’ 
To this explanation we incline. 


Ver. 3. “‘this hope’’,—i. e., the hope of being like Him. 


“purifieth himself’’,—This self-purification does not spring out of 
the nature of man; the will to do it lies in this hope, and therefore it is 


the expression of his spiritual state as worked out in him through the Holy 
Spirit of God. 


CHAPTER FOUR 


2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: 
every spirit that confesseth that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh is of God; 


Jesus is not of God; and this is the 
spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have 
heard that it cometh; and now it is in 


3 and every spirit that *confesseth not 


1Some ancient authorities read annulleth 
Jesus 


Vers. 2,3. [HE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST ALREADY IN THE WORLD. 


Ver. 2. “‘the Spirit of God’’,—The Holy Spirit, as is evident from 
the expression itself and from its antithesis to the Antichrist. 


““confesseth’’,—Oral confession with the mouth is meant. 


the world already. 


That the 


life may agree with the profession is not implied in the expression, although 


as Braune says, “‘Only a confession with the mouth emanating from the 
faith of the heart under the influence of the indwelling Spirit of God can 
be meant.”’ 


“tn the flesh’’,—If this does not directly assert the Incarnation it 
certainly implies it. (A.D. Lu. Hu. Dus. Bra.) 


Ver. 3. “‘desus’’,—The reference here is to the historical Christ in 
the complex of all that He is and has become, involved as it is in His having 
come in the flesh. 


The particular negative particle used is one that denotes not only 
denial, but contradiction as well. 


“this’,—1i. e., this spirit. 

Practically all commentators agree with our text in supplying “‘spirit’”’ 
and thus the meaning is, ‘“‘and this spirit is the spirit of the Antichrist.”’ 

Very strangely some refer “‘this’’ to the previous denial, the refusal to 


confess, and so supply ‘‘matter’’ or ‘‘nature’’ instead of ‘‘spirit’’ and make | 


it the ‘‘antichristian nature’ that is referred to. (Hu. Ep. Val. May.) 
But this is decidedly uncalled for and subverts the real sense of the passage. 


“have heard’’,—This refers doubtless to the previous instructions 
they had received, and not to Chap. 2.18. 


“it 1s in the world already’’,—By “‘it’’ is meant the spirit of the Anti- 
christ. It is in the world in the person of these false prophets. John does 
not say that the Antichrist is already in the world but only that the spirit 
of the Antichrist is already in the world. 


The word “already” is added doubtless not alone to intensify the 
“now” but to point to the future time when the personal Antichrist is to 
appear, for which appearing the world is already being made ready. 


538 


JUDE 


SECOND EPISTLE OF 
JOHN 


7 For many deceivers are gone forth 
into the world; even they that confess 
not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. 
This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 


Ver. 7. THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST DENIED. 


““deceivers’’,—1. e., false teachers. 


“are gone forth’’,—The expression in itself does not denote separ- 
ation from the Church, but inasmuch as the verb is in the past tense, the 
“from us’’ of John’s First Epistle 2.19, is doubtless in his mind. 


“confess not’’,—The same negative is used and with the same 
meaning as in I John 4.3, on which passage see remark. 


“cometh tn the flesh’”’,—Oecumenius wrongly interprets, “‘is to come’, 
taking it as a future participle and referring it to the Second Coming of 
Christ, but it is to be taken exactly as in John’s First Epistle in Chap. 4.2, 
except that here the present participle is used which expresses the idea in 
itself altogether apart from the idea of time. (A. D. Lu. Sa. Hu, Dus. 
Bra.) 

“this’’,—1. e., the one who denies and does not confess. It points 
to a class, making each one of these in its place a representative and pre- 
cursor of the one coming Antichrist. 

Braune says, ‘“The Antichrist is personally behind the many who are 
his forerunners. From ‘decetvers’ to ‘deceiver’ is plurality expressed in 
unity; it is a transition from the plural to the distributive singular.”’ 

The word “‘antichrist’’ with which the verse closes gives prominence 
to a further characteristic of the deceiver. 


CHE EPISTLE: OF 


JUDE 


(A. D. 66) 


6 And angels that kept not their own 
principality, but left their proper habita- 
tion, he hath kept in everlasting bonds 
under darkness unto the judgment of 
the great day. 


Ver. 6. THE FALLEN ANGELS RESERVED UNTO THE DAY OF FINAL 
JUDGMENT. 


Ver. 6. “their own principality’ ,—i. e., the one originally assigned 
to them. Most of the best expositors rightly translate with our text (A. 
Dewestive wierl, An, Hof, Bra. Schot.) although many (G..Lut. Gro. 


539 


JUDE 


Bez. Hor. Era.) approve the rendering of the Authorized Version, “‘first 
estate’, i. e., original condition. 


“their proper habitation’’,—i. e., heaven, or whatever habitation of 
light may have been assigned to them. 


“ander darkness’’,—i. e., in the depths of the underworld, in the 
abyss, covered over with darkness. 


“unto the judgment of the great day’’,—This is the last and final 
judgment day for which they are kept, taking place at the end of the world, 
doubtless at the same time with the judgment upon Satan just prior to that 
upon the wicked in general. 

Scofield says, “The ‘great day’ is the day of the Lord (Isa. 2. 9. 22.) 
The day of the Lord, then, according to Scofield extends from the Second 
Coming of Christ on through the Millennium period, as Morgan and 
others also maintain. 

Just to what sin reference is here to be had is not known. 

We are inclined to think it is to that to which vague reference is made 
in Gen. 6.2, and that Jude got his more particular information from the 
Book*of Enoch) CA K. HusPle Diet Del HofekucadusiGyow 

Others say that Gen. 6.2 refers to the marriage of the Sethites to the 
descendants of Cain, and that the sin referred to in Jude is that of the first 
fall in the realm of the spirits, namely, the revolt of Satan and his angels. 
(F, Cy An. Es, Fr. Ph. Af, Bra. Mel. Lut. Hor. Eph. Hen. and writersion 
the Middle ages in general.) (I John 3.8,10.) 


The second view is adopted on the ground that it is doubtful whether 
Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch, that the first view is inconsistent with 
what we are elsewhere in Scripture taught of the angelic nature. But 
when this view is taken there seems to be a conflict with the other teachings 
of the New Testament where we are told that Satan and his angels have 


their residence in the air, exercising power over unbelievers and laying. 


snares for believers. This is reconciled by the supporters of this view by 
saying that Satan’s continued activity is by special permission from God, 
or by saying, as others do, that although they do inhabit the air near this 
earth of ours they may well be said to be chained or kept in everlasting 
bonds because they are restrained from recovering the glory and happiness 
they have lost. 

The arguments in favor of the first view are the difficulty just men- 


tioned, the fact that the references in the Book of Enoch are too many and . 


too extended and too plain not to be reckoned with, the similarity of lan- 
guage as seen especially in the expression, “the judgment of the great day’, 
all pointing to a reference of Jude to Enoch or of both to some common 
source, and finally the expression, “in like manner with these’’, in verse 
7 without doubt refers to these angels and therefore distinctly puts the sins 
mentioned in both verses in practically the same class. If this view is 
adopted the passage is at once relieved of all difficulty because only a special 
class of angels are then included in Jude’s passage. 


14 And to these also Enoch, the judgment upon all, and to convict all 
seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, the ungodly of all their works of 
Behold, the Lord came with *ten thou- ungodliness which they have ungodly 
sands of his holy ones, 15 to execute wrought, and of all the hard things 


IGr. his holy myriads 
540 


Pars Sul on 


JUDE 


which ungodly sinners have spoken 
against him. 16 These are murmurers, 
complainers, walking after their lusts 
(and their mouth speaketh great swell- 
ing words), showing respect of persons 
for the sake of advantage. 

17 But ye, beloved, remember ye the 
words which have been spoken before 


the last time there shall be mockers, 
walking after *their own ungodly lusts. 
19 These are they who make separa- 
tions “sensual, having not the Spirit. 
20 But ye, beloved, building up your- 
selves on your most holy faith, praying 
in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves 
in the love of God, looking for the 


by the apostles of our Lord Jesus 
Christ; 18 that they said to you, In 


mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto 
eternal life. 


2Gr. their own lusts of ungodlinesses 
807, zatural Or, animal 


Vers. 14-21. JUDGMENT UPON APOSTATE TEACHERS AT THE COMING 
OF THE LORD. 
Ver. 14. “And to these’’,—This rendering of our text is better 


than that of the Authorized Version, “‘of these’, or “with reference to 
these’, as many take it. These latter renderings spoken in Jude’s day 
could give the prophecy’s fulfillment a restrospective character, while the 
rendering of our text spoken to them of Enoch’s time could throw it ages 
into the future. 


“Enoch, the seventh from Adam’’,—1i. e., counting Adam the first 
and Enoch the seventh. He is so designated. several times in the Book of 


Enoch. 

To Adam was given the promise of the first advent of our Lord as 
Saviour; to Enoch was given the first promise of His second advent as 
Judge. . Stier says that Enoch is a personal type of the sanctified of the 
seventh age of the world, the great earth Sabbath, the seventh millennium. 

“the Lord came’’,—The tense is past because Enoch speaks in a vision 
in which the future appears to him as present. It is what scholars call ‘‘the 
historic sense of prophecy’’, or ‘‘the prophetic past’’. 

“ten thousands of His holy ones’’,—The Greek is “‘his holy myriads’’. 
‘The terms include, as Riddle says, ‘“‘not only angels but redeemed men.” 

The prophecy here quoted is found almost verbally in the Book of 
Enoch. Jude must at all events have known of the tradition of Enoch’s 
prophecy and considered it true as to its kernel, even if he did not have 


the Book of Enoch before him. 


Ver. 15. “to execute judgment’’,—1i. e., to pronounce the doom and 
to see that it is carried out. Thus the coming of the Lord with His 
angels and His saints is here clearly shown to be a coming for judgment. 


Ver. 17. The reference in this verse is to that of simple priority. 
The idea of the prophetical does not lie in the words. Jude here doubtless 
Peleramtonsucoapassavessas)11) Fim, 3.1; Acts 20.29.30; I Tim, 4.1; Ul 
ber 


Ver. 18. “In the last time’’,—Meyer says the time in view here is 
that just prior to the second coming of Christ, and similar to this is Alford’s 
comment, ‘‘the last age of the Church’. (See II Pet..3.3 and our exegesis 
there.) There is here a glance backward to what was said in verse 15 as to 
the characteristic quality of the works there brought into view. 


Ver. 21. “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ’’,— 
“looking for’ here points to the future, and the “‘mercy”’ therefore is that 


541 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 3 


by which Christ will glorify Himself in His saints in His great day, the 
mercy which He will show at His second coming. (A. M. Hu.) 

“unto eternal life’’,—-This phrase may be connected with “mercy”’ 
(D.), or with ‘‘keep yourselves’ (Hu.), or with “looking for’ (B.), 
while Alford connects it with both of the last two. 


24 Now unto him that is able to 
guard you from stumbling, and to set 
you before the presence of his glory 
without blemish in exceeding joy, 


Ver. 24. THE JOYFUL PRESENTATION OF THE BELIEVER BEFORE THE 
‘THRONE OF CHRIST AT HIS COMING. 


“before the presence of his glory’’,—The reference is to the special 
manifestation which will take place in connection with His Parousia. 


“The glory’, says Alford, ‘being that. which shall be revealed when 
the Son of man shall come.”’ 


This verse taken in connection with Eph. 5.25-27; Col. 1.22; I 
Thess. 3.13, is taken by David Brown as proof, that when Christ comes 
the Church will be complete and that therefore after His coming there 
can be no salvation for any others who at that time may be as yet unsaved. 
Whether this be true or not, the fact of its being so can hardly, on the basis 
of sound exegesis, be drawn from these passages, unless several other things 
can be shown to be true in connection with it, namely: 

1. That the word “‘Church”’ as used in Eph. 5.25-27 can be shown 

to denote the total number of those who are to be saved; 

2. That the Scriptures clearly prove that there can never be in the 
future more than one manifestation of Christ as it relates to this 
earth; and 

3. ‘That this presentation is to take place immediately upon Chriee s 
return. And even if this latter point could be established, unless 
the other two can be equally established, the presentation of the 
saints in question could be associated with the first manifestation 
quite as properly as with any later ones. The arguments pro- 
duced by Dr. Brown at this point are not at all convincing. 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN. 


(A. D196) 
CHAPTER ONE 
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, John; 2 who bare witness of the word 
which God ‘gave him to show unto his of God, and of the testimony of Jesus 
“servants, even the things which must Christ, even of all things that he saw. 
shortly come to pass: and he sent and 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they 
signified “it by his angel unto his servant that hear the words of the prophecy, 


1Or, gave unto him, to show unto his ser- 
vants the things &c. 

2Gr. bondservants 

3Or, them 


542 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


and keep the things that are written 
therein: for the time is at hand. 

4 John to the seven churches that are 
in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from 
him who is and who was and ‘who is 
to come; and from the seven Spirits that 
are before his throne; 5 and from Jesus 
Christ, who ts the faithful witness, the 
firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of 
the kings of the earth. Unto him that 
loveth us, and “loosed us from our sins 
‘by his blood; 6 and he made us to be 
a kingdom, to be priests unto ‘his God 
and Father; to him be the glory and the 
dominion “for ever and ever. Amen. 


7 Behold, he cometh with the clouds; 


4Or, who cometh 
A 4h é 
5Many authorities, some ancient, read washed. 


and every eye shall see him, and they 
that pierced him; and all the tribes of 
the earth shall mourn over him. Even 
so. Amen. 

8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, 
saith the Lord God, °who is and who 
was and ‘who is to come, the Almighty. 

9 I John, your brother and partaker 
with you in the tribulation and king- 
dom and “patience which are in Jesus, 
was in the isle that is called Patmos, 
for the word of God and the testimony 
of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the 
Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a 
great voice, as of a trimpet. 


"Or, he who 
WOr, stedfastness 


Heb. 9.14; comp. Chap. 7.14 

6Gr. in 

7Or, God and his Father 

8Gr. unto the ages of the ages. Many ancient 
authorities omit of the ages 


Vers. 1-10. “THE COMING OF THE LORD THE THEME OF THE REVE- 
LATION. 


Ver. 1. “The revelation of Jesus Christ’’,—This is not a revelation 
of which Jesus is the object, as Seiss maintains, but one of which He ts the 
subject or author. (A. L. F. Eb.) It is not a revelation about Jesus 
Christ by someone else, but a revelation which Jesus Christ Himself gives. 
It is not John’s revelation, but Christ's. It is made to us all, to all of 
Christ’s “‘servants’’ through John, either from Christ Himself or an angel 
on His behalf. 

“must’’,—i. e., by necessity of divine decree. 

“shortly come to pass’’,—There are three views of this phrase: 

1. It refers to the swiftness with which the things prophesied will 
take place when they do occur, without any reference to their 
nearness or remoteness, i. e., in swift succession. (L. Eb.) 

2. It refers to the speedy coming of what is to happen. (Dus. Hen.) 

3. It means ‘‘before long’, according to the method of computation 
of Him with whom 1000 years are as one day, and does not 
therefore necessarily mean near at hand as we compute nearness. 
CA ela ;.Wol,) 

The first view is hardly consistent with the past tense of the verb 
“come to pass’’, nor with the context, nor with the closing clause of verse 
3, nor especially with Chap. 22.7 where Christ Himself, speaking through 
His angel and using the same Greek words, says, “I come quickly’. 

The second view cannot be accepted, as it attributes not alone to John 
but also to Christ, who uses the same word in Chap. 22.7, the teaching 
that His second coming was quite near according to our conception of 
nearness. 

The third view is therefore the one to which we are necessarily 
driven. It is after all but a modification of view 2. It is God’s speedy 
time in the same sense as in Luke 18.7,8 where delay is evidently implied. 

Among the things which “must shortly come to pass’’ are events after 
a millennium period of a thousand years more or less and events beyond 


543 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


that are mentioned in the book, and consequently it must have embraced 
considerable time in its whole content. The expression is therefore most 
appropriately taken as a prophetic formula to teach us how short our 


time and the time of the world really is in comparison with time as it ~ 


stretches out in the vision of God. 


Though the time is near, we are told to wait patiently for it, both 
explicitly (Chaps. 1; 13.10; 14.12) and by the very organism and content 
of the book, as well as by the succession of the seals which shows that 
many intermediate events must first elapse, says Fausset. ‘This reference 
to the seals, however, has weight only if we think of them as succeeding 
each other and occurring in the history of the world from the time John 
had his vision on down through the centuries, the so-called Historical view. 


“his angel’’,—tlLange’s explanation of the angelic appearance through- 
out the book, of ‘Christ appearing in the quality of an angel’, will not 
do, as Chap. 22.9 clearly proves. If the angel of our verse refers to one 
definite angel, some see here a difficulty in that he does not appear as 
revelator until Chap. 17.1, and that other personages performed this office 
in the meantime. It would seem, however, that the expositors are creating 
a difficulty for themselves. The angel voice of verse 10 is followed in 
verse 11 by the voice of Christ who opens the revelation. In Chap. 4.1 
the angel of verse 10 speaks again; in Chap. 6.1 it is the four living 
creatures who speak; in Chap. 7.13 it is one of the twenty-four elders; in 
Chap. 10.8,9 it is the Lord and another angel; in Chaps. 17.1; 21.9 and 
22.1,6.it is one of the seven angels who speaks, which angel it would seem, 
according to Chap. 22.6, is the same as the angel of our verse, and with 
whom we see no objection whatever to identifying the angel of Chap. 1.10. 


Ver. 3. “‘the time ts at hand’’,—The word for “ttme’’ as used here 
is ‘‘kairos’’, which always expresses a fixed or expected point of time, a 
season or certain period of time. ‘‘Kronos’’ means time in general. 


“at hand’’,—To be explained in the same sense as “shortly come 
to pass’ of verse 1. 


Ver. 4. “which ts and which was and which ts to come’’,—This 
reference to God the Father is a paraphrase of the name Jehovah implying 
His unchangeableness, His immutability. It is the Father as distinguished 
from Christ who is here meant. 


Instead of “which ts to come’ we would have expected ‘‘which shall 
be’ as more in keeping with the other two verbs, but inasmuch as the 
Father and the Son are one, there is a sense in which it may be said of the 
Father that He too is to come, and for this reason perhaps the phrase 
“which is to come’ was used. ‘The idea, however, of a future coming 
of God Himself as contained in the last part of the clause is not to be 
pressed. “To God the present, the past and the future are one and the 
same eternal now. 


“seven spirits’’,—The Holy Spirit in His own complete fullness and 
diverse activities (Isa. 11.21) ; sevenfold in His operations, the author and 
the giver not only of seven but of all spiritual gifts, seven being the number 
of perfection and denoting multiplicity. 


Ver. 5. “faithful witness’’,—(John 18.37). He faithfully made 
known all that He had heard of the Father and testified always to the 


544 


ee 





THEEREVELATION, OF JOHN 


truth concerning Himself even before Pilate and in the hour of death. 
- The reference is to His general mission, although there is no good reason 
for not extending it to the attestation of the apocalyptic truth about to 
be revealed. 


“the first begotten of the dead’’,—Lazarus rose to die again; Christ 
rose to die no more. ‘The resurrection is a birth. 


“the ruler of the kings of the earth’’,—This He is in a sense now, 
but He will especially prove Himself to be so in the judgment at His advent. 


Lange says, ‘‘Now dynamically ruling over the kings of the earth, 
and destined in the end to prevail over the antichristian powers also, 
He works on and on until His appearance as the King proper. 


Ver. 6. “‘made us to be a kingdom’’,—All that can be legitimately 
maintained here is that the redeemed are the kingdom of God in the sense 
that they are the subjects of it and the blessed sharers in it.. (E. D. Eb. 
Dus.) The royal sovereignty of believers is hardly taught in this verse, 
according to the best attested reading. ‘This truth is brought out in Chap. 
5.10 where we have the fact clearly set forth that in this kingdom the 
saints reign. Hengstenberg and some others insist that the word “‘king- 
dom’ even here carries with it in conjunction with the word “‘us’’ the 
idea of ‘‘a people invested with kingly power’, i. e., kings. But gram- 
matically this is scarcely tenable. The reading “‘for us’’ would give this 
meaning, but it is not well enough attested. 


“priests’,—The distinction of priests and people, nearer and more 
remote from God, has ceased and all people have nearest access to God, 
come immediately to God, offer their prayers and give themselves to Him 
in holy service. A similar idea appears in Chap. 21.22 where the new 
Jerusalem appears without a temple. 


“unto Him’,,—1. e., unto Jesus Christ. 


Ver. 7. The theme of the Apocalypse. 
“he’’,—1i. e., Jesus Christ. 


“cometh with the clouds’ ,— (See Acts 1.9,11). Whether on them or 
in them is not expressed. It is a coming to judgment. While the clouds 
are symbolic (a symbol of wrath) they are nevertheless real, the clouds 
of heaven. Among the later Jews the Messiah is actually called the 
- “Cloud Man’’. It is the coming “‘with His saints”’, after the Great Tribu- 
lation, that is here meant. 


“every eye shall see him’’,—If the coming of Christ with His saints is 
to occur after the Millennium, this expression is best understood of the 
whole human race, all the risen, both good and bad, as well as those then 
living. 

In this case “they that pterced hitm’’,—which is a singling out from 
the more general group of a special class, may refer either 

1. to all who pierced Him in all ages by their rejection of Him, the 

then living rejectors being present at His coming and the rejectors 
then dead being raised to appear with them in judgment; or 

2. to the Jews who actually did pierce Him, being then risen to meet 

Him in judgment (Dus.) ; or, preferably, 

3. to the persons referred to by Christ in Matt. 26.64, i. e., those 

who were His murderers whether the Jews who delivered Him 


545 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


to be crucified or the Romans who actually inflicted His death. 


(A 


If this coming of Christ is to take place before the Millennium, this . 


expression, “‘every eye shall see him’’, must refer to all save the wicked 
dead. ‘This will be true whether the Church goes through the Great 
Tribulation or not, although in the latter case the righteous dead, having 
been raised, will have been “‘caught up’’ with the living but transformed 
Church, and so will come with the Lord when He returns at the time when 
“every eye shall see him’’. In this case “they that pierced him’’ must 
refer either to the living wicked in general, or preferably to the Jewish 
nation in particular then living, and perhaps as well to the Romans, as the 
representatives of those who actually did the work of delivery and cruci- 
fixion. The post-millennial view affords the simpler explanation of the 
verse, although it may be explained quite as consistently from the view- 
point of the pre-millennialist. 


“all the tribes of the earth shall mourn” Practically dite: are agreed 
that this is the fulfillment of Zech. 12.10, and the prophecy is without 
doubt an allusion to Matt. 24.30 in which place the mourning is dis- 
tinctly stated to be “immediately after the tribulation days’. 

It has: been said with certain propriety, ““The mourning is bog 
hostile and penitential; the hostile by the unrepentant wicked in fear of 
impending consequences; the penitential especially by the then penitent 
Jews, and even by the holiest saint because of his sins which had once 
pierced his Lord.’’ (B. A. F.) The reference, however, in this quota- 
tion to the mourning of the “holiest saint’? can be approved only on the 
supposition that the Church is on earth at this coming and has not been 
previously “‘caught up’’. 

Dusterdieck limits the mourning to the unrepentant wicked, the un- 
converted for whom the day of repentance was then past, while Fausset 


says that the antichristian confederacy will mourn in discomfiture at His 


pre-millennial advent, and all the unconverted at the general judgment. 


Ver. 8. Here the eternal Father speaks. Seiss claims it is Christ 
Himself who is here speaking, and who here formally proclaims Himself 
to be the very God, the Almighty. It is, however, by no means necessary 
to take this position, though Christ is indeed all this and virtually so 
asserts in verses 17 and 18, and perhaps in Chap. 22.13. The reference 
et a words of our verse to God Himself seems the more natural one. (A 

Lust) 


“ts to come’’,— (See verse 1). 


Ver. 10. “on the Lord’s day’’,—It was on the Lord’s day when 
John got his instructions to write. Seiss says this was the, “day of the 
Lord” at the end of the age, the so-called “‘seven years’ or “last week’’ of 
Daniel’s “‘seventy weeks’. ‘The evidence, however, for this view we hold 
is hardly sufficient, and the “‘Lord’s day’’ is rightly taken by nearly all as 
the first day of the week and is to be referred to the time in which John 
was living and writing. 

19 Write therefore the things which 
thou sawest, and the things which are, 


and the things which shall come to pass 
hereafter; 


546 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Ver. 19. "THE THREEFOLD NATURAL DIVISION OF THE BOOK OF 
REVELATION. 


“the things which thou sawest’’,—1i. e., the vision just vouchsafed 
to him. 


“the things which are’’,—By many this expression is rendered, ‘‘what 
they (the things thou sawest) signify’. (A. D. Ew. BI. Kl. Ar. Hei. Her. 
Ales Bice) 


Alford calls attention to the fact that the verb of the last clause is 
singular while that of this clause is plural. But this is hardly of sufficient 
weight to decide the case for this rendering although grammatically it is a 
possible one. Neither is the antithesis of the next clause favorable to 
this view. 


Adhering to the text of our version we still have two explanations of 
the words: 


1. That which refers to the state of things tn the churches when John 
was writing, as seen in the contents of Chaps. 2 and 3. (B. L. 
Puvecugtbe Wy. ca, Laporte. Luc: Dus) Hen? Wol: Gro:) 


2. That which takes them in the prophetic sense as portraying the 
course of the Church from the time of John on down to the end 
of this age, the time of our Lord’s return. (Gab. Sco. Mor.) 


Morgan says, ‘The words reveal progress, good or bad, in Church 
life and movement. We find both Laodicean and Philadelphian churches 
now. ‘Ihe things which are’ exist in the present dispensation.’’ It would 
seem, however, from the simplest reading of the words that the view which 
refers them more especially to the conditions existing in the time of John’s 
vision is the more preferable one. 


Scofield has some interesting remarks just here, and remarks that are 
worthy of consideration. He says, ““The messages to the seven churches 
have a fourfold application: (1) Local, to the churches actually addressed; 
(2) admonitory, to all churches in all time as tests by which they may 
discern their true spiritual state in the sight GhGodss(4,) personal, in the 
exhortations to him ‘that hath an ear’, and in the promises ‘to him that 
overcometh’; (4) prophetic, as disclosing seven phases of the spiritual 
history of the Church from, say, A. D. 96 to the end. It is incredible 
' that in a prophecy covering the church period there should be no such 
foreview. These messages must contain that foreview if it is in the book 
at all, for no church is mentioned after Chap. 3.22. Again, these mes- 
sages by their very terms go beyond the local assemblies mentioned. Most 
conclusively of all, these messages do present an exact foreview of the 
spiritual history of the Church, and in this precise order.”’ 


“the things which shall be hereafter’’,—These words refer without 
doubt to the things symbolically represented in Chaps. 4 to 22. The 
time referred to is either (1) the period after the time in which John wrote 
extending on into the future from that time to the general judgment at 
the end (A. E.), which view is known as the Historical View; or (2) it is, 
according to the prophetic view of Morgan and others, the so-called seven 
year period, which they place immediately after the rapture of the saints 
and just before the Millennium, together with the time which extends on 
to the general judgment at the end, which view is known as the Futurist 
View. 


547 


THE ‘REVELATION OF) JOHN 


The literal of the words is, “the things which shall be after these 
things’, “‘these things’ referring to “the things which are’’ in the previous 


clause. It is somewhat to be regretted that our text did not retain the . 


more literal translation, “‘after these things’, instead of “‘hereafter’’. It 
must be admitted that the most natural inference from the words is that 
which refers their content to what transpired immediately afterwards and 
on down through the ages, while many of our best Greek scholars would 
have us believe that the words, “after these things’ (ueta tavta), carry 
with them always the idea of “‘immediately’’; but this must not be pressed 
too vigorously and must be determined somewhat by the contents of the 
vision. 

Says Elliott, ‘“The subject matter I assume to be the continuous for- 
tunes of the Church and of the world (that is of the Roman world and 
the Christian Church settled therein) from the time of the revelation being 
given, or the time of St. John’s banishment, to the end of all things. If 
the words, ‘these things’ mean the state at that time of the apocalyptic 
churches, as described in the seven epistles—a point which, I suppose, few 
will doubt—then must Christ’s declaration distinctly and all but neces- 
sarily imply that the foreshadowing of the future should begin from the 
time of John’s banishment, or soon thereafter. This is indeed admitted 
by the most competent judges. I believe the words must have positive 
violence done them in order to extract therefrom any other meaning than 
that which I have given to them.” 


CHAPTER TWO 


The reference in verses 5 and 15 are not to Christ’s second coming 
but to His coming in special judgment to the church of Ephesus and of 
Pergamum. The expression, “the second death” in verse 11, is.a descrip- 
tion of damnation; it is the Gehenna of Matt. 5.29; Mk. 9.43-49 and 
Lu. 12.15. It is defined in Chap. 20.14 as “the lake of fire’. 


25 Nevertheless that which ye have, shall rule them with a rod of “iron, as 
hold fast till I come. 26 And he that the vessels of the potter are broken to 
overcometh, and he that keepeth my shivers; as I also have received of my 
works unto the end, to him will I give Father: 28 and I will give him the 
authority over the ‘nations: 27 and he morning star. 

1Or, Gentiles *Or, iron; as vessels of the potter, are they 


broken 


Vers. 25-28. “THE SAINTS TO REIGN AND RULE WITH CHRIST. 


Ver. 25. “that which ye have’’,—This is not to be restricted to 


their steadfastness against Jezebel and her teaching, but it refers to Chris- 
tian doctrine, hope and privilege in general. (Jude 3.1.c.) 

“hold fast till I come’’,—The expression in Greek by the use of the 
particle “‘div’’ gives an uncertainty to the time of the Second Coming whet 
our language cannot express. 


Ver. 26. “‘my works’’,—1. e., in contrast with “her works’ (verse 
22); the works which Christ commands. 


“to him will I give authority over the nations’’,—It is rightly said 


that this refers to the authority to be conferred on the saints when they 
shall inherit the earth and reign with Christ in His kingdom. . (M. F. Dus. 
Cray.) Says Fausset, “‘At Christ’s Second Coming the saints shall possess 


548 





a 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


the kingdom under the whole heaven and therefore over this earth’, and, 
says Dusterdieck, ‘The victor is to share in the work of establishing the 
kingdom at the coming of the Lord.”’ 

Some would have us believe that this authority is being gradually 
realized but shall only at the Second Coming find its full realization. 
(A. L.) The natural reference of the words, however, hardly seems to 
favor this modification; and besides the power of the Christian over the 
world now is hardly that of the “tron sceptre’’, the power of government. 


Ver. 27. ‘“‘he shall rule them’’,—Literally, ‘‘shepherd them’’. 

“a tod of tron’’,—i..e., “‘a sceptre of severity’, as Lyra says. The 
sense is then, “‘He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron’”’ instead of “‘He 
shall break them to pieces with a rod of iron’’ as in the Hebrew of Psalm 
2.9. The Septuagint translation made the change by slightly altering 
the Hebrew word, and John quotes the Septuagint perhaps with the 
thought of mingling mercy with judgment; “‘severity first, that grace may 
come afterward’, says Fausset. That, however, severity is the chief idea 
is seen both in the expression, “‘rod of tron’”’ and the parallel expression, 
“broken to shivers’. 

“broken to shivers’’,—This is because they fail to answer the design 
of the maker, the act being of course a spiritual one. 

“‘as I also’’,— (See Psalm 2.9). The power there conferred on Christ 
He will share with His victorious servant. (Lu. 22.29.) 


Ver. 28. “And I will give him the morning stat’’,—This does not 
refer to “‘the glorified body of Christ’ (Ly.), nor to “‘the Devil’’ (Are. 
And.) (Isa. 14.12), nor to ‘‘a share in my kingdom at its first appearance’’ 
(Tait). It refers either to Christ Himself (V. Eb. Be. KI. Ca. Lap. Wol. 
Plu. Prim. Stern.), or to the heavenly glory with which the victor is to be 
podowedn loan el oc Vialtted 0.42; .) Corl ).40),. A. L. Ar. Gro,’ Hen: 
Dus.) While neither of these quite satisfy the words “‘give to htm’, yet of 
the two the latter is to be preferred as referring by way of poetic imagery 
to him as clad in the glory of that star, putting it on, as it were, as a jewel 
or as a glittering robe. 


CHAPTER THREE 


“T will come as a thief’’, in verse 3, is not a reference to His Second 
Coming yet it is expressed in language which in its fullest sense describes 
His Second Coming. (A. F. L. Dus.) It is a reference to a coming in 
special judgment, as in Chap. 2.5 and 16. 


10 Because thou didst keep the word make him a pillar in the ‘temple of my 


of my ‘patience, I also will keep thee God, and he shall go out thence no 
from the hour of ’trial, that hour which more; and I will write upon him the 
is to come upon the whole *world, ‘to name of my God, and the name of the 
try them that dwell upon the earth. city of my God, the new Jerusalem, 

11 I come quickly: hold fast that which cometh down out of heaven 
which thou hast, that no one take thy from my God, and mine own new 
crown. 12 He that overcometh, I will name. 


10Or, stedfastness Or, sanctuary. 
2Or, temptation 
3Gr. inhabited earth 
4Or, tempt 
Vers. 10-12. “THE FAITHFUL TO BE KEPT FROM THE HOUR OF TRIAL. 
Ver. 10. “J will also keep thee from the hour of trtal’’,—Some 


549 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


authorities restrict this promise to this church of Phitadelphia alone as a 
special exception (B: Eb. Ei.); but this is an altogether arbitrary assump- 
tion exhibiting an exegetical helplessness at all times to be discouraged. 


“keep thee from’’,—The precise meaning of the preposition “‘from”’ 
is not altogether clear. In the Greek it is ‘“‘ek’’ and means primarily ‘‘out 
of’. Thus Paul speaks of attaining unto the “ek-resurrection of the 
dead’, i. e., the resurrection ‘‘out of’’ or ‘“‘out from among”’ the dead. 
“the hour of trial’ ,— 


1. ‘his expression may refer to the period known as the Great Tribu- 
lation, mentioned by our Lord in Matt. 24.21 and by Peter in 
his first epistle, Chap, 4.12. (F. A. L. Dus. Hen. Mor. Sco. Gab. 
Crav. ) 

The definite article “‘the’’ used in the Greek in connection with it 
seems to favor this view, i. e., the hour, the well-known hour. 


(a) 


(b) 


Now if the Church is caught up before the Great Tribulation 
occurs this fact furnishes an answer as to how they were to 
be “‘kept from’’ this time of trial. (Mor. Gab. Tor. Sco. 
Pet. Bla., and most pre-millennarians of the present time.) 
“There is no way to escape from it’’, says Blackstone, ‘‘but to 
be taken out of the world by the Rapture, in as much as the 
Great Tribulation covers the whole habitable earth.”’ This 
view, however, if accepted, must rest for its vindication upon 
other evidence than that furnished by the verse before us. 

Dusterdieck contends that if this were the idea, the preposi- 
tion ‘‘apo’’ would have been used as in James 1.27. But this 
distinction between the two prepositions is somewhat exag- 
gerated by our author and cannot be pressed, inasmuch as 
the idea of exemption, or being taken away from, may, so 
far as the preposition is concerned, be with propriety attached 


to our passage as well as to the one in James. Dusterdieck . 


appeals to Rev. 7.14, but there the matter is decided by the 
meaning of the verb itself. 


If the Church is not caught up until after the Great Tribula- 
tion and consequently is to go through this period of trial, 
then the meaning here is ‘‘to deliver out of’’ in the sense of 
bringing safely through the trials they will be called upon 
to endure, just as in John 17.15, where the same preposition 


is used and the meaning is without doubt “‘to pass un- - 


scathed through the evil.”” (F. V. L. D. Zu. Ew. Ly. Hen. 
Dus.) We have in the Old Testament an historical example 
which furnishes us at least a reasonable surmise of what 
might be true here, namely, that just as the Israelites were 
kept from the plagues in whose midst they lived, so may 
the believer during the days of the Great Tribulation be safe- 


guarded therein and thus kept from the trials that shall come 


upon them that dwell upon the earth. 


2. The expression is taken by some, who conceive of the Church 
being caught up before the Great Tribulation, as referring to a 
period of severe conflicts of faith through which the Church must 
pass just before the Great Tribulation. (Moorehead. ) 


550 


SO OE a a 


WHESREVELATTION OF JOHN 


Such authorities take the second view just noted, namely that of 
being safeguarded during the time of these trials, and in defense 
of which Moorehead presents four arguments: 


(a) The word “‘trial’’ seems deliberately chosen to distinguish 
the period from the Great Tribulation. 

(b) The natural and obvious meaning, as well as the use of the 
preposition “‘ek’’ favors the idea of safeguarding in the 
midst of the trial. 

(c) The use of the same preposition in and the evident meaning 
of John 17.15 seems almost decisive in the matter. 

(d) The explanation is confirmed by the words that follow, 
“Behold I come quickly; hold fast that which thou hast, that 
no one take thy crown’. “Christ lays upon them the respon- 
sibility of vigilance, of continual effort. Philadelphia, no 
less than the others, is to be in the trial, but kept safely in 
it, not raptured away before the trial begins.”’ 


“to try them that dwell upon the earth’’,—This expression, as a 
rule, refers to the mass of men in contradistinction to believers, as in Chaps. 
8.13 and 13.8, and this agrees nicely with the view just expressed above. 
If, however, the expression be taken to include all men (and this, of 
course, must be considered as allowable), then the words “‘keep thee from’’ 
are better explained in harmony with the thought of Dusterdieck, the trial 
bringing out the fidelity of those who are Christ’s and are kept by Him 
(Chap. 7.3), and hardening the unbelieving reprobates. (Chaps. 9.20,21 
and 16.11,12.) 


Ver. 11. “I come quickly’’,—'‘A constantly recurring announce- 
ment designed for the awakening and terrifying of the foes and for the 
consolation and elevation of the pious’’, says Lange. 


“hold fast that which thou hast’’,—The reference here is not only 
to the grace especially mentioned in verse 10, but in general to whatever 
of grace and truth and piety they possessed. 

“that no man take thy crown’’,—Not that another could secure it 
for himself, but that in the time of trial you might by inconstancy lose it. 


Ver. 12. “the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven’, 
— (See Chap. 21.2,3). 


Ver. 21. “to sit down with me in my throne’’,—This grandest and 
crowning blessing is not made especially to correspond to the special great- 
ness of the victory to be gained by the Laodiceans (Eb.), but rather be- 
cause coming at the end of the letters it is natural that such a promise should 
be expressed as would gather all the promises into one. 

This promise is not to be regarded as partially fulfilled in this life. 
The aorist tense of the verb points to a final and complete act. ‘Then 
too the example of Christ, “‘as I overcame and sat down’’ forbids such a 
conception. It means to have a share with Christ in His kingly glory 
and power (Chaps. 2.27 and 20.6), and must refer to something still in 
the future. 

It is impossible to tell from this verse alone whether a distinction is 
here to be made between the throne of God and the throne of Christ. As 


551 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


the words stand here it would seem that such a distinction is tenable, and 
to this view of the matter we are inclined. Some say that the thrones are 


different and that Christ’s peculiar throne is to be set up over the whole . 


earth at His Second Coming, and that in this the victorious saints shall 
share. (F. Ca. Sco. Gab. Mor.) This seems to be in keeping with Matt. 
19.28; Lu, 132535 ,Actsi23 033453 02a D014) Lo Ove Cael eae 
ever, seems to identify these thrones, and so it is taken by some. (L. A. 


Dus. ) 


CHAPTER FOUR 


At Chapter Four begins the revelation proper, the third division of 
the book, “‘the things which shall come to pass hereafter’. John is caught 
up by the Spirit into heaven, which means that he is now in a trance or in 
a heavenly ecstacy and is given a vision of the judgments which are to 
come apn the earth. Before these judgments are related we have in 
Chaps. 4 and 5 the heavenly scenery described which furnished the local 
grounds for the visions. 


7 And the first creature was like a lion, 
and the second creature like a calf, and 


1 After these things I saw, and be- 
hold, a door opened in heaven, and the 


first voice that I heard, a voice as of a 
trumpet speaking with me, one saying, 
Come up hither, and I will show thee 
the things which must *come to pass 
hereafter. 2 Straightway I was in the 
Spirit: and behold, there was a throne 
set in heaven, and one sitting upon the 
throne; 3 and he that sat was to look 
upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: 
and there was a rainbow round about 
the throne, like an emerald to look 
upon. 4 And round about the throne 
were four and twenty thrones: and upon 
the thrones J saw four and twenty elders 
sitting, arrayed in white garments; and 
on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And 
out of the throne proceed lightnings and 
voices and thunders. And there were 
seven lamps of fire burning before the 
throne, which are the seven Spirits of 
God; 6 and before the throne, as it 
were a “sea of glass like unto crystal; 
and in the midst “of the throne, and 
round about the throne, four living 
creatures full of eyes before and behind. 


1Or, come to pass. After these things 


straightway &c. 
2Or, glassy sea 


the third creature had a face as of a 
man, and the fourth creature was like a 
flying eagle. 8 And the four living 
creatures, having each one of them six 
wings, are full of eyes round about and 
within: and they have no rest day and 
night, saying, 

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, 

the Almighty, who was and who is 

and *who is to come. 
9-And when the living creatures shall 
give glory and honor and thanks to 
him that sitteth on the throne, to him 
that liveth ‘for ever and ever, 10 the 
four and twenty elders shall fall down 
before him that sitteth on the throne, 
and shall worship him that liveth °for 


ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns 


before the throne, saying, 

11 Worthy art thou, our Lord and our 
God, to receive the glory and the 
honor and the power: for thou didst 
create all things, and because of thy 
will they were, and were created. 


4Or, who cometh 
5Gr. unto the ages of the ages 


8Or, before. See Chap. 7.17, Comp. 5.6 
Vers. 1-11. “THE VISION OF THE THRONE. 
Ver. 1. “after these things’’,—i. e., after Christ had gotten through 


dictating to John the letters to the seven churches, or, after John had 
gotten through writing these letters. The second view would indicate a 
break in the vision. Some prefer this because of the fact that he “was in 
the Spirit’? in Chap. 1.10 and the fact that here again in verse 2 it says 
he was “1mmediately in the Spirit’’ inclines them to believe that he had 
come out of the Spirit and had written the letters to the churches and then 


Doe 


i — 


a 


THETREVECATION: OF. JOHN 


went into another trance. (G. Ar. Cr. Ca. Gro. Hen.) We think it, 
however, better with the majority not to see any break in the vision at this 
point, but to conceive of the whole as imparted in one vision, one continu- 
ous revelation composed of many parts. 


‘The phrase therefore, “‘after these things’, denotes merely the tran- 
sition from one part of the vision to another—it marks the succession of 
the visions and not of time. 


“T saw’’,—1i. e., with the eye of ecstatic vision. 


“a door opened tn heaven’’,—It is not that heaven is to be regarded 
as the house of God where He is enthroned (Dus.), nor as a temple (V. 
Zu.), nor as a firm arch (Hei.), but the “‘door’’ is that through which 
John is caught up by the Spirit into heaven. (A. L. F. D. Gro.) 


Nor does it mean that John saw the door open. It is a perfect. parti- 
ciple; the door was “‘standing open’. 


“the first voice that I heard’’,—1. e., the voice of Chap. 1.10. The 
voice is not to be thought of as God's (Lap.), nor hardly as the voice of 
Christ (L. S. Ew. Hen.), inasmuch as the voice in Chap. 1.10 was fol- 
lowed by Christ’s voice, not as a trumpet but as the sound of many waters. 
It is doubtless the voice of an angel. (A. F. Eb. Dus.) If, however, we 
take it to be the voice of an angel it is not to be thought of as an angel 
speaking in the person of Christ (Ly.), nor as the voice of an unknown 
angel (A. F. Dus.), but rather as that of the angel of Chap. 1.1. Against 
this identification we can see no valid objection whatever. 

“Come up hither’’,—i. e., through the opened door. 

Scofield says, ‘“This call seems clearly to indicate the fulfillment of 
I Thess. 4.14-17. The word ‘church’ does not occur again in the Reve- 
lation.” 

“The whole book of Revelation’, says Torrey, ‘‘after Chap. 4.1 
has to do with the time after the rapture of the Church.”’ Thus prac- 
tically all who belong to the Futurist School of interpretation. 

Alford, on the other hand, says, ‘‘I cannot regard the futurist scheme 
with approval. ‘The seven seals, trumpets and vials run on to the time 
close upon the end. Any scheme of interpretation which does not recog- 
nize this common ending of the three seems to me to be thereby convicted 
of error.’ (See under Chap. 6 a discussion of the various methods of 
interpretation. ) 

“hereafter’’,—Literally, ‘‘after these’, 1. e., after “‘the things that are’’ 


(Chap. 1.19), and to be interpreted accordingly as we take the expression, 
“the things that are’. (See Chap. 1.19.) 


Ver. 2. “I was in the Spirit’”’,—i. e., in a trance or ecstacy. (See 


Chap. 1.10.) 


“a throne set in heaven’’,—It does not mean that the setting or plac- 
ing of it there formed part of the vision. The word “‘set’’ is literally 
“lay”. We best express it by the English word ‘‘stood’’. 

“one sitting’’,—The eternal Father. (F. A. L. B. V. Al. Gro. Wet. 
Hen. Dus. Stern.) He is not named because John simply describes what 
he saw and as he saw it. or the same reason he did not expressly name 


Christina hap, 1:13. 
535)53 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Ver. 3. “a jasper stone and a sardius’’,—A description symbolic of 
the glory of God. 


“a rainbow round about the throne’’,—‘‘The brightness of His glory 
and the fire of His judgment is ever girded by and found within the refresh- 
ment and surety of His mercy and goodness’, says Alford. 


Ver. 4. “four and twenty elders’’,—If these are redeemed human 
beings, they are not to be taken as representative of the entire assembly of 
the ministers of the Word, pastors of the New Testament Church (V. 
Ca.), nor are they to be taken as representing the Christian martyrs (Eic.) ; 
they are rather, if redeemed human beings, the representatives of the entire 
people of God, the Church generally. (A. Sw. Dus. Sei. Mil. Vau. Moor.) 
This is the usually accepted view. Their designation, their robes, their 
crowns and their employment, and especially their redemption (especially 
if ‘‘us’’ is the right word to be supplied in Chap. 5.9) seem to favor this 
view. 


Ludhardt says the true reading of Chap. 5.10 is “them’”’ and that this 
distinguishes these elders from redeemed men, and so he objects to the view 
just given. He says it is the heavenly council of unfallen spirits represent- 
ing the hosts of God in heaven. (See Craven in Lange.) ‘There is much 
to be said in favor of Ludhardt’s view, although it is impossible to be 
absolutely certain one way or the other, in as much as the weight of 
evidence on each side is about equal. Happily the decision one way or 
the other does not affect the interpretation of the general content of the 
book. Craven thinks the view of Ludhardt gives a unity to the heavenly 
scene not found in any other view, especially if the four living creatures 
are to be taken as unfallen heavenly spirits, personal non- human beings 
who are executors of the will of God. 


However, even if the reading “‘them’’ be accepted (as it evidently 
must be) the inference of Ludhardt does not necessarily follow. They 


could include themselves even though they used the pronoun ‘“‘them’’, the - 


use of this pronoun being a mark of modesty, just as is often seen in the 
use of language today. Inasmuch as the proper reading and determination of 
the writer’s thought in Chap. 5.9,10 has much to do with the true explan- 
ation of the twenty-four elders, it is fitting to discuss the same at this point. 

The Authorized Version has “redeemed us’’ in verse 9 and “‘made us”’ 
in verse 10. It would seem that the same persons must be referred to in 
each instance. 


But the “‘us’’ in verse 10 must be replaced it seems by “‘them’”’ accord- ~ 


ing to the manuscripts K. A. B., and it is so taken by practically all. (B. 
R-V. W-H. Ti. Gri. Syr. Vul. Lach. Copt.) This would seem to call for 
the deletion of “us’’ in verse 9, for which in fact there is no word in the 
original text, and it is accordingly omitted by the majority (A. L. R-V. 
Ti. Wor. Lach.), and in its place is supplied the word ‘‘men’’, inasmuch as 
some word harmonizing with “them’’ of verse 10 must seemingly at least 
be supplied. 


The Authorized Version follows 8B’P, all of which have the word 
“us’’ in the original of verse 9, and this reading is followed by some 
authorities. (Tre. Vul. Sei.) Seiss is insistent that the “‘us’’ be retained, 
setting forth the fact that Tregellius argued for it even before §$ was 
discovered, and that certainly with this added evidence in its favor there 


554 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


can be no doubt as to its place in the text. But even with W in its favor, 
~ the “us” is hardly sufficiently well attested to claim for itself a place in 
the original, and with the ‘‘them”’ of verse 10, for which the weight of 
manuscript authority so preponderates, it does not appear how “‘us’’ could 
be used consistently in verse 9. 


Although we would expect “us’’ in both places, if the elders are 
representatives of human beings, let it be noted once more that by the use 
of ‘“‘men’’ in verse 9 and “‘them’’ in verse 10, they do not necessarily ex- 
clude themselves from the redemption, but, as Fausset says, it may be taken 
as a Hebrew construction of the third person for the first and as giving a 
more modest sound than “us’’. ‘There is really no need for any word to 
be expressed in verse 9. For similar construction see Matt. 25.8; I John 


4155 


While Craven accepts the view which is held well nigh universally by 
commentators, namely, that the elders are representatives of the glorified 
Church, redeemed human beings, he suggests that inasmuch as the omis- 
sion of “‘us’’ in verse 9 and the rendering “‘them’’ in verse 10 releases us 
from the necessity of including the elders among the redeemed, it might be 
better to take them as the princes of the heavenly host, unfallen spirits, as 
Ludhardt does. He says: 


1. The doxology was raised in view of the general fact of redemp- 
tion and not of the personal redemption of those who united in it, 
and it furnishes no evidence that any who united in it were them- 
selves the subjects of it. 


2. Apart from this doxology there is no evidence that the elders were 
in any way connected with the Church, while everything else in 
Revelation seems to point to the contrary. Although they are 
mentioned several times it is never as representing the redeemed or 
being among them or joining in their hallelujahs. 


(a) If there are any specially favored among the redeemed and 
glorified saints they ought to be found among the martyrs, 
but while the elders are on the thrones the martyrs are 
beneath the altar, 


(b) When the great multitude in Chap. 7.9 stood before the 
throne and raised their hallelujahs, the elders were not with 
them but were with the living beings and the angels, offering 
a separate worship and uniting in a separate hymn of praise. 
In speaking to the Seer about that glorified throng one of the 
elders spoke of “‘them’’ and not of “‘us’’, spoke not as one of 
their number but as a mere spectator of their glory. 


(c) In Chap. 11.15-18 when the elders and four living beings 
burst forth in a doxology because the Kingdom of the Mes- 
siah was fully established on the earth, they made no allusion’ 
to any personal participation in the rewards that were to be 
bestowed on the saints. 

(d) When the Lamb stood with the 144,000 on Mt. Zion, the 
elders and the four living beings stood apart from the throne, 
and the song of the redeemed was sung before, not by them. 


As representatives of glorified humanity they should have 
been among the 144,000. 


555 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


In reply to Craven it may be said that inasmuch as the 144,000 and 
other groups in question may quite as properly refer to special classes of 
the glorified it does not at all become necessary that the elders be included 
among them. This fact together with the fact that the use of “‘men’’ and 
the pronoun “‘them’’ in Chap. 5.9 and 10 does not necessarily exclude the 
elders from those redeemed, and the significance of their designation, their 
robes, their crowns, the number and finally their employment will incline 
one perhaps to abide by the old and preponderant view which takes these 
elders as representatives of the glorified Church. Thus L. A. V. R. Sw. 
Hen. Dus. Sei. Gab. Sco. Eic. Mil. Vau. Bos. Cal. Dean, Gebh. Moor. 

These elders, however, cannot be the totality of the redeemed already 
raised up and glorified, because the souls of the martyrs, certainly the 
noblest part of the redeemed, are seen beneath the altar as disembodied 
spirits having had as yet no resurrection nor reward, and other martyrs 
are to follow these. (Chap. 6.11.) Perhaps the most discriminating ex- 
planation is that given by Swete, who says, ‘““The twenty-four elders are 
the Church in its totality, but the Church idealized and therefore seen as 
already clad in white, crowned, and enthroned in the divine presence—a 
state yet future, but already potentially realized in the resurrection and 
ascension of the Head.”’ 

While retaining the old and accepted view, we repeat that no serious 
objection can be registered against the view of Ludhardt, which Craven 
suggests for consideration, namely that we have in these twenty-four elders 
representatives not of the glorified Church, but the heavenly council, com- 
posed of the representatives of the hosts of God in heaven—of unfallen 
spirits. 

From the wording of Chap. 5.9,10 according to the Authorized 
Version, it would seem that the four living beings as well as the elders 
joined in the song about their redemption. But this is rendered dubious 


by the fact that the anthem is sung to the music of the harps and the harps 


are the property only of the elders. 


As to why there are twenty-four elders it is useless to speculate. Of 

the many surmises only two are worthy of any consideration: 

1. It is derived from the order of the priests. As the twenty-four 
priests are but one course out of 24,000 (I Chron. 23.3,4), so 
these twenty-four crowned priests wearing white robes are the 
representatives of many thousands upon thousands. (F. V. Al. 
Ca Zen Ew. Hills Bicaoets) 


Some object to this because these elders are not priests as seen in © 


Chap. 5.8, their occupation being simply connected with their 
representative character. (A. Dus.) 

2. The other and usually accepted explanation is that they represent 
the Old Testament and the New Testament Church—the twelve 
patriarchs and the twelve apostles, not in their personal but in 
their representative character; and so in Chap. 15.3 the conquter- 
ors sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, and in Chap, 21.12 
the names of the twelve tribes and of the twelve Apostles are 
inscribed on the gates and on the foundation respectively of the 
New Jerusalem. (Mil.) 


The white robes signify purity and the crowns kingly authority. 
They imply conflict and endurance and strongly argue for the twenty-four 


556 


J 
. 
& 

e 





(RHE REVERATIONSOFR JOHN 


elders being redeemed human beings, though not conclusively by any 
means. 


Ver. 5. “‘lightnings and voices and thunders’’,—Showing forth 
God’s omnipotence particularly as exercised in judgment and wrath which 
is about to proceed from the throne. (A. Sei. Dus. Bar. Hen.) 


“seven lamps of fire burning before the throne’’,—The Holy Spirit 
in His seven-fold operation as the light and life giver and fiery purifier of 
the Godly and the consumer of the ungodly. (A. F.) 


Ver. 6. “as it were a sea of glass like unto crystal’’,—It is of course 
impossible to be absolutely sure of the interpretation of this as well as of 
many other symbols of this book. Many explanations are mere guesses. 
Calovius thinks the glassy sea is a symbol of baptism; Joachim, of the 
Holy Scriptures; Alexander, of repentance; Bullinger, of the present transi- 
tory world; Hengstenberg, of the judgments of God. Dusterdieck and 
Ludhardt say it is identical with the river of life in Chap. 22; but this is 
untenable inasmuch as the vision in Chap. 22 is quite distinct from 
this and each has its own propriety in detail. 


Others say it is symbolic of the glorified Church, calm and peaceful 
in contrast to the turbulent sea representing the mass of nations in their 
ungodly state (L. Eb. Ar. KI. Wor. Gro.), while Vitringa says it repre- 
sents the basis of righteousness and grace whereon the throne of God is 
founded. 


Others say it is the clear ether in which the throne of God is upborne, 
in front of the throne to separate it from John and all else, and signifying 
the purity and calmness and majesty of God’s rule. (A. F. D.) 

Dusterdieck objects to this view as well as to that of Vitringa because 
the sea is not beneath the throne but before it; but this objection is by no 
means a formidable one inasmuch as it could be beneath it and before 
it at the same time. Our decision is perhaps best found among the last 
three views and of these the view of Alford, Fausset and De Wette is not 
only the simplest but it is the least open to objection and is more in keeping 
with the earlier usage in the Old Testament. (See Ezek. 1.22 and Ex. 
24.10;11.) 

; It is almost universally admitted that John did not look upon the 
real heaven but that the scenes he beheld were symbolical. But were they? 

A symbol is an image; either— 

1. Material,—as for instance the bread and the wine, symbolic of 
the body and blood of Christ. 

2. Visional,—an appearance, as beheld in ecstatic vision or trance. 

In respect to their relation to the object symbolized they may be 
divided as follows: 

1. Immediate,—representing without further medium the object 

contemplated, as a visional image of heaven, angels, etc. 

2. Mediate,—representing the object through the medium of some 
other object, as when Christ is represented through the visional 
image of a lamb. 

The four living creatures are generally admitted to be Mediate sym- 

bols. They are identical with the Cherubim of the Old Testament (Ezekiel 


D7. 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


1.5-10 and 10.20), although certain differences are traceable. If they 
are symbols there is not the slightest intimation given in the Word of God 
as to what they symbolize. All we have is the pure imagination of the © 


commentators. Someone has aptly said, ‘“They are the sphinx of the 
Bible.”’ 


The following are some of the explanations: 
. The four Gospels. (Vic.) 

. The four elements. (AI.) 

. The four principal angels. (Lap.) 

. The four cardinal virtues. (Ar.) 

. The four faculties of the soul. 


. The four principal attributes of God. (St.) 

. The four greatest fathers of the Church. 

. The four fundamental forms of divine government. (L.) 

The four patriarchal churches, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria 
and Constantinople. (Ly.) 

10. ‘The four great Apostles, Peter, James, Matthew and Paul. (Gro.) 
Others mention other Apostles. 

11. The four great events in redemption, Incarnation, Passion, Resur- 
rection and Ascension. (Ar.) 

12. [he four representatives of the New Testament Church, as were 
the four standards of the four chief tribes of the Old Testament 
Church. (Me.) 

13. Glorified saints who have been raised to special eminence. (Lord.) 

14. The ministers of the Church on earth. (Dau.) — 

15, All the ministers and teachers of the Church in every age. (V.) | 

16. Saints who are to attend Jehovah as assessors in the judgment. 
(Ham.) 

17. The Church militant. (E.) 

18. The Church triumphant. (Bush.) 

19. The creative power of God. (Eb.) 

20. Animated creation. (A. D. B. Dus. Hen. Rei. Vau.) “We have 
thus’, says Alford, “‘the throne of God surrounded by His 
Church and by His animated world, the former represented by the 
elders and the latter by the four living beings.”’ 

21. They are not symbols at all, but personal non-human ministers 
of the throne. (Crav.) 

View number | is the oldest and was at one time almost universally 
accepted and for this reason some moderns are again taking it up. It is 
really not the Gospels that are symbolized but the evangelists, and that 
not as expressing their personal character, but the personal character of 
Christ,—in Matthew, the lion as representing his royalty; in Mark, the ox, 
as representing his patience; in Luke, the man, as representing his brotherly 
sympathy; in John, the eagle, as representing his soaring majesty, etc. But 
not one of the Gospels, with perhaps the exception of the last one, has any 
substantial accord with the character thus assigned. This is seen in the 


558 


COND UBRWN | 





THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


fact that each one of the living beings has been assigned by different 


- scholars to each of the four Gospels. 


Now if the four living beings in the doxology of Chap. 5.9,10 spoke 
of themselves as redeemed by the blood of Christ, then they must be human 
beings, and so must be symbolic of redeemed individuals. But the reading 
“us” of the Authorized Version is far from being certain. Indeed it is 
quite certain that the reading “‘them’’ of the Revised Version is the correct 
one (see discussion en loco), and therefore it is not necessary to think of 
them as human beings at all. In either case, however, it is not clear that 
they joined in the doxology with the twenty-four elders. “There are rea- 
sons for believing they did not. 


On the ground that they were not human beings the views of Alford 
and of Lange are perhaps the most worthy of serious attention; but of the 
two, that of Alford suits better the setting and the context, i. e., that they 
are representatives of animated nature,—the animal life of the world. 


But even if they are not human they may still be personal. ‘The best 
way to clarify the subject is to see what the same “living beings’ (the 
cherubim) of the Old Testament stood for. They stood no doubt as 
executors of the will of the One on the throne. (See Ezekiel 1.) And so 
here too the simplest and most consistent explanation is to see in the living 
beings personal ministers of the divine government. As such they are not 
symbols at all. “Therefore: 


I. Faken as non-personal beings they may best be considered as sym- 
bols or representatives of animated nature. (A.B. Dus.) There 
is much to be said in favor of this view. (See Craven in Lange. ) 

II. Taken as personal beings they are either: 

1. Personal human beings, and as such they are symbols either of, 


(a) The redeemed in general, the redeemed, glorified Church. 
(F.) But this seems quite too indefinite to meet the 
requirements of the vision, and would confuse them 
with the twenty-four elders in case these latter are taken 
to represent the redeemed Church. 


(b) A certain pre-eminent class of the eclectic resurrection 
and translation saints who serve as executors while the 
elders serve more as counselors. (Sei. Mor.) 

Says Morgan, “The living creatures mark the inner 
circle of the Church, which God has selected, elected, 
chosen, and which Jesus is coming to gather unto Him- 
self.”’ 

But this is rather far-fetched and a bit too fanciful. 


2. Personal non-human beings, i. e., unfallen heavenly spirits who 
are the personal ministers of the throne of God; and so not 
symbols at all. To this view we strongly incline. 

Of course the forms they assume are symbolic,—the lion for cour- 
age, boldness and victorious strength; the ox for patience, industry, endur- 
ance and sacrifice; the man for human sympathy, and the eagle for soaring 
aspiration, contemplation and striving after the ideal. 

Milligan and others, however, say that the qualities represented are 
those that strike terror, i, e,, the ferocity of the lion, the power and 


559 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


rage of the ox (“‘bull-calf’’), and the eagle hastening vulture-like to his 
prey. They are vice-generals of God; the assessors of the throne. 

“in the midst round about’’,—Not that they moved round about in 
the midst of a transparent throne (Eb.), nor “‘under as supporting it’’ (Ew. 
Hen. Eic.), but one on each side and at the middle of the side in each case. 


(DPA heZu. aus) 


Ver. 7. “‘calf’’», While “‘calf’’ is the primary meaning, “‘ox’’ is the 
preferable translation according to usage in the Septuagint and as deter- 
mined by the context. 


Ver. 8. “full of eyes round about and within’’,—The “round 
about’ of this verse really comprises the “before and behind’’ of verse 6, 
while the “‘within’’ refers to the inner part of the half-opened wings and 
that part of the body otherwise covered by the wings. 

The six wings are here to be understood as in Isaiah 6 and are a figura- 
tive representation of the ministerial relation in which the creature stands 
to its God. 

The eyes are signs of intense intelligence (omniscience) as well as of 


constant wakefulness, day and night, ceaselessly declaring the glory of 
God. GAG Dus.) 


Ver. 9. ‘“‘when’’,—Better taken in the sense of ‘“whensoever’. (A. 
Pivlee Bar. Wor.) 


“‘give’’,—Not to be pressed as an Eeeoince future, hie more as a 
frequentative signification (V. B. Eb. Dus. Han.) and as implying eternal 
repetition of the act. (A.) 


Ver. 10. “fall down... cast crowns’’,—An expression of reverence 
and humility and recognition of the fact that to Him belongs all honor, etc. 


Ver. 11. “because of thy will’’,—Because Thou didst will it. 
“they were’’,—1. e., they existed, as in contrast to their previous non- 
existence. 


CHAP LE RSE LVI 


1 And I saw ‘in the right hand of him 
that sat on the throne a book written 
within and on the back, close sealed 
with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong 
angel proclaiming with a great voice, 
Who is worthy to open the book, and 
to loose the seals thereof? 3 And no 
one in the heaven, or on the earth, or 
under the earth, was able to open the 
book, or to look thereon. 4 And I 
wept much, because no one was found 
worthy to open the book, or to look 
thereon: 5 and one of the elders saith 
unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion 
that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root 
of David, hath overcome to open the 
book and the seven seals thereof. 6 
And I saw “in the midst of the throne 


1Gr. on 
°Or, between the throne with the four living 
creatures, and the elders 


and of the four living creatures, and in 
the midst of the elders, a Lamb stand- 
ing, as though it had been slain, having 
seven horns, and seven eyes, which are 
*the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into 
all the earth. 7 And he came, and he 
‘taketh it out of the right hand of him 
that sat on the throne. 8 And when 
he had taken the hook, the four living 
creatures and the four and twenty elders 
fell down before the Lamb, having each 
one a harp, and golden bowls full of 
incense, which are the prayers of the 
saints.. 9 And they sing a new song, 
saying, 

Worthy art thou to take the book, 

and to open the seals thereof: for 

thou wast slain, and didst purchase 


8Some ancient authorities omit seven 
4Gr. hath taken 


ee — 


Hie, REVELATIONZLOR JOHN 


unto God with thy blood men of and wisdom, and might, and honor, 

every tribe, and tongue, and people, and glory, and blessing. 

and nation, 10 and madest them to 13 And every created thing which is in 

be unto our God a kingdom and the heaven, and on the earth, and under 

priests; and they reign upon the the earth, and on the sea, and all things 

earth. that are in them, heard I saying, 
11 And I saw, and I heard a voice of | Unto him that sitteth on the throne, 
many angels round about the throne and and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, 
the living creatures and the elders; and and the honor, and the glory, and 
the number of them was ten thousand the dominion, “for ever and ever. 
times ten thousand, and thousands of 14 And the four living creatures said, 
thousands; 12 saying with a great voice, Amen. And the elders fell down and 


Worthy is the Lamb that hath been *worshipped. 
slain to receive the power, and riches, 


5Gr. unto the ages of the ages 
®See marginal note on Chap. 3.9 


Vers. 1-14. THE SEVEN-SEALED BOOK WHICH CHRIST ALONE _IS 
WORTHY TO OPEN. 


Ver. 1. ‘“‘a book’’,—1. e., “‘a book-roll’’, according to contemporary 
practice, in which stands written what must come to pass. 


“in the right hand’’,—It is really ‘“‘on’’; not ‘‘on the right side of 
Him who sat on the throne’ (Eb.), but on His open right hand (A. F. L. 
Dus.) as if on God’s part there was no withholding of His future purposes 
as contained in the book. (See verse 7 and Chap. 20.1.) 

“written within and on the back’’,—It was written on the side next 
to the staff and on the side turned outwards in unrolling and so betokening 
the completeness of the contents as containing the divine counsels. 

“closed sealed with seven seals’’,—Expressing the idea of both mys- 
tery and security. 

Many think there were seven successive leaves rolled on the staff, each 
with its own seal,.and so only the seal to the outer one was visible to the 
Seer. (L. V. D. Ew. Gro. Wet.) It is better, however, to think of all 
the seals on the end, each one holding together a number of turns on the 
staff and so all of them visible at the same time. (A. F. D. Eb. Dus.) 


WHAT Is REPRESENTED BY THE BOOK? 


1. The Old Testament. (V.) 

2. The Old Testament and the New Testament. (Be. Ew. Jer. Aug.) 

3. Divorce from God written against the Jews. (Wet.) 

4. Christ Himself. (Heterius.) 

5. The sentence designed against the enemies of the Church. (Scho.) 
All of these are more or less surmise. 

6. The true explanation is that which refers it to that part of the 


Apocalypse which deals with what is to follow. But as to how 
much of what is to follow scholars are again at widest variance. 
Does it refer to Chap. 6 only (L.), or to Chaps. 6 to 8 (Hen.), 
or to Chaps. 6 to 11 (Al.), or to Chap. 6 on to the end (A. V. 
D. F. Me. Dus. Lap.)? This last is by far the most acceptable 
view. 


The fact that the seals were broken by the Lamb would lead one to 
suppose that the roll was unfolded and read, but there is no record that any- 
thing was read out of the book. The book seemingly was never actually 


561 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


opened nor any part of it read. The revelations given to the Seer, as seal 
after seal is broken, is in images which represent the contents of the book. 
(A. F. Eb. Sei. Dus. Hen.) 


“There is no hint’, says Moorehead, “‘that the book was read, that 
its contents were disclosed. We are told of the events which succeed the 
opening of the seals, but of the contents written within it nothing is said. 
Did the book contain the events? Doubtful. It would be unwarranted 
to affirm so much.” 


What is in the book will be made known, says Fausset, at the visible 
setting up of the kingdom of Christ at His return and the opening of the 
seals are the successive steps by which God in Christ prepares or clears the 
way for this. 


Moorehead says it is Christ’s ‘‘title deed’’ to the kingdoms of this 
world, the inheritance which He had purchased by His obedience unto 
death, that Dan. 7.9-14 points to the same great transaction, and that 
this majestic scene has not yet taken place. 


Ver. 3. “under the earth’’,—This does not mean “‘in the sea’ 
Coe ), but the reference is to hades, the place of departed spirits. (A. 
Bes Ni, 


“no one was found worthy to open the book or to look theceon’ — 
Not perhaps, as Lange says, ‘“‘not even so much as to look upon it’, i. e., 
before it was opened; but rather to look upon it with a view to reading it 
after it was opened. (A. F. D. Ew. Dus.) 


Ver. 4. “And I wept’’,—lIt is difficult to know just why John wept. 
Lange says it was because he already knew the contents of the book and the 
dreadful things which were about to take place. It was perhaps because 
the promise of Chap. 4.1 seemed about to be frustrated. 


Ver. 5. “one of the elders’’,Some say the reference is to Matthew; 
others to Peter and others to Jacob. But all this is mere guesswork. 

“the root of David’’,—Some refer the expression to Christ’s divine 
nature alone as the source, the divine root which brought forth David. 
(Ca. Coc.) Others refer it to His human nature alone. (A. D. Ew. Eb. 
Ei. Ly. Lap. Hen.), the reference being to His descent from the tribe of 
Judah (being the Lion who has victoriously fought) and from the family 
of David, the branch or sucker come up from the ancient root, 1. e., the 
descendant of David. 

Others say the reference is to both His divine and human nature. 
(L. A.) There is a possibility of reading the first explanation (Ca. Coc.) 
into the expression, although by no means must the other be overlooked. 
But the explanation which refers it to his human nature is better, as the 
evident design is to set forth Christ as springing from the tribe of Judah 
and the lineage of David and His victory as His exaltation through suffer- 
ing. 

“hath overcome to open the book’’,—The idea is not that He “‘pre- 
vailed to open the book”’ (A-V. B. Ew.), but it refers the rather to His 
absolute victory. It is best read, “‘hath overcome, so as to open the book”’. 
His right and power to open the book is the result of His victory over the 
power of darkness and sin and death. (R-V. A. F. L. D. Eb. Dus.) 


562 


ge ee a 





THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Ver. 6. “in the midst’’,—Not “‘on”’ the throne (Eb.), but at the 
middle point between the throne and the twenty-four elders. (A. D. L. 
F, Dus. Hen.) De Wette further says, “‘on the glassy sea’; but nothing is 
said as to this, whereas Chaps. 7.17 and 22.1 lend no strength to the idea. 


“a Lamb’’,—The form is diminutive, a little lamb, as expressing, not 
His short life as against the long life of the elders (B. Hen.), but perhaps 
it is meant as De Wette says, ‘‘to put forward more prominently His inno- 
cence and meekness’’, 


“standing’’,—This is chosen no doubt with reference to the words, 
“as though it had been slain’’, to show that it is still living and strong. 
By falling He stood. 

“as though it had been slain’’,—i. e., retaining the appearance of 
death wounds on his body, looking as if it had been slain. 

“having seven horns’’,—Representing perfect might. (A. F.) (Matt. 
25118.) 

“and seven eyes’’,—Representing watchful, active operation. 

“the seven Spirits of God’’,—i. e., the Holy Spirit in His sevenfold 
perfection belonging to and profluent from the incarnate Redeemer, just as 
the seven lamps represent this Spirit immanent in the Godhead. 

“which are’,—This does not refer to the horns but to the eyes alone. 

“sent forth into all the earth’’,Referring to His world-wide energy. 

The word “apostle’’ is derived from the word here used for “‘sent’’. 


Ver. 8. “each one’’,—This applies only to the elders, as seen: 


First, by the masculine form, the four living beings being feminine 
in form, while the twenty-four elders are masculine in form; 

Second, by the unnaturalness of ascribing harps and vials to beings 
as fashioned in Chap. 4.7; 

Third, by the incongruence of such beings as the four living beings, 
whether non-human personal unfallen spirits or representatives 
of animate creation, having the office of offering the prayers of 
the saints. 

“golden bowls full of tncense’’,—i. e., one in the hand of each elder. 

It is said by some that the bowls (vials) represent the prayers of the saints 
just as the harps represent their praise. (A. L. Dus. Wor.) Grammatic- 
ally this is possible, yet it is not only grammatically just as possible to refer 
the prayers to the incense, but it is far more natural and appropriate. (V. 
Bar. Crav.) (See Psalm 141.2 and the temple ceremony. ) 

“the prayers of the satnts’’,—Seiss says the reference is to the saints 
of all ages whose prayers, “Thy kingdom come’’, are now about to be 
answered. He says, ““The picture is not that of saints in heaven officiat- 
ing for saints on earth; but of saints in heaven holding up to Christ their 
own prayers, that now they may be answered in the ushering in of the 
kingdom for which they have through all ages prayed.’’ “This seems a 
bit too fanciful and far-fetched. 

Hengstenberg says, ‘‘By the saints are primarily to be understood the 
saints on earth. Still there is no reason for excluding the saints in glory 
(compare Chaps. 11.18 and 18.20). These look down upon the suffer- 
ings and conflicts of their brethren, who are still in the flesh, and entreat 


563 


WHE; REVELATION OF JOHN 


God to accomplish their redemption and to perfect His Church.’ But is 
this not somewhat productive of confusion? 


It is better, we feel, with others to refer it to Christians on earth . 


exclusively. (A.D. F. Ew. Gab. Dus. Crav.) The prayers of the saints 
on earth are, as it were, inclosed in the golden vials, and by the ideal Church 
divested of their earthly, unbounded and immoderate affections and thus 
presented to Christ. 


Though the elders and the angel be employed by God in some way 
unknown to us to present the prayers of the saints, nothing is here said 
of their praying for the saints, and even though it be admitted, as many 
would have us think (B. St. Hen. Lap. Lut.), that the glorified saints 
in heaven pray for the saints on earth, it does not involve the utterly un- 
scriptural idea that prayer may be offered to the glorified saints. 


Ver. 9. “And they sing’’,—It is their blessed occupation con- 
tinually. 

“a new song’’,—In Chap. 4 it was the song of creation; here it is 
the song of redemption and its immediate reference is to the worthiness of 
the Lamb to open the book, acquired through His work of redemption. 
The theme is the Incarnation, the Passion and the Redemption of Christ. 

“didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe’’,— 
(See explanation under Chap. 4.4.) 

Ver. 10. “and madest them’’,— (See explanation under Chap. 4.4). 

“a kingdom’’,— (See explanation under Chap. 1.6). 

“and they reign upon the earth’’,—Many commentators following 
weighty manuscript authority: read here in the present tense (R-V. A. L. 
Vau. Lac. Tre. Wor Dus.), while others argue for the future (A-V. F. 
Crav.) The weight of authority, both of manuscript and scholarship, is 
about equally divided. We must not forget, however, that elsewhere of 
the saints it is said that they shall reign over the earth (Dan. 7.22,27; Lu. 
22.29,30). It is this fact which inclines us to agree with the view that 
gives to the verb here the future sense, as well as the fact that they who utter 
the song are in heaven. 

Fausset thinks the weightiest authority favors the future and that 
even if the present tense be acceptd it is a prophetical present denoting the 
certain future (See Chap. 11.15,18), and that the saints shall share Christ’s 
King-Priest throne in the Millennial Kingdom. 


Others, on the other hand, say the whole aspect and reference of this. 


heavenly vision is not future but present and that even now the Church 
in Christ, her Head, is reigning over the earth. (A. L. Dus. Vau.) 


“upon the earth’’,—The preposition is ‘‘epi’’ and the Greek justifies 
the translation “‘over’’, according to which the saints themselves do not 
necessarily need to remain or be upon the earth. The translation in our 
text is, however, justified by the use of this preposition as is elsewhere 
made plain. 


The natural inference is that the four living beings join in the song. 


If they represent a special class of glorified saints for some reason more 
highly privileged than others, as some believe, they of course did join in 
the song. Even as non-human beings they could have joined in it with 
the elders providing we do not think of the elders as including themselves 


564 


a 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


among the redeemed, but having already conceded that the elders probably 
did include themselves, it will not do to think of the four living beings 
as included in the song inasmuch as we have taken them to be non-human 
personal unfallen spirits. 


Since ““having each one’ in verse 8 refers only to the elders it.is quite 
proper to refer the “‘they’’ of verse 9 to the elders as those to whom the 
words immediately preceding refer, all the more especially since the song 
of the four living beings is given at verse 14. Lange, followed by Milli- 
gan and Hengstenberg, calls attention to the fact that the song is sung to 
the music of the harps held by the elders and so by the elders only is the 
song sung. Says Hengstenberg, ‘“‘Harps, human instruments, are found 
elsewhere in the Apocalypse only in the hands of the members of the 
Church (Chap. 14.2,3; 15.2), and a celebration of the deeds of Christ is 
nowhere else found in the mouths of the cherubims and indeed does not 
appear to suit them.”’ 


Dusterdieck, who takes the four living beings as representatives of 
the entire living creation and elders as representatives of redeemed humanity, 
makes the four living beings unite in the song; but this he can do only by 
making the song refer to the general fact of redemption rather than to any 
personal participation in it. It is, however, best not to think of these 
living beings as uniting in the song unless they are made likewise, with 
the twenty-four elders, representatives of redeemed human beings. 


Ver. 11. ‘And I saw and I heard’’,—This is not to be generalized 
into meaning, “‘I saw, that is to say, I heard’; but John most certainly 
saw the host of angels whose voices he heard. 


“round about’’,—i. e., surrounding on all sides the smaller circle 
hitherto described. | 


Ver. 12. The items in the ascription here given are seven, to express 
their holy completeness. The article is used only before the first one and 
thus makes all seven to be, as it were, a single word or expression. 


“riches’’,—This is not to be confined to spiritual riches (D. Hen.), 
but is to be taken generally, all riches and fullness, earthly as well as 
spiritual. 


Ver. 13. “And every created thing’’,—-That the reference is pri- 
marily to animated creatures seems affirmed by the fact that heaven, earth 
and sea are mentioned as the abodes of these creatures or creations. 


“in the heaven’’,—The living beings, including the angels and the 
glorified saints. 


“on the earth’’,—i. e., collective humanity and all other creatures. 


“under the earth’’,-Not demons (V. Hen.), but the departed spirits 
imnadesmet Aus, )t( Phil) 2,10.) 


“‘on the sea’’,—Not ships, but the sea animals which are here con- 
ceived as being on the sea’s surface, with perhaps special reference to sea- 
birds, flying fish, whale, etc. 

“tn them’’,—i. e., in the several spheres just mentioned. 


Ver. 14. “‘worshipped’’,—i. e., in silent adoration of God and of 
the Lamb. 


565 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 
CHAP TERGSIOO: 


There are four Systems of Interpretation of the Book of Revelation | 
which must be borne in mind in entering upon the study of the time refer- 
ence and the meaning of the various Seals now to be set before us, as well 
as of the- Trumpets and Vials which are to follow. 


I. ‘THE SPIRITUAL SYSTEM. 


The Book of Revelation deals only with great principles, and is a 
poetic and prophetic depiction of the struggle that has always been going 
on between righteousness and sin, between Christ and Satan, the struggle 
which began with the fall of man and which will end only with the end 
of time. Among the advocates of this view are some able and devout 
scholars such as Prof. Milligan, Prof. Randell, Archdeacon Lee, and the 
author’s own revered instructor, George Tybout Purves. 


The Book of Revelation, however, claims to be genuine prone 
while furthermore this novel theory deliberately ignores the distinct and 
definite chronological data furnished by the writer. There is of course 
truth in the deductions of this method of explaining the Book, but as a 
System of interpretation it is altogether inadequate, and has never been 
acceptable to the Church either of Ancient, Medieval or Modern times. 


II. ‘THE PRETERIST SYSTEM. 


This School of Interpretation holds that the Revelation has largely 
been fulfilled, and that it has special and immediate reference to conditions 
and events in John’s own time, having to do with the Roman State, the 
Jews, the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Christians of the first century 
and the Apostolic age. The School was launched by the Jesuit Alcazar in 
1614, (D. St. Sw. Ew. Ei. Sim. Ham. Dus. Luc. Bos. Dav. Desprez, Le- 
Clerc, and Prof. Ramsey.) Most advocates of this System of Interpre- 
tation place the date of the Book at A. D. 68, accept Nero as the Beast 
of Chap. 13, believing John to have adopted the absurd fiction that Nero 
did not die by his own hand and that he was somewhere concealed till the 
hour should arrive for his reappearance at the head of a great army to 
overthrow Rome, annihilate Christianity, deliver Israel and become the 
Antichrist. 


Bue 


(a) Historical facts and events have proven, as Moorehead has well. 
said, that the Book is totally mistaken, false and untrustworthy 
if it be based upon the foundation just described, for Nero did 
not appear, the seventh head of the Beast did not become Anti- 
christ, Rome did not fall, but Jerusalem did, and Israel instead 
of being delivered and exalted, went into an exile that still 
endures. 

(b) Certainly the awful figures and celestial phenomena of the 
sixth Seal, as well as the events described in other portions of. 
the Book are not satisfied with merely that which took place 
at the overthrow of Jerusalem. 

(c) it is now generally conceded that Revelation was not written 
until A. D. 96, twenty-six years after the Destruction of Jeru- 
salem. 


566 





THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


(d) This view gives us essentially the rationalistic interpretation of 
the Book, the recognition of its inspiration being wholly inade- 
quate. It has few supporters at the present time. Among 
recent scholars adopting it are Ramsey, Swete and Simcox, who, 
however, date the Book in A. D. 96 dnd make Domitian the 
Beast of Chap. 13 by whose ascension the deadly wound of 
Nero was healed, but their exposition utterly gives way when 
confronted with the historical facts in the case. 


III. “THE HISTORICAL SYSTEM. 


The School of Interpretation holds that the prophecies of Revela- 
tion embrace the whole history of the Church and its foes from the time of 
its writing to the end of the world. This School originated about the 
eleventh century among those who began to protest against the growing 
corruptions of the Church of Rome. 

This School must again be divided into two classes: 

1. The Consecutive or Continuous Historical view which makes the 
different visions refer to successive historical events following one 
after the other along the way from the beginning of John’s time 
to the final consummation of all things. (B. V. N. Me. El. Br. 
Bi. Lut. Bul. Cun. Dau. Gor. Gui. New. Bale, Foxe, Frere, Keith, 
Irving, Pareus, Faber, Whiston, Bicheno, Marlorat, Woodhouse, 
Habershon, Chytraeus, Bickersteth. ) 

For the best discussion of the views of this School read Elliott’s 

“Horae Apocalypticae’, and Guinness’ ““The Approaching End 

of the Age’. The majority of these writers agree as to the fol- 
lowing points, with some diversity of course as to detail: 

(a) The First Seal refers to the temporary prosperity, and Seals 
two, three and four to the decline of the Pagan Roman 
Empire. 

(b) The Fifth Seal to the martyrdom of Christians which com- 
menced under Diocletian in A. D. 303. 

(c) The Sixth Seal to the fall of the Pagan Roman Empire under 
Constantine. 

(d) Trumpets one to four to the Gothic invasions, Trumpet 
five to the Saracen invasion and Trumpet six to that of the 
Turks. 

(e) The little “‘opened book’ to the Reformation. 


(f) Chapter eleven to the Papal persecution of the saints as 
heretics. 


(g) Chapter twelve to the depression and recession from view 
of the true Church during the Papal ages. 


(h) The Beasts of Revelation to aspects of the Papacy. 
(1) The Vials to the great French Revolution and its results. 
(j) Chapter seventeen to Rome. 
(k) Chapter eighteen to the Papacy. 
(1) A day is the symbol of a year. 
As set forth by Elliott this view may be stated in general as follows: 
‘*The Seals, Trumpets and Vials are to be interpreted as connected and 


567 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


consecutive series,—the Seventh Seal unfolding itself in the seven Trumpet- 
visions, and the Seventh Trumpet in those of the seven Vials; and this 
with no intermission or interruption, save only that of the supplemental . 
retrogressive Part (which Ellicott supposes to have occupied the outside 
of the Scroll), their historic matter being respectively as follows: 


I. That of the coming temporary prosperity, and then the decline 
and fall of Pagan Rome, before the power of Christianity:—the subject 
of the first six Seals. 


II. The ravage and destruction of Rome Christians, after its apos- 
tacy, in its divisions both of east and west; of the western empire by the 
Goths, of the eastern by the Saracens and the Turks:—the subject of the 
first six “Trumpets. 


III. The history of the Reformation, as introduced about the middle 
of the Sixth Trumpet. 


IV. The supplemental and explanatory history of the rise, charac- 
ter and actings of the Papacy and Papal Empire, which sprung out of the 
Gothic inundations of Western Europe. 


V. The preliminary judgments on, and then the final overthrow of 
the Papacy and Papal Empire under the outpourings of the vials of God's 
wrath; followed by the coming of Christ to judgment; consequent on 
which is depicted, 

VI. The glorious consummation, including the descent of the 
heavenly Jerusalem, and the reign of Christ and His saints on the renovated 
earth. 


Of which parts the first four seem to me to have been accomplished 
already; and of the fifth part the prefigured events to be now far advanced 
in progress of fulfillment.”’ 


That this method of interpretation is a possible one can hardly be 
doubted by any one who has given close study to the profane and ecclesi- 
astical history of the world since the time of Christ, but as a System of 
Interpretation many scholars think it quite too incomplete. 


(a) It leaves huge gaps in the history it is supposed to cover. “The 
500 years between A. D. 1000 and 1500 it leaves almost 
untouched. 


(b) The periods are not well defined; they run into and are em- 
bodied one with another. 


(c) The awful figures of the Sixth Seal are hardly satisfied by the. 
sack of Rome, as Elliott interprets, or by the invasions of the 
Goths and Vandals from the north upon the Roman Empire, 
as Barnes explains. 

(d) The year-day theory, making a day stand for a year, does not 
commend itself to sober scholars as once it did, not a few be- 
lieving that Tregelles has demonstrated it to be fallacious and 
unbiblical. 

(e) ‘The utter lack of harmony among the interpreters of this School 
as to historical reference and especially as to the starting point 
of the 1260 days (years, as they interpret) so frequently men- 
tioned in the Book does not commend the system any too highly, 
although this cannot be taken as an altogether sufficient reason 
for its condemnation. 


568 





THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


It might be well just here to insert a quotation from Milligan, who 
strongly opposes this method of interpretation; he says, “‘All the greatest 
incidents, and, it must be added, some of the most trivial details, of the 
past or present (such as the red color of the stockings of the Romish cardi- 
nals) are to be seen in its prophetic page; and the pious mind derives its 
encouragement and comfort from the thought that these things were long 
ago foretold. But the whole school of historical interpreters has been 
irretrievably discredited, if not by the extravagance of paltriness of its 
explanations, at least by their hopeless divergence from, and contradiction 
of, one another. Besides this, it has to be observed that to make the 
Apocalypse deal almost exclusively with these historical incidents belonging 
to later history of the Church, is to make a book that must have been 
useless to those for whom it was written. How could the early Chris- 
tians discover in it the establishment of Christianity under Constantine, 
the rise of Mohammedanism, the Lutheran Reformation, or the French 
Revolution? Of what possible use would it have been to foretell to them 
events in which they could have no interest? Would they be either wiser 
or better if they had known them? Would they not have substituted a 
vain prying into the future for the study of those divine principles which, 
belonging to every age, bring the weight of universal history to enforce 
the lessons of our own time? Nothing has tended more to destroy the 
feeling that there is value in the Apocalypse than this continuous historical 
interpretation of the book. The day, however, for such interpretations 
has passed, probably never to return.” 


2. The Contemporaneous or Synchronous Historical view which 
holds that the first five Seals, as well as Trumpets and Vials, are 
synchronous, beginning as to their development at the time John 
had the vision and continuing on down through history with 
reference to certain contemporaneous events, the Sixth Seal usher- 
ing in the Second Coming of Christ. 


IV. ‘THE FUTURIST SYSTEM. 


This School of Interpretation throws the whole book, beginning 
with Chap. 4, forward to the times of the Second Coming of Christ. 
(Sco. Gab. Pet. Sei. Mor. Tor. Bla. Gra. Will. Todd, Tyso, Burgh, 
.Maitland. ) 


These authorities refer all seven Seals, Trumpets and Vials to the 
seven years just prior to the Second Coming of Christ with His saints in 
judgment, and declares that all Christians will have been caught up in the 
Rapture when these judgments are enacted. 


This school was launched in 1580 by the Jesuit Ribera, who, as 
Guinness says, ‘“‘moved like Alcazar, to relieve the Papacy from the terrible 
stigma cast upon it by the Protestant interpretation (the Historical School), 
tried to do so by referring these prophecies to the distant future, instead of 
like Alcazar to the distant past.” 


This view gives to literal Israel a very large place in the book of 
Revelation, and refers the word “‘saints’’ very largely to Jewish believers 
during the time of the Great Tribulation, whereas the Historical view 
refers the prophecy very largely to the experiences of the Christian Church 
during the present dispensation. 


569 


‘DHE, REVELATION OF JOHN 


The Spiritual and Preterist Systems of Interpretation, as we have 
seen, have very little to commend them, and we are left to a choice as be- 
tween the Historical and the Futurist. 


It has already been admitted in the discussion under Chap. 1.19 
that the most natural inference at that place seems to favor some form of 
the historical method of interpretation; but there is so much in the book for 
which it seems hard to find a place in the history of the world, as we 
know it, that one is much tempted to look into the future for the “‘things 
which must shortly come to pass’; although some look upon this as an 
easy way to escape the difficulties of the text. 


Should the Futurist view be taken, it must be borne in mind that 
there are also two aspects of this view; one which puts all the happenings 
after the Christians have been caught up and during the Great Tribulation; 
the other which puts all the happenings just before the Christians are 
caught up and during the Great Tribulation which precedes this Rapture. 


The references to the Futurist interpretation throughout our study 
will be confined, unless otherwise noted, to the first division of this school, 
to which belong by far the greater number of Futurist commentators. 


1 And I saw when the Lamb opened and he that sat thereon had a bow; 
one of the seven seals, and I heard one and there was given unto him a crown; 
of the four living creatures saying as and he came forth conquering, and to 
with a voice of thunder. Come’. 2 conquer. 


And I saw, and behold, a white horse, 
1Some ancient authorities add and see 


Vers. 1,2. “THE FIRST SEAL. 


Ver. 1. “voice of thunder’’,—A tone of terror, majesty and judg- 
ment, not belonging particularly to the first being as resembling a lion, 
nor has it anything to do with the contents of the First Seal (Hen.), but as 
belonging to all four alike and to be accounted for by their mysterious. 
and supernatural nature. It is accredited only to the first being because 
it is the first to speak. 


“Come’’,—The “and see’ of the Authorized Version is hardly well 
enough attested to be received and must therefore be omitted. 


Some say the address is to John to draw close to see accurately what 
proceeds from the unsealed book. (Dus. Gro.) Lange says this idea is 
void of meaning since it is a visional appearance that is referred to. Alford 
objects to it on the ground (1) that John was already there and that the 
“come’’ could not have been repeated as it was in verses 3, 5 and 7 unless 
we conceive of John drawing near each time and then retiring; (2) that 
he would have no need to be addressed in a voice of thunder; and (3) that 
the verb is never used in this sense without some particle which does not 
here appear. 


Others say it is addressed to Christ and is the groaning of creation 
for the second coming of Christ (Rom. 8.9) (A. F. Mil.). They remind | 
us that at the Fifth Seal the martyrs make the same prayer and that at the ~ 
Sixth Seal Christ’s coming takes place. “They refer also to Chap. 22.17,20. 
This idea fits in beautifully with their interpretation of the four living 
creatures as representing animated creation, but (a) it is unexampled and 
unnatural as an address to Christ, and (b) Chap. 22.17,22 is a call to “‘the 


570 





THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


water of life’, and (c) thunder is the voice of command and not of 
prayer; all of which reasons discourage us from accepting this view. 


Still others say it is a command issuing from the ministers of God 
for the riders to come forth and is accordingly addressed to them. (Sei. 
Crav.) Any explanation here can be little more than a surmise, but this 
last view seems to have the least against it whether we translate by the 
word “‘Come”’ or the word ‘‘Go”’ as Seiss does. 


Ver. 2. Roman victors always rode on white horses. We have 
here, it would seem, the image of the victorious warrior going forth to 
conquer. 


Lange, though not identifying the horses necessarily with those of 
Zech. 1.8, thinks them no doubt related in a general way, as do many 
others, including Hengstenberg. But Dusterdieck well says that ‘‘neither 
the forms of the horses in Zechariah nor the attached significance agrees 
with the vision of our passage; even the color of the horses are not the 
same, much less their meaning.’’ We are not inclined to-attach any sig- 
nificance to the horse itself or its color or to the bow. Any attempt to 
go further is liable to land in the arbitrary and ofttimes frivolous and 
ridiculous, and is altogether uncalled for. 


“he that sat thereon’’,—The Consecutive Historical view makes the 
rider of this horse to be the Roman emperor, the time under consideration 
being that during the reigns of the five good emperors, Nerva, Trajan, 
Hadrian and the two Antonines. Elliott maintains that the differences 
between the rider of the white horse in Chap. 19 and here are so many 
and so great that they must have been purposely set forth in order to set 
aside all idea of any identity btween the two riders. Gibbon represents 
this as the ‘‘Golden Age”’ of the Roman Empire. 


According to the Synchronous Historical view this seal represents the 
triumphing image of Christ, the same as in Chap. 19.11. (F.L. KI. Eb. 
ember Gal Ly, Dus, Hen: Gro. Lap? And.) 


“to conquer’ ,—He goes forth not only as a conqueror but he is to 
gain a victory that shall be final and everlasting. “The crown may find its 
parallel in Zech. 6.11 and the bow may be identified with the imagery of 
Hab. 3.9 where God goes forth for the salvation of His people. (See also 

‘Isa. 41.2; Zech. 9.13, and especially Psalm 45.4,5.) 


Almost all scholars down to A. D. 150 took the image as a sympol 
of the preached Gospel and its success. 


Inasmuch as the other three riders are personifications, this is taken 
by many (D. B. Ei. Ew. Her.) as a personification of victory, while Alford 
and Stern take it as a personification of Christianity breaking down earthly 
power and making the kingdoms of this world to become the Kingdom of 
our Lord and His Christ. However it is hard to perceive of a personifica- 
tion of Christianity except in the person of Christ, and if the Synchronous 
Historical view is taken it is better to see in the image the person of Christ 
as above noted. 

Craven, however, who also belongs to this school, makes this image 
a symbol of a false Christ, i. e., Human Culture, Science. He thinks this 
in harmony with Matt. 24, as it is in harmony with the fact that the other 
riders are symbolical or personifications. There is not a little to be said 


571 


THEVREVEDATIONSORsOLIN 


in favor of the view of Craven but it is hardly to be preferred above the 
other. 


The Futurists make the image a personification also of a false Christ, 


and see here a picture of the Antichrist during the last days proclaiming 
peace indeed but a false peace upon the earth. 


Most Futurists place this as well as the other Seals after the Rapture, 
but Moorehead, who thinks we have here a picture of “‘triumphant militar- 
ism’’, places this Seal and the three following ones during “‘the beginning 
of sorrows’ (Matt. 24.5-14) before the Rapture, “‘before’’, he says, “‘Dan- 
iel’s Seventieth Week begins its course’. 


3 And when he opened the second sat thereon it was given to take “peace 
seal, I heard the second living creature from the earth, and that they should 
saying, Come’. 4 And another horse slay one another: and there was given 
came forth, a red horse: and to him that unto him a great sword. 

1Some ancient authorities add and see *Some ancient authorities read ¢he peace of 

the earth 


Vers. 3,4. THE SECOND SEAL; PEACE TAKEN FROM THE EARTH. 


Ver. 4. ‘‘ared horse’’,—1. e., war personified. Expositors are united 
concerning the essential significance of this vision. The color of the horse 
in each case has reference to the employment of the rider. 


According to the Consecutive Historical view it is civil war that is 
here depicted, inasmuch as they were to “kill one another’, and it was 
therefore from the Roman “‘earth’’ that the peace left by the former Seal 
was to be taken away, the period referred to being that during the time of 
Emperor Commodus and his successors (A. D. 192 to A. D. 249). Says 
Sismondi, ‘‘During the ninety-two years from the death of Commodus on, 
thirty-two emperors and twenty-seven pretenders, alternately hurled each 
other from the throne by incessant civil warfare.’ ‘“‘It was the period’, 
says Elliott, “‘of civil wars and bloodshed in the Roman Empire.” 


According to the Synchronous Historical view it is, as Alford says, 
“one of the world-long and world-wide preparations for Christ’s coming’, 
the “‘earth’’ referring not to Judea, nor to the Roman Empire, nor to any 
special portion of the earth. 


Dusterdieck thinks the reference is to the wars mentioned in Matt. 
24.7,8, as the first presage of the coming of Christ. 


Stern thinks the reference is to the persecution of Christians by the. 


world-powers, the red horse being the Roman Empire and the rider being 
Nero. (Ly.) Calovius refers the horse to antichristianity and its rider 
to the Devil. With him agree many others, including Bede, who says, 
“against the victorious and conquering Church-a red horse (an unfavorable 
populace) goes forth bloody from their rider the Devil.’’ But they were 
to ‘kill one another’ and therefore the persecution of Christians cannot be 
thought of, nor are we according to the view under discussion to think of 
the last three horsemen as occupying a hostile attitude toward the first one. 

The figure is rightly apprehended as general by Alford and others. 
(L. F. Eb. Dus. Hen. Mil.) “‘The war thought of’’, says Milligan, “‘is not 
between the Church and the world but between different portions of the 
world itself. A world that will not accept the rule of the Prince of Peace 
brings upon itself the curse of war.” 


572 


———— 


; 





‘THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


According to the Futurists war comes to take away the promise of 
‘peace made by the false rider of the first horse. (See II Kings 3.22, the 
horse blood-colored.) 


5 And when he opened the third seal, it were a voice in the midst of the four 
I heard the third living creature saying, living creatures saying, “A measure of 
Come’. And I saw, and behold, a black wheat for a *shilling, and three measures 
horse; and he that sat thereon had a of barley for a *shilling; and the oil and 
balance in his hand. 6 And I heard as the wine hurt thou not. 
1Some ancient authorities add and see 2Or, A choenizx (i. e. about a quart) of wheat 
for a shilling—implying great scarcity. Comp. 
Ezek. 4.16 f.; 


#13 


3See marginal note on Mt. 18.28 


Vers. 5,6. . THE THIRD SEAL. 


Ver. 6. “‘as tt were a voice’,—The one from whom the voice pro- 
ceeds remains unknown, though doubtless it was from one of the four 
living beings. 


“measure’’,—Greek, ‘‘Choenix’’,—a man’s daily nourishiment; a 
quart. 


“shilling’’,—Greek, ‘“‘Denarius’’,—a man’s daily wage. 

The Consecutive Historical School takes the symbol of that of the 
fiscal oppression and injustice on the part of the Roman Provincial Gov- 
ernors who are supposed to be represented by the rider on the horse, and 
who were intrusted in each province with the collection of the produce 
and the revenue. 


According to the Synchronous Historical School the reference, of 
course, must be more or less general, although the specific reference may 
appropriately be to the time just before the Parousia of Christ, and to 
one of the four judgments by which the way of the Lord’s coming will 
be opened. (A. Dus.) 


The figuration, according to this school of interpretation, is to be 
taken as that of Famine, the horse being black, the color of hunger (Lam. 
4.8,9), and it is to be taken here not so much as denoting the grief of those 
afflicted by the plague (D. Hen.), but as indication of the mournful nature 
of the employment of the rider on the horse, i. e., famine. 


The “‘balance’’ is taken by this school as the symbol of scarcity. (A. 
L. E. Hen. Mil. Dus.) (Ezek. 4.10,16.) 


“the otl and wine hurt not’’,—This is to be taken under any circum- 
stances as a command to the horseman limiting the plague. It is taken 
by the school, whose view we are now considering, as an injunction to 
let them grow as ordinarily. Fausset surmises that they were to be spared 
for the refreshment of the sufferers—mercy tempering judgment. 

The arguments of the Consecutive School against taking the figura- 
tion in this Seal as that of famine are not without weight. 

The measure of wheat (a quart) was a man’s daily provision and 
this he got for a shilling, a day’s wage, which Elliott declares though not 
a cheap price, was far from being a famine price. But he got three days’ 
provision of barley for one day’s work, which certainly is not a famine 
price! ‘‘Did ever man hear of such a famine as this?’’ asked Elliott. 
“The ‘balance’,”’ says Elliott, ‘‘in John’s day was a symbol of justice, and 
is to be associated here not with the weighing, out of a scanty measure for 


573 


THE REVELATION ‘OF JOHN 


his own or his family’s eating, but with the buying and selling of corn, 
and so may as well be taken as a symbol of plenty as of famine.”’ 

The oil and wine, when housed and secured by the owner in his 
casks and cellars, were not things to be “hurt’’, nor can they be put here 
figurative for growing olives and vines, and the best translation, Elliott 
thinks, is ‘‘do not deal unjustly in’; though this rendering Alford will 
not allow. 

According to the Futurist School the plague of famine begins after 
the Rapture of the Church and runs parallel with the other Seals on 
through the time of the Great Tribulation. 

Purely arbitrary are all such allegorizings as “‘false brethren whose 
works are black’”’ (Be.), “‘dearth of spiritual nourishment” (Vie pers 
sonified heresies’ (Stern), and that of Lyra who says, ‘‘the horse means 
the Roman army, the rider, Titus, while wheat and banleys mean the 
Jews, and the oil and the wine mean the Christians’. 

The reference is, of course, not specifically to the famine under 
Claudius (Gro. Wet. Hei. Boe.), nor so much to famine in general (B. Hu. 
Cage 


7 And when he opened the fourth there was given unto them authority 
seal, I heard the voice of the fourth over the fourth part of the earth, to kill 
living creature saying, Come. 8 And I with sword, and with famine, and with 
saw, and behold, a pale horse: and he *death, and by the wild beasts of the 
that sat upon him, his name was Death; earth. 
and Hades followed with him. And 

14Some ancient authorities add and see 2Or, pestilence. Comp. Chap. 2.23 marg. 


Vers. 7,8. “THE FOURTH SEAL. 


Ver. 8. ‘“‘a pale horse’’,—The color here is that of a corpse, i. e., 
livid, the greenish pallor of death. 

“Death; and Hades followed with him’ pals Death and Hades 
are here personified. By “‘hades’’ we are not to understand the inhabitants 
of Hades (Ei. Eb.), which idea would people the earth with ghosts. But 

“Hades followed with him’’,—ready to engulf and detain his victims. 


“the fourth part of the earth’’,—According to the Consecutive His- 
torical school the horse here symbolizes the Roman empire and people, 
appearing deadly pale and livid under the influence of Death, who brings 
his curse upon the Roman earth with all the four sore judgments of God. 
Such an era of terrible mortality, Elliott assures us actually did take place 
in Roman imperial history immediately following the time of the preceding 
Seal and thereafter. During a part of this period (A. D. 248 to A. D. 
296), says Gibbon, “‘five thousand persons died daily in Rome; and many 
towns that escaped the hands of the barbarians were entirely depopulated.” 

Elliott -finds difficulty with the expression, “the fourth part of the 
earth’ (1. e., according to him, the Roman earth), inasmuch as the 
plague extended over all of it, as he has set forth. This difficulty he 
escapes by adopting a rendering of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, ‘‘over the four 
parts of the earth’, and by showing how the Roman empire was actually 
divided at that time into four parts, West, East, Ilyricum, and Centrai 
Italy. 

The Continuous Historical School gives the word “‘earth’’ its regu- 
lar significance. Lange says that as four is the number of the world, the 


574 








THESREVEVA TION OF JOHN 


fourth part is the worldly part. But certainly, if these plagues take place 
- before the Rapture of the Christians, as they must according to the Syn- 
chronous and Historical views, they are not confined to unbelievers, but 
they must, according to this view, as Dusterdieck says, refer as well to 
“believers who have patiently endured and hoped for the coming of the 
Lord as well as unbelievers.”’ 


Alford says “‘the fourth part’ merely specifies his position as being 
one of the four riders and not that he divided the earth with the other three 
riders. But this is unsatisfactory and finds no analogy in Chap. 8, where 
a third part is spoken of. 


By most expositors it is taken to mean merely a considerable portion. 
Milligan says that this judgment was limited because if it extended over 
the whole earth there would be no room for the extension of th judgments 
that are to follow and he thinks the Seer used the fourth part as the estimate 
simply: because this number together with the number three was most often 
in his mind and that he chose it as being a smaller portion than a third. 


We have seen no explanation altogether satisfactory of the expression 
under discussion, and can find none of our own unless it was necessary 
on account of the nature of this plague (death) to limit its ravages (as 
it was not in the case of the less severe ones) lest the whole earth perish, 
the “one fourth” being taken not geographically but quantitatively. 


The four agents enumerated here are the same as those in Ezekiel 
14.21, death being used in this instance in the sense of pestilence; the 
wild beasts multiplying in consequence of depopulation. 


Alford says, “‘All four seals are judgments upon the earth; the beat- 
ing down of earthly power, the breaking up of earthly peace, the exhaust- 
ing of earthly wealth and the destruction of earthly life.’”’ He says, ‘“The 
cry of the first beast is answered, not by Christ Himself, but by a symbol 
of His victorious power; Seals two, three and four hold a somewhat sub- 
ordinate place to the first one, the destined concomitants of the growing 
and conquering power of Christ, methods by which He carries out His 
conquering career; the four seals being contemporaneous and each of them 
extending through the whole lifetime of the Church.’’ Alford admits that 
“they may receive continually recurring, or even ultimate fulfillments, as 
the ages of the world go on, in distinct periods of time, and by distinctly 
assignable events.” 


The Futurists make these first four seals also synchronous but place 
them after the rapture of the Christians and during the tribulation which 
they believe immediately follows. 


Entirely arbitrary are all the allegorizing interpretations such as 
“death-bringing heresies’ (Be.), “‘spiritual death, complete falling away 
from Christ’’ (Stern), the ‘Saracens and the Turks’ (V.), the ‘“‘Romans 
under Dominitian’’ (Ly.), “‘migration of natives’ (Hus.), “‘mortal suf- 
ferings of the Jewish war’’ (Gro. Wet. Her. Boe.). 


9 And when he opened the fifth seal, they held: 10 and they cried with a 
I saw underneath the altar the souls of great voice, O Master, the holy and true, 
them that had been slain for the word dost thou not judge and avenge our 
of God, and for the testimony which blood on them that dwell on the earth? 


575 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


11 And there was given them to each also and their brethren, who should be 
one a white robe; and it was said unto killed even as they were, should *have 
them, that they should rest yet for a fulfilled their course. 


little time, until their fellow-servants 


1Some ancient authorities read de fulfilled im 
number 


Vers. 9-11. THE FIRTH SEAL. 


Ver. 9. The scene is now changed to an altar which is in heaven. 


“underneath the altar’’,—The reference here is not to the altar of 
incense (D.), but to the altar of burnt offering, the altar of sacrifice. (A. 
B, Roy Ve Baeb bw. ben sus Wor) 


“underneath the altar’’,—The blood of sacrifice was always poured 
out at the foot of the altar. (Lev. 4.7.) It is no doubt to be taken, as 
Alford says, symbolically, carrying out the likening of the martyrs to 
victims slain on the altar. 

“the souls of them that had been slatn’’,—There are three explan- 
ations: 

1. Martyrs clothed with subtile bodies (Ei.). But for this meaning 
there is no use whatever except the unnecessary attempt to make 
the souls visible to John. 

2. The disembodied spirits of the martyrs as in Chap. 20.4. (A. L. 
Dus. and the majority of commentators. ) 


3. Their animal life only as represented in their blood, crying for 
vengeance, as in Gen. 4.10. (F. Su. Hen. Mil. Crav.) 


The last view is worthy of thoughtful consideration and we are rather 


inclined to accept it. The second view has this against it, that the spirits | 


of the martyrs must be in bliss with Christ, and furthermore it makes 
Stephen say one minute, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge’, and the 
very next minute cry for vengeance on them: Hengstenberg says the pas- 
sage in Chap. 20.4 makes this last view all the more necessary. 


“the testimony which they held’’,—i. e., the testimony borne by 
them concerning Christ. (A. F. L. E. BI. Ew.) 


Ver..10. “O Master, the holy and true’’,—It is God who is here 
addressed (L. A. V. Ew. Dus.), and not Christ (V. Gro.). The idea in 
the word “‘true’’ is that of a God who is faithful to His promises (V. A. B. 
D. Hen.), rather than to a God whose essence is truth (Dus.). 


The Consecutive Historical School refers this Seal to the martyrdom 
of Christians which commenced under Diocletian in A. D. 303. 


According to the Synchronous Historical School the reference here is, 
as Alford says, to ‘“‘the cry of the martyrs’ blood which has ever been going 
up to God since Stephen’s fall; ever and anon at some great time of perse- 
cution it has waxed louder and so on through the ages it shall gather 
strength and accumulate until the great issue of the parable of Luke’ 17.1 
is accomplished.” 

The Futurists refer it, of course, to the tribulation martyrs, those who 
are to give their lives during the years of the Great Tribulation. They 
hold these martyrs do not pertain to the Church because their cry for ven- 
geance indicates that they were on other ground than Christian. But the 
language is precisely the same as that used by our Lord in Luke 18.7, and 


576 


ee 


a 


WHEsREVEVALTION OF JOHN 


the argument therefore for the Rapture of the Church at the opening of 
Chap. 4 on this ground loses its force. Moorehead contends that they 
are Christians, belong to the Body of Christ, the time referred to being 
just before Christ’s Advent and after the riding forth of the four horsemen 
by whose order the martyrs were doubtless slain, the first resurrection not 
yet having taken place, which resurrection ‘“‘occurs when Christ returns to 
earth in visible majesty and overwhelming power and glory’”’. 


Milligan and some others think the reference is not to those who have 
been actually killed or martyred, but to all the saints of the Old Testament, 
and that by “their fellow-servants also and their brethren who should be 
killed’ is meant the saints of the New Testament. [he arguments, how- 
ever, adduced by Milligan for this view are far from convincing. 


Ver. 11. “a white robe’’,—‘‘The vestment of acknowledged and 
glorified righteousness, in which the saints walk and reign with Christ.” 
(A.) The white robes are not to be thought of as having at that time 
been actually bestowed (as all receive these robes on entering glory), but as 
appearing to be bestowed in the vision of the Seer, because until this 
moment only,one side of the martyr’s intermediate state had in the vision 
been presented, i. e., their slaughter and their cry for vengeance. 


“they should rest’’,—-Not merely to quit crying for vengeance (B. 
D.), but to rest in blessedness. (A. Dus. Hen.) 


“for a little time’’,—This is to be taken as corresponding with the 
entire view of the Apocalypse and is to be interpreted as everywhere else 
throughout the book. Dusterdieck says that John really thought the time 
was to be very short but that John was mistaken. 


“who should be killed’’,—i. e., martyred. 


“should have fulfilled their course’’,—1i. e., as to their number (D. 
Eb. Dus. Wol.), although there is quite as much manuscript authority for 
the marginal reading preferred by many others. (A. Li. Tre. Hen.) 


12 And I saw when he opened the 
sixth seal, and there was a great earth- 
quake; and the sun became black as 
sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon 
became as blood; 13 and the stars of the 
heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree 
casteth her unripe figs when she is 
shaken of a great wind. 14 And the 
heaven was removed as a scroll when it 
is rolled up; and every mountain and 
island were moved out of their places. 
15 And the kings of the earth, and the 


princes, and the ‘chief captains, and the 
rich and the strong, and every bondman 
and freeman, hid themselves in the caves 
and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 
and they say to the mountains, and to 
the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from 
the face of him that sitteth on the 
throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb: 17 for the great day of their 
wrath is come; and who is able to 
stand? 
1Or, military tribunes; Gr. chiliarchs 


Vers. 12-17. “THE SIXTH SEAL. 
(See Matt. 24.29 and Joel 2.31.) 


Ver. 12. The Sixth Seal, says Elliott, of the Consecutive Historical 
School, surely betokened some sudden and extraordinary revolution tn the 
Roman empire which would follow chronologically after the era of mar- 
tyrdom depicted under the Seal preceding; a revolution arising from the 
triumph of the Christian cause. This he declares to have taken place under 


577 


‘THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Constantine, and calls it the dissolution of the Pagan firmament, the expres- 
sions concerning the earthquake and the heavenly firmament being all taken 
metaphorically as referring to political changes. 


Alford, on the other hand, representing the Continuous Historical 
School, says, ‘“We may unhesitatingly set down as wrong all interpreta- 
tions which view as the fulfillment of this passage any period except that 
of the coming of the Lord.” 


Craven says, ‘“That the Sixth Seal introduces the end of the age and 
the coming of the Lord for the establishment of the Kingdom there can be 
no doubt; that it in any proper sense can be said to usher in the final con- 
summation and the final judgment is exceedingly questionable. If the 
earth quaked and the rocks rent and the sun was darkened when the God- 
man died, is it not rational to expect in view of these prophesies that simi- 
lar portents will precede or accompany His second coming to Glory?” 


Aiford further says, ‘Thus we are brought to the very threshold of 
the great day of the Lord’s coming, to the time described i in Matt. 24.30. 
But before He comes His elect must be gathered out.’ 


On the other hand Dusterdieck says, “It is the subject of a vision 
and not something objectively real and when it occurs no further life on 
this earth will be possible as the day of the Lord will have come and the 
final judgment have taken place’, while Lange says, “‘It is the catastrophe 
of the final judgment, the finale of this world’s history.”’ 


The only difference between the view of Alford and those of his 
school and the Futurist on this point is that Alford thinks of the saints as 
going through the period of Great Tribulation and being caught up at the 
close of this Tribulation just before the Lord descends, while the Futurist 
school thinks of the saints as having been caught up before the period of 
the Great Tribulation and the coming of the Lord here under discussion as 
occurring at the close of the tribulation period, some years, usually figured 
as seven, after the Rapture of the saints. 


“the whole moon became as blood’’,—1i. e., the full moon. 


Ver. 13. “‘as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs’’,—It is perhaps winter 
figs that are here meant which always fall off unripe. ‘ 


Ver. 14. “as a scroll when it ts rolled up’’,—Since the heavens 
stretch out like a sheet they are said to vanish as a scroll. (Isa. 34.4.) 


“every mountain and island were moved out of their aera 
earth’s foundations to be overthrown. 

Says Alford, ‘This total disruption shall be the precursor of the new 
earth just as the pre-adamic convulsions were preparative for its present 
occupants.” 

Ver. 15. “‘the strong’’,—The special reference here is to the physi- 
cally strong. 

Ver. 17. “who ts able to stand’’,—A, e., to stand justified before 
the judge and not be condemned. 

Entirely groundless are the allegorical interpretations which find here 
only figurative prophecies of events pertaining to the development of the 
Church; viz.: 

1. The earthquake means “revolutions in political or ecclesiastical 


spheres.”’ (V. Boe.) 
578 


HERE VELATION OF: JOHN 


2. The sun darkened means 


“prophecy” (Doc.), 


3, The blood red moon means 


Oiemartyrse) (Liyseiren). 


(Viaje 


4. The fallen stars mean 


V.), ‘the Jews who desert Christ for Judaism’”’ 
“prophets and philosophical pursuits’’ 


5. The mountains mean 


(Are.). 


CHAPTER SEVEN 


1 After this I saw four angels stand- 


“the blasphemed Christ’’ 
“worldly emperors and kings’ (V.). 


“the Church reddened by the blood 
“the law’’ (Boe.), 





(lave); 


“spiritual princes’ 


“the fallen exalted Church teachers’’ (Ly. 


(Boe.). 


Of the tribe of Gad twelve thou- 


ing at the four corners of the earth, sand; 

holding the four winds of the earth, 6 Of the tribe of Asher twelve thou- 
that no wind should blow on the earth, sand; . 

or on the sea, or upon any tree. 2 And Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve 
I saw another angel ascend from the thousand; 

sunrising, having the seal of the living Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve 
God: and he cried with a great voice to thousand; 

the four angels to whom it was given to 7 Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thou- 
hurt the earth and the sea, 3 saying, sand; 

Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor Of the tribe of Levi twelve thou- 
the trees, till we shall have sealed the -sand; 

"servants of our God on their foreheads. Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thou- 
4 And I heard the number of them that sand; 

were sealed, a hundred and forty and 8 Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thou- 
four thousand, sealed out of every tribe sand; 

of the children of Israel: Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thou- 
5 Of the tribe of Judah were sealed sand; 


twelve thousand; 
Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thou- 


Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed 
twelve thousand. 


sand; 


1Gr. bondservants 


Vers. 1-8. THE SEALING OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR 
‘THOUSAND. 


~ Ver. 1. “‘after this’’,—Showing that the Sixth Seal is complete and 
that Chap. 7 comes in as an episode and parenthetically (A. F. D. Ei. 
Ew. Eb. Hen. Dus.), although Elliott contends that the two visions of 
this chapter constitute the second half of the Sixth Seal. 


“four angels’’,—Not bad angels (B. Ze. Ca. Are.), nor necessarily 
the “angels of the winds’ (D. Zu. Lap.) Chap. 16.5, but “‘at the four cor- 
ners of the earth’, i. e., the four cardinal points from which the winds 
blow. 


Ver. 2. “Another angel’’,—Not Christ (Be. Ze. Ca. Hen.) nor an 
archangel (Stern), nor the Holy Spirit (V. L.), but simply an angel. 
(A.eB DeEw. (Eb. Dus:) 


“from the sun-rising’,—The east designated not because of the 
- Christian lands where the Gospel light first shone (Stern), nor because 
omens from the east' were thought to be favorable (Blo.), nor because the 
Jews always turned first toward the east (D.), nor because the throne of 
God whence the angel proceeded is regarded as in the east (Ew.), nor 
because plagues have their origin in the east (B.), but because it is the side 


579 


THE REVELATION OP JOHN 


from which life and light are brought by the sun (A. Eb. Dus. Hen. Lap. 
Vol. Weid.), and thus, as Alford further says, it agrees with the angel’s 
salutary and victorious work. 


“seal’’, What is on it? 
1. The stamp of the cross. (Be. Lap. Gro. Boe.) 


2. The name of God and the Lamb. (D. A. Eb. Ew. Ei.) This is 
the more likely view but the text says nothing. 


“living God”’,—Because it is He as the living God who gives life (B. 
Ew. Dus. Hen. Kili. ) and also as giving to the seal solemnity ane vital 
import. CALI s) 

“great voice’’,—Not used here as referring to the certainty of the 
command (Hen.), nor to his desire to restrain the angels anxious to begin 
(B.), but perhaps that the call might penetrate to the ends of the earth 
where the angels were. (Dus.) It is, however, peculiar to heavenly beings. 


Ver. 3. “hurt not the earth’, etc..—The meaning is that they were 
not to hurt the earth by letting the winds loose which, as yet, they were 
holding in. (A. V. D. Ew. Eb. Dus. Hen. Lap.) It does not mean by 
restraining the winds and so allowing the earth to become parched and 
sultry. This last would make the cry a command to let the winds loose. 
(Her. ) 

““we’’,—1. e., the angel and his associates, who need not be further 
mentioned. Not necessarily the four angels assisting (Hen.), nor the 
Father and the Son (Ca.), although these explanations are possible. 

“the servants of our God’’,—By some this is taken as Israel alone, 
i. e., Jewish Christians, while by others it is taken as the Israel of God, i. e., 
Christians in general. The expression because of the article could be 
taken in the latter sense. However, see explanation further on. 

“on their foreheads’’,—The noblest as well as the most conspicuous 
- part of the body. 


Ver. 4. “‘And I heard’’,—1. e., probably from the other angel of 
verse 2. 


“a hundred and forty and four thousand’’,—Twelve times twelve 
taken one thousand times, the symbol of fixedness and full completion, and 
perhaps not a literal number at all. Alford says, ‘‘No one that I am aware 
of has taken the 144,000 literally’’. He thinks it means a full, complete 
number known to the Lord and none of whom shall fail. In latter years, 
however, some have taken it literally, just 144,000, as Seiss for instance. 


WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS SEALING? 
1. Exemption from tribulation; that is, they are not to experience 


the impending visitations. (A. V. B. D. F. Eb. Ew. Ei. BI. Hil. 
Hen. Hei. Lap. Stern.) They point to Exodus 12.7,13; Ezek. 
9.4, and Rev. 9.4. Dusterdieck says in reply that in Exodus and 
Ezekiel it was not a sealing but a marking for the specific purpose . 
of assuring those thus marked of the impending judgments, and 
that in Rev. 9.4 it is a special case of exemption from the plague 
from the abyss, but not because they as sealed were thus secure 
from all plagues. He further-says the view under consideration 


580 





Woe sREVEVA PIONGOR JOHN 


is against the teaching of the New Testament in general (Matt. 
24.30) and against the Apocalypse in particular which admon- 
ishes to patient steadfastness to the end in the midst of trial and 
tribulation. Fausset says the saints are not to be thought of as 
exempt from all trial (see verse 14) but their trials are distinct 
from the destroying judgments that fall on the world, because 
from these they are exempt as were the Israelites from the destroy- 
ing plagues of Egypt. With this Alford agrees and says Dus- 
terdieck’s trouble comes from failing to note this distinction. He 
says further that the four angels are commanded not to begin 
their work of destruction until the sealing has taken place and for 
what imaginable reason could such a prohibition be uttered, unless 
those who were to be sealed were to be marked out for some pur- 
pose connected with that work, and for what purpose could they 
_ thus be marked out if not for exemption? 


2. Not exemption from tribulation but preservation in tribulation. 
(El. St. Dus. Sei. Gab. Sco. Pet. Weid. Moor. ) 
The preservation in question is a preservation from apostacy under 
tribulation, says Weidner. Dusterdieck remarks that, “The ser- 
vants of God do not remain entirely untouched by all the suffer- 
ings whereby judgment comes upon the world, but their sealing 
designates the immutable firmness of their election which is not to 
be affected even by the trial of the last Great Tribulation.”’ ‘The 
purpose of the seal’, says Stuart, ‘‘was to make them secure against 
all harm.” 


The arguments for the first view do not seem sufficiently strong 
to guarantee it and we are at this juncture inclined to the second 
view, namely of preservation in tribulation. 


WHO ARE THE SEALED? 


I. Jewish Christians only. (F. B. G, Ei. Eb. St. Au. Zu. Dus. Gro. 
Bul. Ire. Hof. Blo. Hei. Gab. Sco. Pet. Sei. Tor. Mor. Bla. Weid. 
Moor. Burger, and all Futurists.) In proof of this it is affirmed: 


(a) It does not say ‘‘Israel’”’ nor the ‘‘children of Israel’’, but it does 
say the “‘tribes’’ of the children of Israel and then proceeds to 
mention them by name. 


(b) If the elders be taken as representing the glorified Church, then 


they appear in Chap. 14.3 as a wholly distinct body from the 
144,000. 


(c) These same 144,000 in Chap. 14.4 are called the “frst-fruits 
unto God and the Lamb’’. But this they were anyhow if they 
are to be taken as the representatives of redeemed humanity, of 
the glorified Church, and therefore the 144,000 must be the 
first-fruits unto God of another order. 

Weidner remarks that though Israel may elsewhere mean spirit- 
ual Israel, the Israel of God, it is not so written here. 

Fausset says, “Out of the Tribes a believing remnant will be 
preserved from the judgments which shall destroy all the anti- 
christian confederacy, which remnant shall faithfully resist the 
seductions of the Antichrist, while the rest of the nation restored 
to Palestine in unbelief are his dupes and at last his victims.”’ 


581 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


2. The elect of the Lord, i. e., spiritual Israel, the Israel of God, 


Christians.an: general. (A, ‘Ds LV, KI..Me,.Ph. Bl Hen> Wor 


Kli. Gebh. Beck.) In proof of this it is affirmed: 


(a) 
(b) 


That no good reason can be conceived why only Jewish and not 
Gentile Christians should be sealed. 

In Chap. 21.9 the Israel of God must be meant and it is an 
accepted rule always to interpret an ambiguous term 
by the use of the same term in the place or places where its 
meaning is clear and unmistakable. Of course in Chaps. 2.9 


and 3.9 real Jews are meant, but the circumstances there and’ 


here are different. 


(c) John in the Apocalypse makes no distinction between Jewish 


(d) 


and Gentile Christians and sometimes designates Christians as 
Israel and sometimes as the elect of all nations and tongues or 
as the elect of the earth. 

In verse 3 they are called absolutely the “servant of our God”’ 
and in Chap. 14.1 they appear as the redeemed. 


(e) Those coming forth (verse 14) are not such as have been pre- 


(f) 


(g) 


(k) 


(1) 


served in the calamities but such as were exempt from them. 
The 144,000 is a complete number and can hardly be Jewish 
believers alone but must be the Church of Christ in its final 
comprehensiveness. 

In Chap. 14 the vision of these same 144,000 follows the 
description of the enemies of Christ as they have reference to the 
whole Church and not to any one part of it; and at the same 
time the vision precedes the vintage of the earth which is to be as 
comprehensive as the whole Church of the redeemed the world 
over. 

In Chap. 14 we have the “Father’s name written on their fore- 
heads” and in Chap. 22 this is true of all the saints of God in 
the New Jerusalem. 

The changes made in the tribes as given argues against taking 
them as literal Israel. 

As the mark of the Beast is imprinted on all his followers so 
ought we expect that the seal of God should be likewise stamped 
on all His followers. 

As the plagues to come threatened all just alike, the Gentiles as 
well as the Jews, so should the seal in like manner protect all 
believers. ; 

If the Gentile Christians are not included in the 144,000 then 
they are nowhere spoken of as sealed at all. 


(m) ‘To the twelve reasons already enumerated for taking the 1 44,- 


000 as spiritual Israel, or Jewish and Gentile Christians com- 
bined, Hengstenberg adds yet another, namely, that it is to be 
argued from the fact that John takes just 12,000 out of the 
tribe, from the small tribes as well as from the large ones. ‘“‘It 
cannot be imagined’’, says Bossuet, ‘‘that there were precisely 
in each tribe twelve thousand elect, neither more nor less, to 
make up this total number of 144,000.” 


582 


a 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Dusterdieck replies in answer to 


(a) that even though the sealing be referred only to Jewish believers, 
even so it shows that the Gentile Christians in the innumerable 
throng were not inferior in that which the sealing really meant; 


(b) that Israel as used of the inhabitants of heaven is something 
different from when it is used of people who are still upon the 
earth, as is undoubtedly the case here, and though Israel may 
elsewhere mean the Israel of God, Christians in general, it is 
not so stated here; 


(c) that this is not the case, and it can only be referred to Jewish 
Christians here because the individual tribes of Israel are men- 
tioned by name directly afterwards; 


(d) that the designation of ‘‘the servants of our God’’ and “‘the re- 
_ deemed”’ suit Israel, Jewish Christians, pre-eminently; 


(e) that this rests upon a false conception that exemption from 
instead of preservation in is meant, and upon the unjustifiable 
transformation of the present “‘come’’ into a past tense, and 
the confused conception of verse 14 in general. 


It might further be said in reply to 


(f) that the 144,000 as a complete number can apply to a complete 
and well rounded number of Jewish Christians as well as to the 
same idea with reference to Jewish and Gentile Christians; 


(g) that while this is true it, by no means, furnishes any conclusive 
proof that the 144,000 thus mentioned in Chap. 14 cannot 
refer to Jewish Christians alone; 


(h) that the Father’s name as written on the 144,000 in Chap. 14 
and on all the saints of God in Chap. 22 is the indication of 
their regeneration and has nothing to do with the seal mentioned 
in this seventh chapter. [he Father's name on their forehead 
is merely the indication that they are children of God and is 
the foundation upon which the sealing takes place. ‘The sealing 
came later and they could not have been sealed had they not 
prior to the sealing been born again and thus become the chil- 
dren of God bearing the Father's name; 


(i) that this argument is not at all conclusive; 


(j) that this is an inference which is in some considerable measure 
gratuitous; 


{k) that while this would seem to be a natural conclusion it does 
not, however, dispose of the fact that in God’s mind there may 
have been sufficient reason for applying the seal to Jewish 
Christians only as a part of His dispensational plan for His own 
peculiar people; | . 

(1) that while this is true the Gentile Christians, who are at least 
included in the throng mentioned in verse 9 and who are before 
the throne, etc., received everything which the seal could have 
possibly meant to the Jewish Christians. The fact that they 
are before the throne, etc., proves this, it would seem. 

While the arguments for taking the ‘‘sealed’’ as spiritual Israel are 

not altogether conclusive, and some of them are of little if any value at all, 


583 


THE REVELATION TOF JOHN 


we find it very hard to get away from arguments such as those given under 
(a) and especially under (b), to the last of which the reply of Dusterdieck 
is not at all satisfactory, and we find ourselves inclined toward the view 
which takes them as spiritual Israel, i. e., both Jewish and Gentile Chris- 
tians, although even in the moment of this decision we find ourselves won- 
dering whether after all the reference may not be to Jewish believers only, 
as the naming of the tribes would seem to indicate. 


It must not be overlooked that the tribes.are also mentioned by name 
in Chap. 21.12, not indeed so written in this book of Revelation but so 
written upon the gates of the City of God. 


It may also be said that the decision of this matter one way or the 
other does not bring us into conflict with any other part of the Revelation, 
and is therefore not a matter of vital importance. 


WHEN DOEs THIS SEALING TAKE PLACE? 


1. The Consecutive Historical School refers the saints in question to 
the converts of the faith, Jewish and Gentile, succeeding the age 
of Constantine (El.); others refer them to the Albigenses and 
the Waldensians; others to the Reformation period, and some to 
the times after the fall of Bonaparte in 1815. Elliott says that 
the four destroying tempest-angels are the ‘‘threatening tempest 
of barbarians’’ destined ere while to desolate the Roman earth, 
while the sealing was represented as a preservative. He identifies 
the 144,000 with the innumerable throng of the second vision 
in verse 9, and says this second vision of their ultimate blessedness 
is given by way of encouragement. ‘‘The sealing,’’ he says, ‘“‘ap- 
pertains chronologically to the times following on the politico- 
religious revolution under Constantine and his immediate success- 
ors in the fourth century, and the twelve tribes of Israel, and the 
144,000 mentioned in them, designate respectively the visible 
professing Church in the Roman empire, and Christ’s true Church, 
the election of grace, gathered out of it.”’ 


2. The Synchronous Historical School refers the saints in question 
to the elect of the Lord who shall be living upon the earth at the 
time of the Second Coming of the Lord and so place the time of 
this sealing before the Rapture of the Church, and thus cause the 
Church, the saints of the latter days to go through the Great 
Tribulation. 


3. The Futurists, as a rule, place this sealing right after the Renate 
of the Church and usually refer it to what is known as the Rem- 
nant, 1. e., Jewish believers only. 

Placing the sealing after the Rapture does not, however, mili- 
tate against the view which takes the sealed ones as spiritual Israel, 
inasmuch as there would be as many Gentiles as Jews who would 
believe at a time like that. 

Moorehead says, ‘“The time of the sealing belongs almost cer- 
tainly to a point before the Tribulation begins, for these believing 
Jews are no doubt the fruit of the testimony of the Two Wit- 
nesses, and if so, their sealing belongs to the time of the four 
riders."” In this, however, our author seems confused, since he 


584 


nee REVELATION TOR JOHN 


puts the four riders before the opening of the Seventieth Week, 
and the preaching of the Two Witnesses during the first half of it. 


The Spiritual School of Interpretation refers the sealing to that 
which is going on among the redeemed all the time while the 
Church is on the earth. But this is a sealing of the Holy Spirit 
that comes immediately at regeneration in the forgiveness of sins 
(Eph. 1.13 and 4.30), while the sealing mentioned here is for 
the particular purpose of protection. 

The Preterists refer the passage to the Jewish Christians who 


escaped to Pella at the time of the Destruction of Jerusalem, and 
the same reference is given to verses 15 and 17. 


We think it better not to take this vision as belonging to the latter 
part of Seal Six, as Elliott does, but to take it rather as a parenthetical 
section, and refer the sealing in question to something still in the future, 
for whatever else one may be inclined to say in favor of Elliott’s general 
scheme of interpretation, his treatment of the two visions of this chapter 
is not at all necessary to its consistency. But whether this sealing is to 
be placed before or after the Rapture of the Church must wait on further 


exegesis. 


, 


THE NAMING OF THE TRIBES. 


1. It does not follow any assignable principle. 
2. Each tribe is given the same number. In the divine gifts of grace 
all have like share. 
3. The tribe of Dan is omitted. This is because: 
(a) The Antichrist is to come from this tribe, say nearly all 
ancient expositors (Gen. 49.17). 
(b) It was the first tribe to fall into idolatry. (V. Wet. Hen. 
Wor. and most expositors.) (Jud. 18.) 
(c) It had long before been as good as extinct. (D. A. Ew. Eb. 
Gro. Dus.) (I Chron. 4.) 
4. Joseph is mentioned instead of Ephraim because of idolatrous 
recollections concerning Ephraim (L. Dus.), or perhaps because 
by Joseph, Ephraim is meant. (A.) 
5. Leviis included. ‘Since the Levitical ceremonies have been aban- 
doned Levi is found again on equal footing with his brethren. 
All are priests; all have access, not one through the other, but 
one with the other.’ (B. Dus. Mil.) But this is hardly a suffi- 
cient reason since in some of the Old Testament catalogues Levi 
was not omitted. 

9 After these things I saw, and be- teth on the throne, and unto the 
hold, a great multitude, which no man Lamb. 
could number, out of every nation and 11 And all the angels were standing 

: round about the throne, and about the 
of all tribes and peoples and tongues, elders and the four living creatures; and 
standing before the throne and _ before they fell before the throne on their faces, 
the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and and worshipped God, 12 saying, 
palms in their hands; 10 and they cry Amen: ‘Blessing, and glory, and 
With a great voice, saying, wisdom, and thanksgiving, and 

Salvation unto our God who sit- honor, and power, and might, be 


Gr. The blessing and the glory 
585 


THEY REVELATION: OB3JOHN 


unto our God “for ever and ever. 

Amen. 
13 And one of the elders answered, say- 
ing unto me, These that are arrayed in 
the’ white robes, who are they, and 
whence came they? 14 And I *say unto 
him, My lord, thou knowest. And he 
said to me, These are they that come 
out of the great tribulation, and they 
washed their robes, and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 
Therefore are they before the throne 

*Gr. unto the ages of the ages 


of God; and they serve him day and 
night in his ‘temple: and he that sit- 
teth on the throne shall spread his 
tabernacle over them. 16 They shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any 
more; neither shall the sun strike upon 
them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb 
that is in the midst °of the throne shall 
be their shepherd, and shall guide them 
unto fountains of waters of life: and 
God shall wipe away every tear from 
their eyes. 


40r, sanctuary 


3Gr. have said 


Vers. 9-17. 


Ver. 9. “After these things’’,—This is doubtless another distinct 
vision. (A. Dus. Crav.) 

“before the throne and before the Lamb’’,—They were in heaven 
itself as described in Chap. 4. Gaebelein says that this is an earth-scene 
at the beginning of the Millennium, a millennial scene. But this will not 
do. It is the same throne surrounded by the same elders, the same living 
creatures and the same angels as in Chap. 4 and it will not do to shift 
this scene from heaven to earth for the convenience of any preconceived 
plan as to how the arrangements of those times should seem to be. 


5Or, before. See Chap. 4.6; comp .5.6 
THE SAINTS OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION. 


“arrayed in white robes’’,—Significant of their victory and also em- 
blematic of their righteousness. (Chap. 6.11.) 


“palms tn their hands’’,—The mark of festal joy. 


Ver. 10. “salvation unto our God’’,—i, e., their salvation; the 
praise for it. 
Ver. 13. “one of the elders answered’’,—i. e., to John’s thoughts 


asking, as it were, the question which might have been expected to arise in 
John’s mind. (F. B. Hen.) An elder from among the representatives of 
redeemed humanity is a fitting interpreter of the scene. 


Ver. 14. ““My Lord’’,—An address of deep reverence. 


“thou knowest’’,—1i. e., I do not know, but thou dost. (A. F. B. D: 
Ew. Hen. Dus.) 


“They that come’’,—Not ‘‘came’”’ (A. V.), nor “‘shall come’ (Dus. 
Hen.), as though the multitude was still on the earth, nor ‘‘coming”’ (L.),- 


as if the number was not yet completed, but ‘‘come’’, implying that they 
have just come. (A. B. D. Ew.) 


“out of the great tribulation’’,—The literal rendering is, “‘the tribu- 
lation, the great one,’’ and it must therefore refer to the Great Tribulation 
announced in Matthew 24.21, just before the coming of Christ in judg- 
ment and which, it seems, the Seventh Seal is to introduce. (D. Ew.’ Eb. 
Hen. Dus.) 


‘“The Great Tribulation,’ says Scofield, “‘is the period of unexampled 
trouble predicted in the passages cited under that head from Psalm 2.5 to 
Rev. 7.14 and described in Rev. 11-18. Involving in a measure the whole 
earth (Rev. 3.10), it is yet distinctively ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ (Jer. 
33.7), and its vortex is Jerusalem and the Holy Land. It’involves the 


586 





‘THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


people of God who will have returned to Palestine in unbelief. Its dura- 
tion is three and one-half years, or the last half of the Seventieth Week of 
Daniel.” 

“washed theit robes and made them white’’,—There is no reference 
here to the blood of martyrs as if there was a cleansing power in martyr- 
dom. ‘The robes are made white by the washing, and it is not that the 
washing refers to forgiveness, and the making white to sanctification, as 
Hengstenberg says. It was through their faith in Christ that their robes 
were washed and made white. 


Ver. 15. “and they serve him’’,—1. e., doing whatever high and 
blessed service He may delight to employ them in. 

“day and night’’,—The meaning is ‘‘eternally’’ and the manner of 
speaking is after our custom. 

“spread his tabernacle over them’’,—The literal is, “‘shall tabernacle 
upon them,” an expression hard to represent in our language. No more 
as in an earthly covering by pillars of smoke and fire, but as Dusterdieck 
says, “in the heavenly immediateness’’. His dwelling among them is 
secondary to the thought of His being their covert. The glory of Shekinah 
or the over-shadowing presence of God is now to sink down from the 
throne upon the blessed and spread itself out protectingly over them. 


Ver. 16. “hunger no more netther thirst anymore’’,—i. e., as they 
did when here. 

“neither shall the sun strike upon them’’,—The thought relates itself 
to the hot oriental sun in its overpowering effects. 

“not any heat’’,—Heat that is intense like that of the sirocco. (See 
Isa. 49.10 from which the whole sentence is taken.) 


Ver. 17. “tn the midst of the throne’’,—i. e., in the middle point 
in front of the throne. 

“It is not’’, says Dusterdieck, ‘“‘without many tears that they come out 
of the Great Tribulation, but when they have overcome, God Himself 
shall dry their tears and change their weeping into joy.” 


OF WHOM Is THIS INNUMERABLE —THRONG COMPOSED AND WHAT 
RELATION Do THEY BEAR TO THE 144,000? 

They are not identical, as some would have us believe, because: 

1. The first are numerable and the second are innumerable. 

2. The first are sealed and of the second this is not said. 

3. The first are on earth and the second are in heaven. 

There are many views as to the relationship between these two groups 
of believers, but perhaps those deserving the most attention are the follow- 
ing: 

1. The first are Jewish Christians immediately after the Rapture and 
the second are Gentile Christians on earth before the Millennial 
throne (Gab.), or in glory as most of the Futurists believe. (Mor. 
Tor. Sco. Pet. Bla. Sei. Moor.) 

The remarks of G. Campbell Morgan, one of the prominent Futur- 

ists of our day, will be of interest just here. He says, ‘“The passage refers 
to the great company of those who come, not through trials such as yours 


587 


THEY REVELATION OP MOAN 


and mine, but, by God’s grace, out of the Great Tribulation which follows 
the taking away of the Church and the revealing of the man of sin. How 
is this ingathering to be accomplished? I give you my answer with reserve, 
because many devout students of prophetic truth differ with me here. Per- 
sonally, I am convinced that not all Christian people will be taken to be 
with Christ on His return, but only those who by the attitude of their 
lives are ready for His appearing. They who remain and pass through 
the Tribulation will be awakened by the stupendous events of their times 
to the privilege and responsibility of witnessing for the truth in that age. 
Even in the day of Jewish sorrow God will dwell with His ancient people, 
who will then become heralds of the Cross; and under stress of plague, 
famine and suffering beyond imagination, an innumerable multitude will 
‘wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ Those 
years will be such as the world has never seen—first, in regard to the mani- 
festation of evil in forms more awful than we have ever known; and, 
secondly, in the marvelous crowding to Jesus Christ of a ‘great multitude 
which no man can number.’ What of the Church during that time of 
Tribulation? She is in the heavens with her Lord, all the retarding forces 
and probationary days of earth being ended.” 

Scofield, another of the Futurists, says, ‘““The Great Tribulation will 
be, however, a period of salvation. An election out of Israel is seen as 
sealed for God (Rev. 7.4-8), and, with an innumerable multitude of 
Gentiles (Rev. 7.9), are said to have come ‘out of the great tribulation’ 
(Rev. 7.14). They are not of the priesthood, the Church, to which they 
seem to stand somewhat in the relation of the Levites to the priests under 
the Mosaic Covenant. The Great Tribulation is immediately followed by 
the return of Christ in glory.” | 

2. The first are Jewish Christians and the second are Jewish and 

Gentile Christians, the second being inclusive of the first. (B. F. 
St. Zu. Ei.. Dus. Bul. Hof. Gro. Hei. Weid.) 


3. The first are Jewish and Gentile Christians and the second are 
the same in larger numbers with Gentiles preponderating. (A.) 


In keeping with former explanations we are inclined to this last 
view, although we cannot agree with Alford as to whom this second and 
innumerable group represents. He says it is the great final assembly of 
saints in heaven after the last resurrection and after the final judgment of 
the Great White Throne, which judgment, he says, is that mentioned in 
Matt. 25.31-46, the scene here being that of all the assembled believers in 
final gathering in heaven. 

‘This cannot be, because it is said that they come out of the Tribula- 
tion, the great one, and this cannot be said of all the finally assembled 
believers in heaven. It cannot be said of those who are saved during the 
Millennium and it cannot be said of the millions who will have died 
before the Great Tribulation. This being the case, the throng, although 
innumerable, represents but a part, and a small part, of the sum total of 
glorified believers who are finally to be assembled in heavenly glory. 
This innumerable throng must therefore represent a scene in final glory 
of those who pass through the Great Tribulation, and no reference is made 
to the far greater number who are likewise to be assembled there with 
them. Fausset and Lange say the expression, ‘‘the great tribulation,” in- 
cludes retrospectively all the tribulations of which the saints of all ages | 


588 


Rn ERE VEU ON IORSIOHN 


have had to pass through. With this Alford agrees, but how Alford can 
arrive at such a conclusion after having himself called attention to the 


original reading of the expression, 
difficult thing to see. 


“the tribulation, the great one,”’ is a 
We believe a fair exegesis will compel one to take 


the expression at its face value and to see in the innumerable throng, as 
already stated, those who come out of the Great Tribulation which our 
Lord foretold should come upon the earth during the last days. 


CHAP DERSEIGHT 


1 And when he opened, the seventh 
there followed a silence in heaven 


seal, 


4 And the smoke of the incense, “with 


about the space of half an hour. 2 And 
I saw the seven angels that stand before 
God; and there were given unto them 
seven trumpets. 

3 And another angel came and stood 
‘over the altar, having a golden censer; 
and there was given unto him much 
incense, that he should “add it unto the 
prayers of all the saints upon the golden 


the prayers of the saints, went up before 
God out of the angel’s hand. 5 And 
the angel “taketh the censer; and he filled 


it with the fire of the altar, and cast 
it “upon the earth: and there followed 
thunders, and voices, and lightnings, 
and an earthquake. 

6 And the seven angels that had the 
seven trumpets prepared themselves to 


altar which was before the throne. sound. 
10r, at 3Or, for 
*Gr. give 4Gr. hath taken 
5Or, into 


THE SEVENTH SEAL. 


ery |. 


“he opened the oe seal’, 


Of what does the Seventh Seal consist? 


But 


After what took place in connection 


1. Some make it to consist of the silence alone. (A. V. Hen.) 
certainly this will not do. 
with the other seals something in the way of a fullness of signi- 
ficant content is to be expected in the Seventh Seal. 

2. Others refer it to the silence and to all that follows up to and 
through verse 5. (Gab. Braun.) But this will hardly-do, because 
in verse 2 the trumpet angels have already entered, and verses 2 
and 5 are a preparation for the following trumpets. 

%. 


Others make it inclusive of all that follows, the silence, the offer- 
ing of the incense and the casting of the coals upon the earth, the 
sounding of the seven trumpets and the emptying of the seven 
vials. “his view, which is supported by many authorities (B. D. 
F. Eb. Ew. Ar. Ca. El. Dus. And. Are. Bul. Cray. Weid. Stern) 
more strongly appeals to us, and a careful reading of the text seems 
to confirm this conclusion. 


“a silence in heaven’’ ,— 
What does this silence mean? 
It refers doubtless to the anxious expectation of the heavenly inhabi- 


tants awaiting the contents of the Seventh Seal. 


(Babate eb, bw Ars Ga, 


St. Dus. Are. Hei. Crav. Weid. Stern.) 


“Indicative of the solemn things which are now to come,” 
“The deep and fearful sympathy with the expected sequel.”’ 


(Gab. ) 
(St. ) 


‘The heavenly company’s silence of astonishment and fear at what 
was about to happen.”’ (Hei.) 


589 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


“Expressing the solemnity of the crisis which has now arrived.” 


(Weid. ) 
‘The earnest, adoring expectation with which the blessed spirits and 


angels await the succeeding unfolding of God’s judgments.” (F.) 
Other explanations are: 


A 


Some, who think the Book consists of a triple series of visions 
chronologically parallel with each other and each reaching on to 
the consummation, explain the silence as the thousand years of 
rest before the final period of eternity. (V. L. Tichonius. ) 

Elliott contends that this had been depicted before in the 
palm-bearing vision of the Sixth Seal of Chap. 7, and further- 
more that a Millennium of joyous, active rest could hardly be 
prefigured by a single half hour of silence in heaven. 


Others, who likewise think of the visions as chronologically 
parallel, explain the silence simply as a pause in the heavenly 
representations indicative of a break of separation between the 
two parallel series of prophecies. Thus Bullinger and Aretius 
explain it as a mark of transition from the Seals to the Trumpets. 
Elliott thinks in this case the silence ought to have occurred 
before and not after the opening of the Seventh Seal, and that 
furthermore, in this case there ought to have been a similar pause 
between the second and third series. 


. Others who regard the contents of the visions as chronologically 


consecutive, think the silence prefigures the Church’s silence in 
prayer before the First Trumpet’s sounding during the incense 
offered by the angel priest, even as the Jews were wont to pray 
silently in the court without, while the priest went within the 
temple to offer incense (Luke 1.10). (Me. Dau. New.) 

But the silence is here depicted as beginning before the action of 
the angel-priest. 


‘The peace and Sabbath-rest of the Church in some brief iatePval 
between Antichrist’s destruction and the second coming of Christ. 


(Be. Hof. Chri.) 


The silencing of Christ’s enemies. (Hen.) But how can we think 
of enemies of Christ in heaven! 


Alford thinks the reference is to the beginning of the eternal rest 
in heaven and that it imports silence as to what the roll contains 
so far as John is concerned, i. e., the withholding of that which 
the Seventh Seal revealed. This author thus places the opening 
of this Seal in heaven after the Millennium and at the time eternity 
begins. He says, ““The Day of the Lord’s coming is gone by 
and this vision reaches far beyond it into the blissful eternity, 
because then, and not till then, shall the Seventh Seal, which 
looses the roll of God’s eternal, be opened and the book read to 
the adoring Church in glory.” 


. Elliott, in keeping with his scheme of interpretation representing 


the tempest-angels as the symbols of barbarian invading hosts, says 
the silence refers to stillness from storm in the firmamental heaven, 
the four winds being authoritatively restrained from blowing, and 


the expression is to be taken as indicative of the brief interval 


590 


a 


THE REVELATION. OF JOHN 


between the opening of the Seventh Seal and the first outbreak 
of the tempest of barbarian invasion, the matter affecting John as 
the half hour’s stillness before a storm might do in common life. 


Ver. 2. “J saw’’,—1. e., not at the end of the silence (A. Eb.), but 
during the silence (L. Dus.), which lasted doubtless until verse 5. 


“the seven angels’’,—Not the archangels (D. Stern), nor the seven 
spirits of God, Chap. 4.4 (Eu. Are.), nor seven angels selected from a 
greater number on account of the seven trumpets (L. Eb. He.), but seven 
particular angels as the definite article shows. 


Ver. 3. “another angel’’,—Not Christ (V. Se. El. Ca. Be. Gab. 
Boe. Sco.), nor the Holy Spirit, both of which views are adopted in defer- 
-ence to theological propriety; but an angel, a real angel; and not an angel 
symbolical of Christ (A. Hen. Dus.), which latter view leads those who 
hold it to resort to all sorts of arbitrary expedients in the interpretation of 
what follows. No countenance is given by the above view to angelic 
intercession. He is merely offering incense to mix with the prayers of the 
saints and is serving only as a ministering spirit. Christ is the One through 
whom the prayers are offered. ‘The angel does not,’’ says Fausset, ‘‘pro- 
vide the incense; it is given to him by Christ, whose meritorious obedience 


and death are the incense, rendering the prayers of the saints well-pleasing 
TOmGsods 


“over the altar’’,—He so presents himself to John’s view that he rises 
above the altar, the altar being between the angel and John. 


“altar’’,-—This is not the altar of incense (D. Eb. Gro. Hen.) but 
the altar of burnt-offering. 


Ebrard says the first altar is the altar of burnt-offering and the second 
one is the altar of incense, but this is a precipitate inference and uncalled 
for inasmuch as a more definite description of this altar is given in the 
last part of the verse, because the employment at the altar is there spoken 
of. It is the same altar asin Chap. 6.9. There is nothing said in Leviticus 
16 of an altar of incense and therefore appeal to that passage is not legi- 
timate. 


“add it unto the prayers’’,—So perfecting and making the prayers 
efficacious as a sweet-smelling savor to God. (A. L. V. F. Ca. Dus.) 

“all the saints’ ,—If the general scheme of interpretation presented by 
the Consecutive Historical school of interpretation is to be accepted, it is 
best to see with Elliott here a reference to the saints immediately after the 
time of Constantine who were on earth during the years immediately fol- 
lowing A. D. 395, saints, by the way, whom Elliott conceives to be repre- 
sented by the 144,000 sealed ones and later by those of the palm-bearing 
vision. 

Alford and others, on the other hand, interpret these saints as those 
of the whole Church of God as well as those of Chap. 6.9. But this is 
hardly in keeping with the context, and besides the prayers of the martyrs 
of the Church were not for vengeance, but the rather as Stephen cried, 
“Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”’ 

If, therefore, we are to interpret this Seventh Seal as occurring in con- 
nection with the second coming of the Lord, it seems better to find here a 
more special reference to the prayers of the saints who must pass through 


eee 


THEVREV EEA DIONC ORION 


the Great Tribulation now about to be disclosed and which takes place 
either just before the coming of the Lord, or as others (Gab. Sco. Pet. Mor. 
Tor. Weid.) think, just after it, this view being confirmed by the fact 
that the answer to the prayers of these saints is seen to bring severe judg- 
ments upon the earth. 


Ver. 4. Weidner aptly says, ““The whole imagery suggests that the 
saints’ prayers on earth and the angel’s incensing in heaven are simultaneous 
and that God will graciously hear the prayers of His saints during the 
great trials which come upon the earth by means of the judgments disclosed 
by the trumpets about to be blown.” 


Ver. 5. “‘take the censer’’,—1. e., after having shaken from it the 
incense, and laid it down perhaps. 

“cast tt upon the earth’’,—1i. e., the fire, to signify that the answer 
to the prayers was about to descend in the fire of God's vengeance upon the 
ungodly of the earth (F. A. B. D. Ew. Lap. Dus. Hen.), and not, as 
Barnes says, ‘“‘to show that notwithstanding the prayers that would be 
offered the judgments would come anyhow,” nor, as Lange says, ‘the 
fire was the fire of saving grace by which the earth is rendered capable of 
bearing the judgments which follow”. 


“thunders, and voices, and lightnings and an earthquake’’,—Sym- 
bolic precursors of the divine judgments about to be inflicted. 


7 And the first sounded, and there was burnt up, and the third part of 
followed hail and fire, mingled with the trees was burnt up, and all green 
blood, and they were cast ‘upon the grass was burnt up. 
earth; and the third part of the earth 

10r, into : 


Ver. 7. ‘THE FIRST TRUMPET JUDGMENT. 


Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School says the first four Trum- 
pet judgments were poured out upon the Roman earth, and that they 
depict the destruction through a series of tempests (barbarian devastations) 
successively affecting the third part of the Roman earth, sea, rivers and 
luminaries or Roman rulers. The judgments of these Trumpets, he takes 
with most English expositors, as the ravages of the Goths in the fifth 
century which ended in the overthrow of the Western part of the Roman 
Empire. The sun and other heavenly luminaries, he says, are well-known 
symbols of earthly rulers. 


Many of the Contemporaneous Historical School contend that the 
prophecy begins again with the First Trumpet and recapitulates, the First 
‘Trumpet running parallel with the First Seal, and so on. (V. L. Eb. Be.) 
“Now he recapitulates,’’ says Bede, ‘from the beginning in order to say 
the same thing in another way.” 

Alford, however, of this same school, says that the vision of the 
Trumpets takes up the great world-wide vision of the Seals at the, point 
where it was said to the vengeance-invoking martyrs that they should rest 
awhile, and that the judgments of the Trumpets vision occur during the 
time of that waiting. 


Weidner of the Futurists says the Trumpet judgments are a recapitu- | 


lation not so much of the six seals as of the Sixth Seal, disclosing more 
fully the terrors that are to come upon the earth in connection with the 


~ 


BU 2 


obewey Bias) ION’ OPSJOHN 


destruction of the Antichrist. Gaebelein of the same school says, ‘‘The first 
five seals would seem to constitute what Matt. 24.8 calls the “beginning 
of sorrows’, while the Trumpet judgments would seem the rather to intro- 
duce the Great Tribulation proper during the years immediately preceding 
the coming of the Christ to destroy the Antichrist.’’ This author is evi- 
dently right as to the Trumpet judgments. (Moor. ) 


_ The Preterists refer all these Trumpet judgments, of course, to the 
Jewish-Roman war and events preceding the Destruction of Jerusalem. 


Our attention is called by most exegetes to the fact that the first four 
trumpets affect natural objects chiefly, while the last three, the woe trum- 
pets, are expressly said to be inflicted upon men. ‘The language of these 
judgments seems to be largely reproduced from the description of the 
plagues of Egypt. 


“hatl and fire mingled with blood’’,—The “‘blood’”’ here Elliott 
refers to the destruction of life in connection with the Gothic invasions, 
while the literalists, who look for the fulfillment as still in the future, 
think of the hail-stones and balls of fire falling in a shower of blood as in 
a shower of rain. 


“the third part’’,—This Elliott refers to the Western division of the 
Roman empire, one of its three divisions according to the tripartition in 
A. D. 311. Mede thinks it refers to the whole Roman earth as constitut- 
ing about one-third of the known world at the time of the Evangelist. 
Thus also Daubuz and Bishop Newton, while Alford, who shares here 
very largely the views of the literalists, remarks with some force that a 
comparison with Chaps. 6.8 and 11.15 shows the idea of amount and 
not fractional division in strictness as being uppermost in the thought. 

“The idea seems therefore,” he says, ‘‘to be that though the judgment is 
to be fearful in extént, yet God spares more than He smites, two-thirds 
escaping in each case while only one-third is smitten.’ 


Gaebelein refers “the third part’’, repeatedly mentioned in these Trum- 
pet judgments, to the revived Roman Empire, though he gives no good 
reason for this opinion. 


The plague seems quite similar to that in Ex. 9.24. Weidner seems 
wisely to say, ‘“‘Why attempt to explain away the plain significance of this 
trumpet judgment? If the ten plagues of Egypt were historical and were 
visited upon the enemies of God’s people, why may we not expect a repe- 
tition of these judgments in the days of the Antichrist? And although 
we may not fully understand what special form these judgments may 
assume, their reality, the certainty of their coming and their terribleness 
are here clearly disclosed.”’ 


The Allegorists are quite as confused i in their attempt at satisfactory 
explanation. abe ‘the third part’ they say that simply a large part is 
meant; by the ‘ ‘trees’ , the great ones of the earth are meant, the eminent 
Jews; and by the “‘green grass’’ is meant the ordinary Jews. Stern refers 
this judgment to the persecution of the Church by false heathen doctrines. 
“Hal and fire’ are referred to erroneous doctrines cast by Satan upon the 
earth, the “‘trees’’ being the teachers of godliness and the “‘grass’’ the ordi- 
nary Christians. (Ar. Ze.) Ebrard refers the whole to spiritual famine. 
Even Gaebelein passes, at this place, over into the Allegorical School and 


593 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


makes the green things symbols of agriculture and commercial prosperity ; 
man’s boasted prosperity ending in great calamity. 


Dusterdieck quite aptly remarks here, ““To explain allegorically is an 
undertaking, there being no ground for it in the text, that can lead to 
nothing but arbitrary guess-work.”’ 


Lange on the other hand says, “‘By sticking to the letter of the text 
we arrive at the conclusion that one-third of the earth and one-third of the 
trees and all the grass is burned up. All the abortive interpretations in 
the world cannot make us abandon our conviction that the Apocalypse 
has an allegorical meaning.’ 


8 And the second angel sounded, and 9 and there died the third part of the 


as it were a great mountain burning creatures which were in the sea, even 
with fire was cast into the sea: and the they that had life; and the third part 
third part of the sea became blood; of the ships was destroyed. 


Vers. 8,9. “THE SECOND TRUMPET JUDGMENT. 


Just as Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School interpreted the 
First Trumpet as the Gothic invasion under Alaric, embracing chiefly some 
dozen years from about A. D. 400 to A. D. 410, so he interprets the 
Second Trumpet as the second Gothic invasion under Genseric in A. D 
429 in which upper Africa and the western part of the Mediterranean 


were devastated, the creatures of the sea which had life, being the islands 


of Sicily and Sardinia, and the ships destroyed being those of the Romans 
in the harbors around Carthagena, the blood referring, as under the First 
‘Trumpet, to the loss of life. 


Perhaps as good an allegorical explanation as can be conjectured is 
that of Gaebelein of the Futurist School, who says, ““The sea here is typical 
of nations; some kingdom internally on fire, signifying probable revolu- 
tion, will be precipitated into the restless sea of nations and the result will 
be a still greater destruction of life and of commerce which is represented 
by the ships.”’ 


Others after all think it better to accept the plain signification of the 
text as describing a great pestilence, the reference being to a burning mass 
so large as to look like a mountain (“and as it were’’), or perhaps a meteor 
falling into the sea and causing putrescence and the destruction of many 
ships of commerce. (See Ex. 7.20,21.) 


The judgments of these plagues are apparently those which in Chap. 
7.3 were held back until the sealing took place, and must consequently, 
many think, be in very close conjunction with the coming of the Lord 
to destroy the Antichrist. 


10 And the third angel sounded, and name of the star is called Wormwood: 
there fell from heaven a great. star, and the third part of the waters became 
burning as a torch, and it fell upon the wormwood; and many men died of the 
third part of the rivers, and upon the waters, because they were made bitter. 


fountains of the waters; 11 and the 


Vers. 10,11. THE THIRD TRUMPET JUDGMENT. 


Ver. 10. “there fell from heaven a great star’’,—This star in falling 


scattered its sparks and fell upon a third part of the fresh waters of the 
earth. 


594 


(HES REVElAT IONS OR JOHN 


Ver. 11. The star is called in Greek ‘‘absinthe,”’ i. e., ““wormwood,”’ 
_ because it made the waters bitter and many who drank died from the effects 
of the poisonous bitterness. 


This Third Trumpet is referred by most of the Consecutive Histori- 
cal School to the third stage of the Gothic irruption, the “‘great star’’ being 
Atilla, “the scourge of God,’’ who also ravaged the Western or third part 
of the Roman Empire during the years around A. D. 450. 


Among the Futurists, Weidner says, ‘There shall come a time when 
as a divine punishment men will drink again of ‘the waters of Marah’ (Ex. 
15.23-25) for which there is no healing, and in many cases death shall 
result as in the days of Elisha (II Kings 2.19-21)’’, while Gaebelein, of 
the same school, joins with the Allegorists, and refers it to some apostate 
and thinks it may refer to the Antichrist himself. 


By Lyra it is referred to Pelagins, by Luther to Origen, by Bengel 
and Vitringa to Arius and by Laurentius to Gregory the Great; all of which 
show how really arbitrary this method of interpretation really is and how 
hopeless is the task of ever trying to solve the problem from their stand- 
point. 

Petingill says the star symbolizes Satan, whose fall from heaven is 
described in detail in Chap. 12 


ne And the fourth angel sounded, 13 And I saw, and I heard ‘an eagle, 
and the third part of the sun was smit- ; ; ; - ; 

ten, and the third part of the moon, a an a Bearer ae tas: ‘ 
and the third part of the stars; that Cree ae CO Pea ae Ona OSs, .tOF EER 
the third part of them should be dark- that dwell on the earth, by reason of 
ened, and the day should not shine for the other voices of the trumpet of the 
the third part of it, and the night in 


; three angels, who are yet to sound. 
like manner. 


1Gr. one eagle 


Vers. 12,13. THE FOURTH TRUMPET JUDGMENT. 


Ver. 12. This plague is in many respects the same in character as 
that in Ex. 10.21. ““The absence of any instrument in this fourth vision,” 
says Alford, “‘teaches us not to place too much import upon the instru- 
ments by which the previous judgments are brought about.” 


Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School says that the reference of 
this Fourth Trumpet is to the overthrow of the Emperor and rulers in 
‘general of the Western division of the Roman Empire, the name and office 
being abolished by Odoacer, the leader of the fourth stage of the Gothic 
devastation about the year A. D. 476. 


Others of the Contemporaneous or Synchronous Historical School 
think it quite evident that this judgment runs parallel with the Sixth 
Seal. while Gaebelein of the Futurist School says, ‘“The sun is the symbol 
of the highest authority, the moon of derived authority and the stars of 
subordinate authority, and the symbolical meaning of this trumpet judg- 
ment is that all authority within the revived Roman Empire will be 
smitten by the hand from above and as a result the most awful moral 
darkness will ensue.” 


The Allegorical interpreters are guilty here, even as Lange admits, of 
the most aimless and arbitrary play of interpretation, i. e., the troubling 
of the Church by false brethren (Be.); heresy (Ly.); Islam (Stern) : 
political disorders (Wet. Her.). 


595 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


“the third part of it’’,—Alford and Dusterdieck think the limitation 
is manifestly to time, while Fausset and others (B. L. Kl. Zu.) think it 
is to brightness, while the reference to the “‘night’’ is to the night, Alford © 
thinks, insofar as she is by virtue of the moon and the stars a time of 
light. We have already seen that Elliott refers all this to the rulers of 
the third part of the Roman Empire, the Western section of it. 


Ver. 13. “‘an eagle’’,—Not an eagle in the form of an angel (D. Ei. 
Ew. BI. Stern), but an eagle; and that not in antithesis to the dove (Hen., 
referring to John 1.36), nor as a bird of omen (Ew.), but far more 
probably, “‘the symbol of judgment and vengeance rushing to its prey”’ 
(A.). Nor is it to be identified with the eagles of Matt. 24.28,: which -is 


a mere proverbial saying rather than a prophetic one. 

“in mid heaven’’,—i. e., where the sun at noon-time reaches the 
meridian and where the eagle could be seen and heard of all to whom its 
message pertains. . 

“that dwell on the earth’’,—1. e., as in Chap. 6.10, the ungodly men 
of the world. j 

The Preterists, of course, see in the eagle the eagle of the Roman 
legions. 

Allegorically the eagle is the voice of eminent teachers in the Church 
(Be.); some prophet to be expected at the end of the world (Lap.); 
Gregory the Great protesting against the title “Universal Bishop’ (E. 
Jo.); a special messenger, probably Christ Himself (Wor.). Weidner 
remarks, “‘Is it any wonder that men regard the Apocalypse as an enigma 
with such interpretations as guides.”’ 


GHAR TERSNINE 


1 And the fifth angel sounded and I men shall seek death, and shall in no 
P tar f bh fall to th wise find it; and they shall desire to | 
hae y Me IR RIR AT TEE ; Ms ay : $ die, and death fleeth from them. 7 And 
earth: and there was given unto him 


i the ‘shapes of the locusts were like unto 
the key of the pit of the abyss. 2 And horses prepared for war; and upon their 


he opened the pit of the abyss; and there heads as it were crowns like unto gold, 
went up a smoke out of the pit, as the and their faces were as men’s faces. 
smoke of a great furnace; and the sun 8 And they had hair as the hair of 
and the air were darkened by reason of women, and their teeth were as the 
the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of teeth of lions. 9 And they had breast- 
the smoke came forth locusts upon the plates, as it were breastplates of iron; 
earth; and power was given them, as and the sound of their wings was as 
the scorpions of the earth have power. the sound of chariots, of many horses 
4 And it was said unto them that they rushing to war. 10 And they have 
should not hurt the grass of the earth, tails like unto scorpions, and stings; 
neither any green thing, neither any tree, and in their tails is their power to hurt 
but only such men as have not the seal men five months. 11 They have over 
of God on their foreheads. 5 And it them as king the angel of the abyss: 
was given them that they should not his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and 
kill them, but that they should be tor- in the Greek tongue he hath the name 
mented five months: and their torment *Apollyon. 

was as the torment of a scorpion, when 12 The first Woe is past: behold, 
it striketh a man. 6 And in those days there come yet two Woes hereafter. 


1Gr. likenesses 
*That is, Destrover 


Vers. 1-12. “THE FIFTH TRUMPET JUDGMENT AND THE FIRST WOE. 
Ver. 1. “a star from heaven’’,—Not a good angel (B. D. BI.. 
596 





erie hi BIA IONS OPGIOHN 


And.), for his description and his work refute this, but an evil angel (V. 
Dus. Weid. Todd); doubtless Satan himself according to the analogy of 
Isa. 14.12; Luke 10.18. (A. El. Me. Vol. Gab. Pet. Dau. New.) 


“fallen unto the earth’’,—It had already fallen when John saw it. 


“the pit of the abyss’’,—The present abode of the Devil and his 
angels, as distinct from Gehenna, the lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 
20.10) which is to be their abode after the final judgment. 


Ver. 2. “‘And he opened the pit of the abyss’’,—To John in vision 
it appeared as if this abyss was under the earth, having a shaft after the 
manner of a well leading to it, says Weidner, and this well or pit was 
shut down by a cover and locked. 


Ver. 3. “‘And out of the smoke came forth locusts’’,—It was not 
an apparent mass of smoke which proved to be locusts (V. Ei. Zu. Eb.), 
but the locusts ascended under cover of the smoke. (Ew. Dus.) 


These infernal locusts differed from earthly ones in that God gave 
them power to sting like scorpions, thus being able to hurt men, while 
this is not true of earthly locusts. 


Ver. 4. “grass. ..green thing. . .tree’’,—1i. e., the usual objects on 
which locusts prey. 


“such men as have not the seal of God’’,—This fixes the time of this 
Fifth Trumpet after the sealing of Chap. 7. Gaebelein and others who refer 
the sealed ones of Chap. 7 to Jewish believers only, the Remnant, maintain 
that these unsealed ones upon whom the judgment falls must be unbeliev- 
ing Israel. But of this there is no hint in the text. The plague shall fall 
upon all alike, whether Jews or Gentiles, if they have not the seal of God 
on their forehead.’ Others say of this plague, that the saints are not par- 
takers. (F. Weid.) But they must be unless we include them among those 
who are sealed, and think of the 144,000 as spiritual Israel, which inter- 
pretation neither of the authorities just quoted accept and we cannot see 
therefore how they can consistently maintain their position. 


Ver. 5. “not kill them’’,—i. e., the ungodly, the unsealed. 


“five months’ ,—The ordinary time during the year in which locusts 
continue their ravages. (A. F. D. Ew. Ei. Ca. Dus.) 

“their torment’’,—i. e., the torment of the sufferers (A. F.), and 

not of the locusts (Dus.), it being the objective and not the subjective. 


Ver. 6. “seek death... desire to dte’’,—1. e., because of the excru- 
ciating pain of these tormenting locusts. “The word really means to 
“vehemently desire.’ 


Ver. 7. “like unto horses’’,—This resemblance has often been 
noted by travelers and is especially true when the horse is equipped for 
war. 

“crowns like unto gold’’,—Dusterdieck refers this to the ragged ele- 
vation in the middle of the thorax, while Ewald refers it to the antennae; 
but perhaps the best explanation is that of Alford, who says it refers to 
“the crown-shaped fillet of the locust’s head resembling gold in material 


597 


‘THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


just as the wings of some of the beetle tribe might be said to blaze with 
gold and gems.”’ 


“as men’s faces’’,—Hengstenberg says this refers actually to faces of 
men. ‘This would be true if they were actually human soldiers; but the 
text says only “‘as the faces of men’’. Attention has been called to the fact 
that the head of a locust has actually a faint resemblance to the human 
profile, which resemblance was even more noticeable in the case of these 
supernatural locusts. (A. D. Zu. Ew. Dus.) 


Ver. 8. “hair as the hair of women’’,—An Arabic proverb com- 
pares the antennae of locusts to the hair of girls. Ewald refers it to the 
hair on their legs or bodies. “hese might be acceptable explanations, but 
it belongs rather to the supernatural portion of our description. 


“teeth of ltons’’,—Illustrating their desolating voraciousness, the 
teeth being rather to terrify than to bite. It is, however, another purely 
graphic feature and does not apply to the plague to be inflicted. (A. Dus.) 
(See Joel 1.6.) The Allegorists (Ca.) say the teeth refer to the false 
doctrines with which heretics have lacerated the orthodox Church. 


Ver. 9. “‘as it were breastplates of tron’’,—The plate which forms 
the thorax, stronger than that of the natural locust, being as of iron. (A. 
Lok wus,) 


“as the sound of the chartots of many horses’’,—The natural locusts 
in their flight make a most fearful noise, and the reference here is to the 
mingled sound of chariot wheels and the hoofs of the horses, the chariots 
being regarded as appendages to the horses. 


Ver. 10. “‘tatls tke unto scorptons’’,—Another difference between 
natural and demoniacal locusts. It is not that the tails themselves are like 
unto scorpions (B. Hen., with an appeal to verse 19), but that they have 
tails like unto scorpion tails. Gate ke Bice) 


Ver. 11. “‘angel of the abyss’’,—Hardly Satan (F. Eb. Ca. Fors 
nor the Antichrist. (Pet.) Some think him the same as the star in verse 
(Hen. Wei.) We rather think of him as one of the chiefs among Satan’s 
angels and who has special charge over the abyss. (B. A. D. Ew. Dus. 
Weid.) His name is the Hebrew word for ‘destruction’, namely ““Abad- 
don’’, the Greek equivalent for which is ‘“‘Apollyon’’, which comes from 
the word meaning “‘to destroy’, i. e., the Destroyer. His name is the place 
of destruction personified. With the Jew, Abaddon is the lowest place 
in hell. It designates in the Old Testament the kingdom of destruction 
or corruption in a local sense, and so the angel who is the personal repre- 
sentative of the place is given the name. 


The Preterist School refers this plague of the locusts to the Roman 
wars in Judea (Gro. Wet. Her.), the ‘‘fallen star’ being the demon Nero. 


The Allegorists make the locusts heretics raging against the orthodox, 
of the Zealots of the Jewish war. 


The Spiritualist system of interpretation says that the woe is obvious- 
ly spiritual and cannot find its fulfillment in mere wars or calamities of 
any kind; that the woe falls upon the whole world but that it is not 
allowed to affect the redeemed Church. 


598 








THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Alford of the Contemporaneous Historical School says, “‘There is an 
endless babble of allegorical and historical interpretation of these locusts 
from the pit. The most that we can say of their import is that they belong 
to a series of judgments on the ungodly which will immediately precede 
the second advent of our Lord; that the various mysterious particulars of 
the vision will no doubt clear themselves up to the Church of God when 
the time of its fulfillment arrives; but that no such clearing up has yet 
taken place, a very few hours of research among histories of Apocalyptical 
interpretation will serve to convince any reader who is not himself the 
servant of a preconceived system.” 

The Consecutive Historical School in general refers it to the ravages 
of Mohammedanism, the Saracens or Arabs out of Arabia, that part of 
the earth which their devastations covered being the eastern part of the 
Roman empire. (N. Me. El. Wor. Bar. Will. Dodd. Dau. Scot. Keith. 
Faber. Frere.) The locust itself, Elliott contends, is peculiarly Arabic, 
while each part in the description of these strangely constructed locusts was 
peculiarly figurative of the Arabs, even to the beard which he supposes to 
belong to the faces which were “‘as the faces of men’’. ‘The abyss, he 
thinks, signifies the prison-place of evil spirits, and it is figurative of the 
false religion of Mohammedanism, and it was out of this, after embracing 
Islamism, that the Arabian (Saracen) hordes burst forth in fury on 
Roman Christendom. 


Elliott declares it to have been a peculiarity of the Saracens that they 
did not destroy the trees or any green thing. [hey were only to torment 
and not to kill or annihilate politically Roman Christendom and this 
Elliott declares to have been true of them because of the many checks given 
them in their career of devastation and destruction. ‘The five months, or 
150 days he interprets as 150 years, according to the year-day theory, and 
finds this time as fixed between Mohammed's public opening of his mission 
A. D. 612 and the removal of the Caliphate to Bagdad in A. D. 762. 


‘That there is a remarkable parallelism between this prediction and 
the rise and progress of the Mohammedan power the candid student must 
admit. Even Kelly, a staunch Futurist, admits the interpretation to be 
well founded. ‘The difficulty lies, however, in this,’’ says Moorehead, 

“that the Woe Trumpets sound at the time of the end, in Daniel’s Seven- 
tieth Week, and hence events which occurred a thousand years ago cannot 
possibly exhaust this mighty prophecy. They adumbrate it, but are not 
its complete fulfillment.”’ 


The fact that in these wars as waged by the Saracens many of the 
saints, the sealed ones, were made to suffer and were killed weighs heavily 
against this view, as it likewise does against the allegorical view. 

Of the Futurists some think the locusts symbolize evil spirits, demons 
(Gab.), while others think that literal locusts are intended. (DeBurgh.) 
Moorehead takes the locusts as the symbol of an invading army, even as 
does Elliott, although the former places the event in the time of the end. 
This invading host he thinks identical with Ezekiel’s Gog, prince of Rosh, 
and suggests that Russia will have the chief part in this invasion supported 
by swarms of other peoples, animated by a satanic spirit and filled with 
the fury of demons. Hebart looks for the fulfillment in the future appear- 
ance of just such locusts. He says, ‘““The fact that such creatures have never 
yet been seen ought not make us conclude that they never can or never will 


599 


(VHETREVELATIONSOR JOHN 


come. In the last times many things until then unheard of shall come to 
pass—much hitherto unseen shall greet mortal eyes.’’ Dusterdieck remarks, 
“He who like Hebart looks for the literal fulfillment of all these visions, 
expecting for instance the actual appearance of the locusts described, cer- 
tainly does more justice to the text than does the allegorist.”’ 


If the Futurist explanation be adopted there is no good reason why 
the literal interpretation of Hebart and DeBurgh should not be accepted, 
although the view of Gaebelein and others, who see in the locusts only 
symbols of demon powers might appear to be attended with less difficulty. 


13 And the sixth angel sounded, and 
I heard *a voice from the horns of the 
golden altar which is before God, 14 
one saying to the sixth angel that had 
the trumpet, Loose the four angels that 
are bound at the great river Euphrates. 
15 And the four angels were loosed, 
that had been prepared for the hour 
and day and month and year, that they 
should kill the third part of men. 16 
And the number of the armies of the 
horsemen was twice ten thousand times 
ten thousand: I heard the number of 
them. 17 And thus I saw the horses 
in the vision, and them that sat on 
them, having breastplates as of fire and 
of hyacinth and of brimstone: and the 
heads of the horses are as the heads of 
lions; and out of their mouths pro- 


ceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone. 
18 By these three plagues was the third 
part of men killed, by the fire and the 
smoke and the brimstone, which pro- 
ceeded out of their mouths. 19 For 
the power of the horses is in their 
mouth, and in their tails: for their tails 
are like unto serpents, and have heads; 
and with them they hurt. 20 And the 
rest of mankind, who were not killed 
with these plagues, repented not of the 
works of their hands, that they should 
not worship demons, and the idols of 
gold, ‘and of silver, and of brass, and 
of stone, and of wood; which can 
neither see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 and 
they repented not of their murders, nor 
of their sorceries, nor of their fornica- 
tion, nor of their thefts. 


1Gr. one voice 


Vers. 13-21. 


Ver. 13. “‘golden altar’’,—The same as in Chaps. 6.9 and 8.3 


“a voice’,—The voice probably proceeded from the altar itself 
(Chap. 16.7) and the command to the angel to loose the four angels is 
the result of the prayers of the saints offered on this altar, and it is repre- 
sented as uttering the cry of vengeance for the blood shed on it (Chap. 
6.9), i. e., the answer to the prayers bringing down the fiery judgments. 
(A. D. F. Eb. Bl. Kli. Hof. Hen. Dus.) Literally it is ‘‘one voice’, but 
this is not to be interpreted as “‘the four horns giving forth simultaneously 
one and the same voice’’ (Hen.), because not only does the “‘four’’ not 
belong to the text, but the sense itself is forced and feeble. 


‘THE SIXTH TRUMPET JUDGMENT. 


Ver. 14. Alford rightly says that this sixth angel is not necessarily 
by the text made the active agent in the loosing of the four angels. It 
says ‘‘they were loosed,”’ and the sixth angel may have been addressed only 
as the herald and the representative of what was to take place. 


“the four angels’’,—These four angels are hardly to be identified 
with the four angels of Chap. 7.1-3 (El. Wor. Hei.), because their mission 
and their locality are altogether different. Hengstenberg and others (D. 
Dus.) would have us believe that the word “‘four’’ indicates perhaps that 
the army is to be led on all four sides of the earth. 

Some say they are good angels (Hen. Wor.), but it is far better to 
think of them as evil angels, as seen from the fact of their being bound 
and their leading an infernal army, and also from their position, i. e., on 


600 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


the Euphrates. (B. Be. Ew. Eb. St. Dus. Will. Weid. Stern.) Moorehead 
. thinks they may refer merely to the providential restraints of armed forces 
from the east. 


“Euphrates’’,—Whence all the chastisements of Israel have always 
come. ‘Todd calls our attention to the fact that ‘‘it was the almost uni- 
versal opinion of the ancients that Antichrist was to arise from this 
region”’, 

Dusterdieck maintains that the river cannot be taken literally because 
the rest of the vision, the army, etc., must be taken mystically. But this 
is a mistake. In Psalms 88.8 the vine, boughs and branches are of course 
mystical, while Egypt, the sea and the river are literal: Just so here there 
is nothing to prevent the Euphrates being taken literally, as Alford says, 
even though the army and the angels be taken mystically. 


The Preterists refer this of course to the army of Titus against Jeru- 
salem. (Ei. Gro. Wet. Her. Hei.) 

Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School, taking the Euphrates 
literally, of course, refers this Sixth Trumpet to the invasion of the Turk- 
man power which dwelt beyond the Euphrates, the “third part of men’’ 
referring to the Grecian Empire as at that time (about A. D. 1055) consti- 
tuting one of the third parts of the Roman world. (Thus also V. N. Me. 
Dau. Dodd. Faber, Forbes, Keith and others.) 


The Futurists for the most part refer the army not to a human but 
to an infernal host constrained to work out God’s will during the days 
of the Great Tribulation. (F. Dus. Weid.) 


Moorehead, however, says, ‘“This great army is human, and not a 
countless multitude of evil spirits, as some think. It may be the imperial 
army of the Antichrist and possibly consist mainly of Mohammedans. 
There is a parallelism between this prediction and the interpretation of 
Elliott, but if the invasion of western Asia by the Turks be conceded to 
be an accomplishment of the vision, it was but a partial and anticipatory 
one, because the vision belongs specifically to the time of the end.”’ 

Ver. 15. “for the hour’’, etc.,—1. e., appointed by God. Only one 
article is used, and by many it is taken as referring to the fixed hour in the 
fixed day in the fixed month in the fixed year, this very hour being deter- 
mined by God. (V. St. Dau. Hei.) 


Elliott contends that these time terms must be aggregated together and 
so signify a continuous period, namely, the interval between the loosing of 
the angels and their accomplishment of the stated purpose of their loosing, 
viz., to slay the third part of men, the period from A. D. 1055 to the 
capture of Constantinople by the Turks and the fall of the Grecian Empire, 
namely A. D. 1453, this time period being worked out on the year-day 
system. 

“kill the third part of men’’,—Elliott, as we have seen, refers this 
to the eastern part of the Roman Empire, the Grecian division. Others 
take it in what is seemingly its more natural sense that one-third of those 
who dwell upon the earth (Chap. 8.13), the ungodly, shall perish, as 
previously a third of the trees, ships and creatures were destroyed. 

Ver. 16. “twice ten thousand times ten thousand’’,—1. e., two 
hundred million. Hengstenberg sees here only an allegorical collective 
designation of all armies. 


601 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Dusterdieck has something to say here worthy of thoughtful con- 
sideration. He says that John uses the Euphrates in a schematical way, 
it being in the Old Testament the place from whence the plagues came 
upon Israel, and so John works this idea into his scheme, the local desig- 
nation, as Hengstenberg says, ‘‘being only a seeming one’. So here Dus- 
terdieck thinks the number-is schematical, the army appearing in a super- 
natural numerical quantity and denoting nothing definite. 

Elliott thinks it expressive merely of large numbers and refers it of 
course to the soldiers and especially the horsemen of the Turks and Tartars, 
who he says, by the way, had the custom of using the term myriads in the 
numbering of their forces. 

Beck and others interpret this immense army of a future literal army 
and explain it by a universal war involving all races of men. 

Petingill of the Futurists says it refers to the nations of the world 
gathered against Israel to cut them off from national existence. 

“IT heard’’,—through the voice of prophecy. 


Ver. 17. “tn the viston’’,—Added not to show that the things 
were merely seen (Hen.) and that the present vision is merely allegorical 
(B. L. Hen.), but doubtless because what has thus far been made known 
in the Sixth Trumpet vision has been heard. (A. Dus.) 

“‘breastplates’’,—Referred by some (L. B. D. Bl. Ew. Heb.) to the 
riders only; but rightly by others (A. Eb. Zu. Dus. Weid.) to both horses 
and riders, although the horses are the main objects of interest and not 
the riders. 

“fire’,—1. e., fiery red. 

“hyacinth”, —i. e., our dark blue iris. 

“brimstone” ,—i. e., yellow, sulphur-colored. 

These correspond to the fire, smoke and brimstone proceeding out 
of the mouths of the horses. 

Elliott says these descriptions suit well the uniforms of the Turkish 
army. 


“as the heads of lions’’,—The reference here is possibly to the size 
of the mouths and the length of the manes; a definite monstrous appearance 
rather than the idea of ferocity, though Elliott contends for the latter as 
characteristic of the Turkish armies. 


Ver. 18. Elliott refers the fire, the smoke and the brimstone of this 


verse to the cannon as used by the Turks in their siege of Constantinople. 
Others of the Futurist School refer them to three plagues of the latter 
times. Weidner has remarked, and seemingly well, ‘‘that all this imagery 
describes a judgment of plagues coming upon the earth in connection with 
the days of the Antichrist is plainly evident, but to attempt to set forth 
the exact character of the plagues would be the height of presumption, 
because nobody. knows.”’ 


Ver. 19. “‘the power of the horses is in their mouths’, 1. e., as seen 
in the previous verse. 

“and with them they hurt’’,—1i. e., by their fangs, their bite. 

The fact that these horse-tails have ‘heads’ Elliott thinks is sugges- 
tive of rulers, and in these tails he sees the horse-tails borne by the Turkish 


602 


EE a 


ib REVEBA TION: OFSJOHN 





Shahs as symbols of authority. But what then becomes of their serpent- 
like character? Alford says of this view of Elliott’s, ‘‘I venture to say that 
a more self-condemnatory explanation was never broached than this of 
the horse-tails of the Shahs.”’ 


Among other allegorical and historical interpretations of these tails 
the following may be mentioned, though, like Elliott’s, to one’s amuse- 
ment rather than to his edification. 


1. Grotius, who as a Preterist connects the whole thing with the 
destruction of Jerusalem, sees in them the foot soldiers on the 
backs of the horses behind the horsemen. 


2. Volkmar refers them merely to the “kicking back’’ of the horses. 


3. Bengel sees in them the turning back of the Turkish cavalry to the 
sudden detriment of their pursuers. 


4. Hengstenberg finds in the expression the malignity of war symbol- 
ized. 


Many, both of the Contemporaneous Historical and of the Futurist 
Schools of interpretation, who contend for the parallelism of this Sixth 
Trumpet with the Sixth Seal, would have us believe that events are 
intended immediately preceding the Second Coming of Christ to destroy 
the Antichrist. 


Ver. 20. “‘repented not’’,—This and the following words show 
that ungodly men are meant. 


“the work of their hands’’,—The reference is more particularly to 
the idols which their hands had made (A. F. B. Ew. Hen. Dus.) rather 
than to the entire course of their life (D. Eb.). (See Acts 7.41 and Deut. 
4,28.) 


Ver. 21. The chief sins of the heathen. ‘‘It is clear,’ says Alford, 
“that he is thinking of the heathen (A. Dus.), and even thus will the 
heathen world continue in the main until the second coming of Christ of 
which these judgments are the immediate precursors.’’ (See Gal. 5.20.) 

Ludhardt says, ‘“‘Such moral corruption will occur at the end in sp:te 
of advanced culture; for culture of itself does not promote morality, but as 
history teaches, may be employed as well in the service of ungodliness and 
immorality.” 

Elliott, of course, refers verses 20 and 21 to the religious state during 
the time between the fall of Constantinople and the Reformation. 


CHAPTER TEN 


1 And I saw another strong angel the seven thunders uttered their voices, | 
coming down out of heaven, arrayed was about to write: and I[ heard a voice 
with a cloud; and the rainbow was from heaven saying, Seal up the things 
upon his head, and his face was as the which the seven thunders uttered, and 
sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; 2 and write them not. 5 And the angel that 
he had in his hand a little book open: I saw standing upon the sea and upon 
and he set his right foot upon the sea, the earth lifted up his right hand to 
and his left upon the erath; 3 and he heaven, 6 and sware by him that liveth 
cried with a great voice, as a lion, roar- “for ever and ever, who created the 
eth: and when he cried, the seven thun- heaven and the things that are therein, 
ders uttered their voices. 4 And when and the earth and the things that are 


1Gr. unto the ages of the ages 


603 


THE,REVELATION: OF JOHN 


therein, and the sea and the things that 
are therein, that there shall be “delay no 
longer; 7 but in the days of the voice 
of the seventh angel, when he is about 
to sound, then is finished the mystery 
of God, according to the good tidings 
which he declared to his “servants the 
prophets. 

8 And the voice which I heard from 
heaven, I heard it again speaking with 
me, and saying, Go, take the book 
which is open in the hand of the angel 
that standeth upon the sea and upon 
the earth. 


2Or, time 


9 And I went unto the angel, saying 
unto him that he should give me the 
little book. 
Take it, and eat it up; and it shall 
make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth 
it shall be sweet as honey. 10 And I 
took the little book out of the angel’s 
hand, and ate it up; and it was in my 
mouth sweet as honey: and when I had 
eaten it, my belly was made bitter. 11 
And they say unto me, Thou must 
prophesy again “over many peoples and 
nations and tongues and kings. 

4Or, concerning 


And he saith unto me,. 


3Gr. dondservants 
Vers. 1-11. THE STRONG ANGEL AND THE LITTLE BOOK. 


Ver. 1. As after the Sixth Seal, so after the Sixth Trumpet we seem 
to have a passage containing two episodes, a parenthetical passage contain- 
ing the incidents of the little book and the two witnesses. (Chap. 10.1 to 
Chap. 11.14.) 


“another strong angel’’,—Many refer this, and not without consid- 
erable propriety, to Christ Himself. (V. Be. Me. Ze. El. Ar. Al. Ca. Hen. 
Gab. Pet.) But not only is the very style of the oath seemingly inappro- 
priate to Christ, but throughout the book when angels are mentioned it 
is to ministers of the divine purpose that reference is made, and when John 
means to indicate the Son of God he does so in plain and unmistakable 
language. 


Others say the reference is to an angelic image of Christ (L. Wor.). 
But the text says “‘angel’’, and further than this we need not go, and he is 
therefore to be thought of as an angelic minister of Christ. (A. PF. B. D. 
Dus. Lap. Sad. And. Sim. Weid. Boyd. Carp. Stern.) 


“another’’,—This is doubtless to distinguish him from the strong 
angel of Chap. 5.2, who also had a book (A. B. F. Eb. Dus.), and not 
from the foregoing angels of the trumpets (D. L. Hen.). 

“arrayed with a cloud’’,—1. e., as a messenger of divine judgment. 
(A. F. Eb. Dus. Hen.) 

“the rainbow was upon his head’’,—Notice the definite article “‘the’’, 
1. e., the well-known rainbow, the emblem of covenant mercy to God’s 
people. | 

“his face was as the sun’’,—i. e., indicating the divine glory with 
which he was invested. 


“his feet as pillars of fire’, Another emblem of judgment, the whole 


of the symbols betokening perhaps judgment tempered with mercy. 


Ver. 2. “in his hand’’,—Doubtless the left hand. (See vetse 5.) 


“a little book’’,—1i. e., a little scroll. It is called “little’’ perhaps in 
comparison with the larger book in Chap. 5 (A. F. Ew. Dus.), rather 


than with reference to John’s eating it (Ei.), or in comparison to the — 


size of the angel (B.). 
“and he set his right foot’’, etc..—The whole imagery would seem to 
represent the glory and majesty of Christ whose messenger the angel is. 


604 


OE!” — OE Ee a, 


WHE REVEUVATION; OF: JOHN 


“Sea and earth,’’ says Alford, ‘‘are to be taken literally, and both are by 
this action claimed as belonging to Christ, and indicate that the tidings to 
be brought are for the whole earth, and that the power of God in judgment 
extends over the whole world.’ John was no doubt thinking of the 
Mediterranean and of Palestine. 


Ver. 3. “‘and he cried’’,——What, the text in no way indicates. Hard- 
ly, as Bengel says, what is described in verse 6. 


“with a great voice as a lion roareth’’,—Representing perhaps the 
threatening character of the revelation. 


“the seven thunders uttered their voices’’,Wordsworth calls the use 
of the article “‘the’’ here the prophetic use of the article, i. e., the thunders, 
of which more hereafter. Ewald’s idea that it means all the thunders of 
heaven, i. e., the whole heavens exclaimed with a thunderous voice, is 
without foundation. I think perhaps the better explanation is that by 
a part of the Apocalyptic symbolism they are marked by the article as 
well-known, even as the seven stars, the seven churches, the seven seals, 
the seven trumpets and the seven vials. 


Ver. 4. “I was about to write’’,—1. e., in obedience to the command 
of Chap. 1.19. 


“and I heard a voice’’,—The voice of Christ, says Bengel, while 
others claim it to have been the voice of the angel of Chap. 1.1. At best 
it is but a conjecture. 


“from heaven’’,—This does not compel us to think of John as being 
on the earth (D. L.) any more than does verse 1. 


“seal up the things’’,—i. e., by not writing them. 


The Preterists see in the entire episode a prelude to the destruction of 
Jerusalem. 


Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School says that the divine inter- 
vention portrayed by the opening clause of this chapter refers to the Refor- 
mation of the sixteenth century as inaugurated by Martin Luther, that the 
“strong angel’ of verse 1 is Christ, and that the “little book’”’ is the open 
Bible through the knowledge of which the Reformation was brought 
about. 


Others of the same school with Elliott (V. N. Me. New. Faber, Frere, 
Cuninghame) refer the little book, like that in the commencement of the 
prophecy in Chap. 5, to another prophetic roll, the same being called a 
“little book’”’ because it contained but a small portion of God’s purposes, 
and it was “‘open’’ because God was ready to disclose its contents. 


What did the voices of the seven thunders utter? Whether the thun- 
ders spoke as one voice or whether each thunder spoke its own special voice 
an intelligible revelation was brought to John thereby because he under- 
stood them and was about to write them for others. That the utterances 
were of fearful import is implied by the thunder. Many think it is vain 
to inquire what the voices uttered because no intimation whatsoever is 
given in the text. There are, however, many conjectures: | 

Glan be peaises of God. ~(B:) 

(2) The seven Crusades. (V.) 

(3) Emblems or warnings of the Seven Vials of the Seventh Trum- 

pet. (Me. Cuninghame, Bickersteth.) 


605 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


(4) Seven wars between the Reformation and the sounding of the 


Seventh Trumpet at the French Revolution. (Keith.) 


(5) The echo of laws confirmatory of the Protestant doctrine of 


seven kingdoms that embraced the Reformation. (Dau.) 

(6) The blessed mystery of the new world. (Hof.) 

(7) What is announced later concerning the destruction of the 
enemies of God. (Hen.) 


(8) Seven future acts of God to occur before the beginning of the — 


Seventh Trumpet. (Eb.) 
(9) The Papal Anathemas during the Reformation, (El.) 


This last conjecture brings before us Elliott’s explanation of the 
“seven thunders’ themselves. “These he thinks of as referring to the Papal 
Antichrist, which had arisen in the Church visible even before the days 
of the Reformation, especially in Pope Leo the Tenth, who had assumed 
for himself and had ascribed to him in various ways all the attributes of 
the mighty angel Christ as mentioned in the three previous verses, the 
vision before us being that of Christ coming down to fight against th’s 
_ Antichrist and to claim this world as His own. Alford remarks that “‘no 

interpretation could be more unfortunate—none more thoroughly condem- 


natory of the system which is compelled to have recourse to it. For, merely — 


to insist upon one point—if it were so, then the Apostle sealed the utter- 
ances in vain, for we all know what those thunders (the papal anathemas) 
have uttered.” 


Why was John forbidden to write what the seven thunders uttered? — 


It was not that they exceeded human comprehension (Ew.), because John 
understood them and was about to write them for others; not because. 
thereby the mysteriousness was increased (D.). The fact is that God ~ 
has given no account as to why. Of course we may readily surmise the — 


effect (and this may have also been in the aim), viz., the Godly are kept — 


from brooding over the evils to come, and the ungodly will know that all 
the terrors of the judgment are not yet exhausted. 


Ver. 6. Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School thinks that as — 


verses ] and 2 gave to Luther and the Reformers a discovery of Christ and 
verse 3 gave to them a discovery of the Antichrist, so what now follows 
is a further revelation to them, in due chronological order of sequence, 


signifying further advance and progress in the Reformation. They are | 


now shown, he says, that the ill-fated time of the Antichrist’s final fore- 


doomed destruction, and therewith also the coming of Christ's kingdom, ~ 


and the ending of God’s great prophetic mystery, is near at hand, though 
indeed not yet fully come. 

“him that liveth forever and ever’’,—The Almighty God, as Creator, 
who is to consummate the mystery of God, as noted in verse 7. 

“there shall be delay no longer’’,—Not as the Authorized Version 
implies, that time shall end and eternity begin (Be. Are. Oec. Will.), 
which view is refuted by the words of the first half of verse 7, and further- 
more by the fact that the next Trumpet was to issue in the reign of Christ 
and His saints. 

The words according to many authorities (A. F. V. D. Ca. Ew. Bi. 
Gro. Dus. Lap. Hen. Moor. et al.) express the immediate consummation 


of what in the next verse is called the fulfillment of the mystery of God. — 


606 


: 
: 
7 





| 


‘(PHEVREVEBATION* OF JOHN 


And yet these authorities are by no means agreed as to the point of time 
‘involved. Hengstenberg says it means that no time is to intervene between 
the sound of the Seventh Trumpet and the fulfillment of the prophetic 
oracles. But verse 7 says that the fulfillment of the mystery of God, the 
fulfillment of all prophecy, is to occur just at the time of the Seventh 
Trumpet. The real meaning is doubtless that no more time is to intervene 
between the present point of time and the Seventh Trumpet which ushered 
in the finishing of the mystery of God. (A. Eb. Dus. Gab. Wor. Weid.) 
The appointed time of delay is at an end. The martyrs have no longer 
to wait for the answer to their prayers (Chap. 6.11); the hour for ven- 
geance has struck. | 


Elliott translates, ‘‘there shall be time no longer extended,’ and of 
course means thereby that time shall no longer be extended to the myster- 
ious dispensation of God which has so far permitted the reign of evil includ- 
ing the power of the Papal Antichrist’s mock thunders, the Seventh Trum- 
pet’s era being its fixed determined limit. 


Ver. 7. When the Seventh Trumpet sounds, the completed time of 
the fulfillment is, as Alford says, simultaneous with his blowing, so that 
it is properly said that the fulfillment comes in the ‘‘days when he is about 
to sound”’, 


“in the days’,—Bengel says ‘that the angel is heard continuously 
throughout these days. But this conflicts with the analogy of the other 
trumpet voices. ‘here seems to be in the expression an intermingling of 
the fulfillment with the prophecy, the standpoint of the vision not being 
strictly preserved. 


As Weidner says, ““The moment that the Seventh Trumpet shall 
sound the mystery shall be made clear, for the fulfillment comes in the 
days when it sounds.” 


“the mystery of God’’,—The meaning of this phrase is determined 
by the fact of its fulfillment being placed in the time of the Seventh Trum- 
pet, and by the fact that it is a communication of a message of joy. Hence 
all of the following are correct: The mystery of God’s scheme of redemp- 
tion (F.); The eschatological mystery of the world’s history (L.); The 
glorious completion of the divine kingdom (Dus.); The mystery of the 
‘kingdom as unfolded in the course of God’s dispensation (A.). Weidner 
tersely and with correctness says, ‘“This finishing of the mystery of God 
is the glorious consummation of God’s kingdom when the kingdoms of 
this world shall have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, 
when He shall reign forever and ever.’’ “The verse is anticipatory of Chap. 
11.15-18. 


Ver. 9. “And I went unto the angel’’,—1i. e., in idea, in vision, says 
Lange, who also conceives of John as now in the earth. Some think of 
him as leaving heaven and changing his standpoint of observation and so 
coming near to where the angel stood. (A. F. Dus.) 


Verses 8 to 11, Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School conceives 
to be the special commissioning by Christ (the angel holding the little 
book) of the ministers of the Reformation to preach His Gospel in various 
countries and languages, the Apostle John standing in the vision as the 


607 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


representative of these ministers, and the word “‘prophesy’’ being taken in 
the sense of preaching, proclaiming the Gospel. 

Alford of the Contemporaneous Historical School, as well as all the. 
Futurists, think of the “little book’’ not as the Bible or the New Testa- 
ment, but as another scroll of prophecy relating to the fulfillment of the 
mystery of God. 

“eat it up’’,—1i. e., as Bede says, ‘““Take into your inward parts as 
contained within the space of the heart.’’ (Jer. 15.16.) 

“bitter and sweet’’,—Different sensations of the one book in different 
parts of John’s body, says Alford. The reference is not therefore to differ- 
ent portions of the book, its sad and its joyous contents (Ew. Hei.) ; nor 
is it that the first bitterness leads afterwards to sweetness and joy (Her. 
Rink); nor that the bitterness indicates the persecution with which the 
preaching of John and the Church met; and the sweetness, his declaration 
of it to others (Be. Ar.). The right idea seems to be that the roll was 
sweet to the taste because he knew it to be the will of God, and the thought 
that God was to be glorified gave to him the sweetest pleasure, but as its 
contents were digested he was embittered with grief at the message of 
judgment to be announced. (F. V. D. A. Hen. Dus. Lap. Stern.) 


Ver. 11. “They say’’,—An indefinite expression for “‘it was said’, 
the speaker or speakers being left unknown. 

“Thou must prophesy again’ ,—This necessity is laid upon him by 

the will of God and not because of an inner subjective necessity caused by 
eating the book. 
“many peoples’’,—The inhabitants of the earth as before. (Chap. 
6.9.) . 
“again’’,—Not after returning from exile (Be. Orim.) ; nor in con- 
tradistinction to the old prophets (B.) ; nor as referring to the composition 
of John’s Gospel; nor as one of the two witnesses (Crav.); but perhaps, 
“as thou hast done before in writing the former part of the Apocalypse.” 
(A. L. D. F. Eb. Al. Hen. Gro. Dus.) He is to prophecy what he finds 
in the little book, which book relates to the fulfillment of the mystery of 
God, and which prophecy is given in that part of the Apocalypse which 
begins at Chap. 113-7 (A. B..D. Je, Ro BewAln Ewethb) Lapsahens 

There can be but little, if any, doubt but that the little book contains 
the mystery of God spoken of above. Practically all are agreed here but 
they do not by any means agree either as to the relation of the little book 
to the book of Chap. 5, or as to how much from Chap. 11 on is included 
in the little book. 

Weidner thinks the prophesying again of John begins with Chap. 
12 and goes on to the end of the Apocalypse. : 

Alford seems rightly to say, ‘““The contents of the little book cannot 
well be confined to Chap. 11.1-13, or we should not have had so solemn 
an inauguration of it, nor so wide-reaching an announcement of the duty 
of the Apostle consequent upon receipt of it.”’ 

There are four views as to the relation of this little book to the book 
ol Ghapea: 

1. The two books are identical. (Ze. Ca. Lap.) But John thus far 

has been prophesying on the ground of the book of Chap. 5 and 


608 


Whe REVELATION: OF JOHN 


now he is to begin anew, again, with the contents of the little 
book. This would seem to prove the books to be different. 


2. The two books have no relation at all. (A.) 


(a) The little book contains only Chap. 11.1-3 and _ this 
refers to the fate of Jerusalem. (Ew. Ei. Gro. Wet.) 

(b) The little book contains only Chap. 11.1-13 and this refers 
to judgments on the degenerate Church. (Hen.) ‘The fact 
that he is to prophesy concerning peoples and kings militates 
against (a) and (b). 

(c) The little book contains Chap. 11.1-13, including a refer- 
ence to Antichrist, announcing the conversion of Israel. (G.) 

(d) The little book contains the testimony of the two wit- 
nesses. (De Burgh.) 

(e) The little book contains all from Chap. 11 to the end of the 
Apocalypse. 


3. The little book ts the latter part of the book of Chap. II and 


contains: 


(a) Chap. 11.1-13, which refers to the calamities of the West- 
ern Church. The objection to (a) and (b) above holds 
also here. ) 

(b) Chap. 11 on to the end of the Apocalypse. (Dus.) 


4. The little book ts a repetition of the other book. ( Vol.) 


Either (e) under 2 or (b) under 3 is the proper view. They agree 
as to the contents of the little book but not in its relation to the book of 
Chap. 5. Alford argues that the book of Chap. 5 was not to be opened 
at all until the end; while Dusterdieck argues that it is inconceivable that 
the book of fate in Chap. 5 should contain nothing as to the fate of 
Jerusalem (Chap. 11), the degenerate Church. We incline to the view 
of Alford, (e) under 2. 


We are inclined to think the vision refers to that which is still future 
and that after the judgments announced by the first six trumpets have 
come to pass, the beginning of the final consummation, when Antichrist 
will be destroyed, will be ushered in, and the judgments which shall come 
upon the world in connection with this destruction and which are to mark 
the times of the Great Tribulation are accordingly to be conceived of as 
the contents of the little book. 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 


1 And there was given me a reed like "temple “leave without, and measure it 
unto a rod: ‘and one said, Rise, and not; for it hath been given unto the 
measure the “temple of God, and the ‘nations: and the holy city shall they 
altar, and them that worship therein. tread under foot forty and two months. 
2 And the court which is without the 

1Gr. saying 3Gr. cast without 
2Or, sanctuary 4Or, Gentiles 


Vers. 1,2. “THE SAINTS SET .APART FOR DELIVERANCE. 


__ Many regard this chapter as a compendium summary of and introduc- 
tion to the more detailed prophecies of the same events to come in Chaps. 


Ldetou 20 Ac. b...Weid.) 
609 


THE: REVELATION? OF? JOHN 


Alford remarks, ‘“We cannot understand this prophecy at all except 
in the light of those that follow, for it introduces by anticipation their 
dramatis personae.” 


Ver. 1. “And there was given me a reed’’,—Probably by the angel | 


of Chap. 10 (B.), or perhaps by Christ, who seems to be the speaker in 
verse 3, but by whom is left undetermined by the text. 

“and one satd’’,—literally, ‘‘saying’’. The giver of the reed is of 
course meant. 


“the temple of God’’,—The word is “‘naos’’ and it refers to that 
part of the temple which contains the sanctuary, namely the Holy Place 
and the Most Holy Place, i. e., the temple proper in distinction from the 
entire space of the outer courts. (Dus. Weid.) 


“and the altar’’,—Not the altar of Burnt Offering which stood out- 
side in front of the Holy Place (V. El. Bar. Gro. Hen.), but the altar 
of Incense which stood in the Holy Place not far from the entrance into 
the Most Holy Place. (F. A. L. Ei. Eb. Hei. Dus. Stern. ) 

“and them that worship therein’’,—i. e., in the ‘‘naos’’, the temple. 

Dusterdieck rightly says, ‘““That John beholds believers in the Most 
Holy Place, otherwise open to priests only, is due to his knowledge of the 
priestly character of believers.”’ 

Others, however, refer the preposition “‘in’’ to its nearest noun, 
“altar,”’ and render this word ‘‘altar court’, and thus make “‘them that 
worship therein’ emblematic of the Church on earth, while the Most Holy 
and its blessed company represent that part of the Church already gathered 
into Paradise, and by the “court without’’ is symbolized the apostate 
Roman Catholic Church. 

“Rise and measure’’,—What is meant by this measuring? 


The things are measured as a sign that they are not to be devoted 
to destruction, while the outer court, not being measured, is indicative of 


destruction. The action which John is commanded to perform is of course 


a symbolic one, the ‘“‘naos’’ being symbolical of worshipping believers and 
the outer court symbolical of the unbelieving and the apostate. 


Ver. 2... “the court which ts without’’,—Not the court of the Gen- 
tiles only (V. El. Zu. Ew.), but all outside the temple (naos) as con- 
ceived in verse 1, i. e., both the court of the Gentiles and the court of Burnt 
Offering, (FSA Ds Ebe Duss bens) 

“leave without’’,—i. e., out of your measurements. The literal is 
“cast, out’, 1, é., reckoned as’unhallowed. (F. A.-L. Bs De Ei Bbw 
Hen. ) 

“tt hath been given’’,—i. e., by divine appointment. (A. F. Dus.) 

“anto the nations’’,—1i. e., unto the Gentiles. Not that the Gentiles 
shall one day worship there (B.), nor that the altar of Burnt Offering 
standing in the outer court is thereby to be maintained (D.), but as the 
next clause indicates, that together with the Holy City it shall be trodden 
under foot. 

“forty and two months’ ,—This and the 1260 days and the three and 
one-half years seem equal enough and doubtless are periods of the same 
length, although Alford rightly remarks that we have no right to suppose 


610 


EE a 


MHENREVEVATION OF JOHN 


them in any two given cases to be identical unless so required by the con- 
_ text. While of equal length, no doubt they may refer to different periods 
of time. There are three main views as to the period of time here referred to: 


1. That it is to be taken symbolically of ‘‘the times of the Gentiles’, 
whether their beginning be dated from the Babylonish captivity 
or from the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and continuing 
down to the Second Coming of Christ. 


2. ‘That each day represents a year and we have therefore 1260 years. 
This is the view of nearly all the supporters of the Consecutive 
Historical School, each one, however, of whom has a different 
beginning time for the 1260 years, it being impossible for any 
two of them to agree, Joachin beginning with A. D. 1; Mede 
with A. D. 455; Cuninghame with A. D. 533; Bengel with 
A. D. 576; Fleming with A. D. 606; Elliott with A. D. 608; 
Melancthon with A. D. 660; Guinness with A. D. 672; Fysh 
Witness e/ee, CCC! 


3. That the period is to be interpreted literally and that it refers to 
the last half of the Seventieth Week, the days of the Antichrist. 


It will be seen therefore that the answer to the question as to who are 
the believers and unbelievers, as typified by the temple and the outer court, 
must depend upon the school of interpretation one is inclined to follow in 
seeking an explanation of the entire passage. 


The Consecutive Historical School, especially Elliott, refers the pas- 
sage to the Reformation and the causes which led to it. “The reed he makes 
a type of the authority given to Luther and the Reformers by Elector John. 
The measuring, he says, was the ecclesiastically constituting of what was 
called the Evangelic Church, the introduction of new forms of worship 
after the principles: laid down by Luther, and the non-measuring was the 
removal from the Church and church worship of Roman images and super- 
stitions and the exclusion, as heathen-like and apostate, of the Church of 
Rome herself. 


The Contemporaneous Historical School, especially Alford, says the 
whole expression, “‘the temple, the altar and them that worship therein” 
is to be taken symbolically, and refers to ‘‘the Church of the elect servants 
of God (I Cor. 3.16,17), partakers of the first resurrection, the Church of 
the first born’. ‘“These,’’ he says, ‘“‘are they who, properly speaking, 
alone are measured, i. e., estimated again and again in this book by tale and 
by number.’ ‘This measuring, he says, consists in the distinction which 
John so accurately draws in the subsequent chapters between God's ser- 
vants and those who bear the mark of the Beast. Noticing that nothing 
further is said of the measuring, Alford remarks, “‘Either then it never took 
place (which is inconceivable), or it did take place and no result is com- 
municated to us (which is hardly probable), or the result of it is found 
in the subsequent prophecies in the minute and careful distinctions between 
the servants of God and those who receive the mark of the Beast.’’ The 
nations to whom the outer court is given, are, he says, ‘‘those outside of 
the elect Church of the first-born over whom the Millennial reign of Chap. 
20 shall be exercised, the dwellers on the earth, the material upon which 
judgment and mercy are severally exercised in the rest of the book.’’ As 
to the periods of time mentioned Alford says, ‘‘No solution at all 


611 


THER EVEL ATION ORS ORM 


approaching to a satisfactory one has ever yet been given of any one of 
these periods. This being so, my principle is to regard them as still among 
the things unknown to the Church and awaiting their elucidation by the 
event. 
tures furnish, and by the light which history, in its main and obvious 
salient events, has thrown on Scripture; and when those fail us, to be 
content to confess our ignorance. An Apocalyptic commentary which 
explains everything is self-convicted of error.”’ 

The Futurists take the time periods literally and refer the worshipping 
believers to the faithful remnant of the Jews, as symbolized by the temple, 
and the unbelievers to the apostate Jews and the Gentiles, the time in ques- 
tion being at the end during the days of the Seals, Trumpets and Vials, or 
more specifically during the last three and one-half years of the Seventieth 
Week of Daniel. 

Todd, who is a Futurist, advocates the teaching that Jerusalem will 
be inhabited again, the temple rebuilt, then the city sacked by the Gentiles, 
the outer.court of the temple seized and profaned while the sanctuary 
itself and a remnant of them that worship therein graciously preserved, 
says, ‘There is nothing impossible, nothing inconsistent with faith or 
reason, nothing which can furnish the smallest justification to us for de- 
parting from the natural meaning of the words.” 


Fausset, to whom the measuring stands parallel to the sealing of the 
elect of Israel, and who takes the measuring literally, says, ‘“The fact that 
the temple is distinguished from them that worship therein favors the view 
that the spiritual temple (believers) is not exclusively meant, but that the 
literal temple must also be meant. It shall be rebuilt on the return of 
the Jews to their land. The measuring then at once implies the exactness 
of the proportions of the temple to be restored and the definite completeness 
of the numbers of the Israelitish and Gentile elections.’’ He further says, 
“Literal Israel in Jerusalem and with the temple restored shall stand at 
the head of the elect Church. The sealed elect of Israel, the head of the 
elect Church, alone shall refuse Antichrist’s claims. These constitute the 
true sanctuary which is here measured, i. e., accurately marked and kept by 
God.” 

Thus also Godet, who takes those who worship in the sanctuary to 
be the body of faithful Jews who refuse to worship Antichrist at the time 
of his reigning in Jerusalem. 

We can ourselves see no good reason for departing from the literal 
interpretation of these periods of time. 


prophecy: and they have power over 
the waters to turn them into blood, and 


3 And I will give unto my two wit- 
nesses, and they shall prophesy a thou- 


It is our duty to feel our way by all the indications which Scrip- 


sand two hundred and threescore days, 
clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the 
two olive trees and the two ‘candle- 
sticks, standing before the Lord of the 
earth. 5 And if any man desireth to 
hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their 
mouth and devoureth their enemies; and 
if any man shall desire to hurt them, in 
this manner must he be killed. 6 These 
have the power to shut the heaven, that 
it rain not during the days of their 
1Gr. lampstands 


to smite the earth with every plague, as 
often as they shall desire. 7 And when 
they shall have finished their testimony, 


the beast that cometh up out of the 


abyss shall make war with them, and 
overcome them, and kill them. 8 And 
their “dead bodies lie in the street of the 
great city, which spiritually is called 
Sodom and Egypt, where also their 
Lord was crucified. 9 And from among 
the peoples and tribes and tongues and 
°Gr. carcase 





(PHESREVELCA TION OR JOHN 


nations do men look upon their “dead 
bodies three days and a half, and suffer 
not their dead bodies to be laid in a 
tomb. 10 And they that dwell on the 
earth rejoice over them, and make 
merry; and they shall send gifts one to 


the breath of life from God entered into 
them, and they stood upon their feet; 
and great fear fell upon them that be- 
held them. 12 And they heard a great 
voice from heaven saying unto them, 


another; because these two prophets tor- 
mented them that dwell on the earth. 
11 And after the three days and a half 


Vers. 3-12. 


Ver. 3. “And I will give’’,—What is given is declared by what 
follows, i. e., power and authority to prophesy. There is, therefore, no 
use to conjecture such objects as ‘‘consistency and wisdom”’ (Ly. Lap.), 
“the Holy Spirit’ (Bez.), “direction and power’ (D.). 


“my two witnesses’ ,—literally ‘“‘the two witnesses of me.” ‘The’ 
implies well-known witnesses, at least to John; ‘“‘me’’ has its reference 
in Christ, although Christ is not necessarily to be regarded as speaking 
(B. Eb. Hen.), but it is the same heavenly voice which has been speaking 
in the name of Christ (A. Dus.). ‘That it cannot be Christ Himself who 
here speaks is made plain by verse 8, where it is said, ‘‘where also their Lord 
was crucified.” The “‘witnesses’’ may be taken literally, i. e., two indi- 
‘vidual men, or symbolically as representing bodies of men who embody 
the principles and characteristics of the true witnesses here mentioned. The 
fact that they were said to be clothed in sackcloth strongly favors the 
literal interpretation, as Alford admits, and this fact also shows that they 
preached repentance and approaching judgment. If taken as individuals 
the reference to Moses and Elijah seems the best one (F. B. Be. Dus.), 
because of the character of miracles described and because they appeared 
with Christ at the transfiguration which fore-shadowed his coming Mil- 
lennium kingdom. Enoch was substituted for Moses to avoid making 
Moses die twice, since both witnesses are killed. 


Come up hither. And they went up 
into heaven in the cloud; and their 
enemies beheld them. 


THE Two WITNESSES. 


The early Church almost universally believed in the literal fulfillment 
of this prophecy just as the words are written. “They all accepted Elijah as 
one of the witnesses, and most thought the other to be Enoch, since it is 
said that these two alone of mankind had not tasted death. (Pet.) 


But the deeds of these two witnesses seem to link them more closely 
’ with Moses and Elijah than with Enoch and Elijah, and it has been said 
that the passing away of Moses was also miraculous, as was that of the 
other two. Most modern commentators take the characters as Moses and 
Elijah or at least of two prophets with miraculous powers similar to Moses 
and Elijah, which interpretation is probably the right one. 


The Allegorical interpretation says they are the Old and New Testa- 
ments, the fire coming out of their mouths is being fulfilled in the insults 
now being offered to the Two Testaments. (Tichonius, Frere, Irving.) 

The Consecutive Historical School makes them a long line of wit- 
nesses for Christ during the 1260 years of the Papal Antichrist preceding 
the Reformation, beginning about A. D. 533, their death signifies the 
entire cessation of such witnessing during the few years just before the 
Reformation, and the three and one-half years indicates exactly the time 
between the ninth session of the Lateran Council, May 5, 1514, and the 
posting of the ninety-five Theses on the Wittenberg cathedral door, Oct. 


613 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


31, 1517, their resurrection, the revival of the Gospel preaching by 
Luther and his associates, and their ascension the peace of Augsburg, 
1555. Wiedner, a Futurist, remarks, ‘‘Is it a wonder that the book of 
Revelation has fallen largely into disrepute and{ been regarded as an 
enigma, when such interpretations are seriously set forth and considered 
as bringing out the meaning of God’s word?”’ 


Moorehead, however, just as ardent a Futurist, says, ‘‘We have no 
good reason to reject this application of the prophecy as at least’a partial 
and proleptic fulfillment. But it does not meet all the facts. The wit- 
nesses beyond all question prosecute their ministry in Jerusalem (verse 8), 
and they appear just before the Seventh Trumpet sounds when. the con- 
summation is reached.”’ 


“a thousand two hundred and threescore days’’,—1260 days. This 
means no doubt they will prophesy daily during this period, which is here 
not to be identified with the forty-two months. The time of their prophe- 
sying is, according to the Futurist School, doubtless during the first half of 
the times of the Antichrist, while the forty-two months no doubt refer 
to the last half of this period. 


Ver. 4. “Two olive trees’’,—Lange says John has seen in the olive 
trees of Zech. 4 perfectly admissible types of New ‘Testament affairs. John 
has amplified the symbolism of Zechariah in the case of candlesticks, mak- 
ing two here instead of one there, ‘‘carrying it on,’ perhaps, as Alford 
says, ‘by the well known figure of light (two candlesticks) , as representing 
God's testifying servants.” 


They are called “‘oltve trees’’ because the energy and pores of the 
Holy Spirit rests upon them. (Gab.) 


Ver. 5. Elliott takes the statements of this and the following verse 
as figurative, the fire proceeding out of their mouths referring to the fiery 
judgments of God destroying the apostates nationally who might have 
persecuted them. Alford, on the other hand says, “Individuality could 
not be more strongly indicated. ‘The literal sense seems to be stamped here 
by the double announcement. And the ‘tf any man’ and ‘he.must be 
killed’ can hardly take a national sense, as Elliott supposes.”’ 


2 Kings 1.10 is referred to by way of example. (D. L. F. Ew.) If 
the passage be taken literally it presents a most fearful reality. God causing 
fire to come down and consume their enemies can answer the demands of 
the passage. Allegorists are much puzzled here. 


Ver. 6. The miracles performed by Moses and Elijah, thus pointing 
to them as the two witnesses. Apart from this there is no hint whatsoever 
that these two witnesses are sent to earth from the unseen world. Indeed 
the passage does not require such an interpretation; if two men shall appear 
in the last days bearing witness in the spirit and power of Elijah and Moses 
the terms of the prophecy will have been fully met. 

Some take these plagues spiritually, i. e., closing the heavens spirit- 
ually and holding back the rain of the Gospel (V. L. Ly. El. Eb. Ca. 
Hen.), and causing bloodshed to come from the preaching of the Gospel 
(V.), “‘the bloodshed of wars inflicted in God’s providence on the 


enemies of the witnesses’ (El.); but there is no reason, as Dusterdieck 


614 


i tees es 


(AIBC REVEEATIONTOR JOON 


says, why they should not be taken literally, just the same as in I Kings 
i eizandi ex. 3/osqq. 


Ver. 7. ‘‘when they shall have finished’ ,—The verb as used shows 
that the whole period of their testimony shall have come to an end when 
that which is next said shall happen. Allegorists try to escape this, but 
in vain; as for instance, ‘‘when they shall be about finishing’ (Me.), and 
Elliott, who says it does not necessarily mean when they shall have com- 
pleted their whole testimony, but any one complete deliverance, and this 
he places in the opening of the sixteenth century just before the Reforma- 
tion. “The same verb is used of Paul’s ending his life by violent death. 


“the beast’’,—The first mention of this beast, and it is evidently the 
same as the one mentioned in Chaps. 13.1 and 17.8, and is doubtless that 
“little horn’ spoken of by Daniel ‘‘which made war with the saints and 
prevailed against them” (Dan. 7.8-21). His infernal nature can be seen 
in that he comes up out of the abyss. When he makes war with the saints, 
it is then that the company of martyrs mentioned in Chap. 6.11 will be 
gathered. Weidner says, ‘This beast is evidently the Antichrist who now 
manifests himself in all of his diabolical power as the Man of Sin.”’ 


Ver. 8. “‘dead bodtes’’,—The Greek (which is singular) does not 
properly signify a dead body, but that which is fallen, be it of one or of 
many. 

“the great city’’.—The arguments of Alford against taking this as 
Jerusalem are not conclusive. He makes it Babylon because it was the 
usual term for Babylon, and is used of Babylon eight times elsewhere in 
Revelation. But the connection, its spiritual designation, and the last 
clause of verse 8 decide the case in favor of Jerusalem. (L. F. D. Ew. BI. 
Dus. Sei.) Sodom (Isa. 1.10) and Egypt are not to be thought of in 
their individual relations (first—immoral practices; second—religious cor- 
ruption [Hen.]), but together as representing entire enmity to God and 
his servants. (D. Bl. Ew. Dus.) Alford, followed by Ebrard, Heng- 
stenberg and Elliott, spiritualizes “‘crucified’”’, i. e., even as we crucify him 
today. But the past tense of the verb is against this view. 


It is only possible to surmise why John here calls Jerusalem great. 
Perhaps because ‘Sodom and Egypt’ and “‘holy’’ would not be proper 
in the same breath, while “‘great’’ emphasizes its greatness and power as 
the vain foundation of its godless security and enmity against the Lord 
and his witnesses calling it to repentance. 


In the times of the Antichrist Jerusalem may well be called “‘“Sodom 
and Egypt’’ because of her corruptions, and Fausset says, “‘she can be called 
great by reason of her becoming the world’s capital of idolatrous apostacy, 
such as Babylon originally was, and as Rome has been’’. De Wette remarks 
that John couldn’t call her “‘holy”’ any more after her desecration. 

Elliott must, in keeping with his scheme of interpretation, explain this 
“great city’ as the one wherein all martyrdom of the saints had originated 
or taken place, i. e., Rome, and he must accordingly interpret the word 
“crucified” in a spiritual sense as meaning crucified afresh, even as Alford 
does who thinks of the “‘great city’’ as Babylon. 

Ver. 9. “suffer not their dead bodies to be latd in a tomb’’ ,—Gaebe- 
lein says, and rightly, ““The wicked are so elated over the silencing of the 
testimony that they refuse to permit their burial so that they may feast their 


615 


JHE REVELATION OF JOHN 


eyes upon the sickening spectacle. Many from among the Gentiles and the 
Jews seem to have assembled in Jerusalem.”’ Elliott having taken the wit- 
nesses and the slaying symbolically must of course take this expression also _ 
in the same way, although he remarks that here as elsewhere the figure may 
have been drawn from life inasmuch as the Lateran Council denied burial 
to the heretics, the faithful anti-papal witnessing body of Christ. Because 
of the ““among’’ Fausset says the reference is to all save the elect. 


Lange, with insufficient reason, says this verse refers to those who 
look upon them friendly; not allowing them to be buried, hoping they 
would revive (they looked on in sorrow), while verse 10 refers to the 
ungodly. 


“three days and a half’’,—Not with reference to Christ lying in the 
grave (Lap. Hen.), nor merely designating a short time (Ze.), nor be- 
cause it meant longer than was proper (Ew.), but only from the analogy 
of the three and one-half years, verse 2. (A. F. D. Dus.) 


For the interpretation by the Consecutive Historical School of this 
expression see under verse 3. 


Ver. 10. “they that dwell upon the earth’’,—Because of this ex- 
pression some say that Jerusalem is not meant as the city, but Papal Rome, 
or rather Romish Papacy, which extends over all the earth. (V. Ca.) But 
this effort to represent all dwellers on the earth miscarries. The ungodly 
in Jerusalem are to be taken as representing the entire mass of such dwellers 
on the earth. It is the generic idea (Dus.) and not the numerical mass 
here thought of. 


“send gifts one to another’’,—1i. e. as on a day of festival. 
“tormented them’’,—1i. e., by the plagues above mentioned. 


Ver. 11. “breath of life’’,—Not the Spirit of life (A. L. F. Hen.), 
but as in the text (Dus.). 


“from God’’,—1i. e., miraculously, immediately. It is not, however, 
unallowable to take “‘spirit of life’ as one conception and ‘‘of God” as— 
modifying it in the sense of Alford and others, as above. John doubtless 
had before him the imagery of Ezekiel 37. 


Ver. 12. “they heard’’,—i. e., the two witnesses. 


“And they went up into heaven’’,—Alford says that little if any 
attempt has been made to explain this ascension by those who interpret the 
witnesses figuratively. He says that the modern Historical School which 
can interpret such a phrase, as Elliott does, as ‘‘calling up to political 
ascendancy and power’’ surely needs no refutation. From those highest 
for the time being in the heaven of political authority there was issued a 
Decree, says Elliott, a Decree issued by the Roman Emperor, celebrated as 
the Pacification of Nuremberg, by which full toleration was accorded to 
Protestantism so recently the object of such persecution on the part of the 
Beast, the Popes of Rome and the secular Roman power under them. 


“in the cloud’’,—Because of the definite article “‘the’’ Fausset thinks 
the same cloud is meant which took Christ up. But this can hardly be 
vigorously maintained. 


“ 


616 





Hobe REVELATION OF JOHN 


13 And in that hour there was a great the rest were affrighted, and gave glory 
earthquake, and the tenth part of the to the God of heaven. 
city fell; and there were killed in the 14 The second Woe is past: behold, 
earthquake ‘seven thousand persons: and the third Woe cometh quickly. 

1Gr. names of men, seven thousand. Comp. 
Chap, 3.4. 


Vers. 13,14. “THE SECOND WOE. 


Ver. 13. “‘earthquake’’,—Literal earthquake (Dus.) as in Chap. 
6.12 (see Matt. 27.5 and 28.2), and not some dreadful event to be dis- 
cerned only from the fulfillment of the prophecy. (Eb.) ‘The numerical 
specifications favor the literal view. 


“the tenth part of the city’’,—Ebrard refers to the tenth part of the 
fourth world-power, over which the Antichrist is to extend his dominion. 

“seven thousand persons’’,—Literally, ‘‘the names of men _ seven 
thousand,”’ showing that the number is carefully and precisely stated, as if 
the name of each one were recounted. 


Fausset says, ‘According to the literal view, one-tenth of Jerusalem 
fell under the Antichrist and, according to the Consecutive Historical view, 
one of the ten Roman apostate world-kingdoms fell.”’ 


“the rest’’,—Not the remnant of the Israelites who were not slain 
(F. Weid.), but the rest of the inhabitants of the city. (A. Dus.) 
“gave’’,—an attempt has been made to supply ‘‘the two witnesses”’ 
as the subject here, but this will not do. “The subject is “‘the rest.”’ 
“gave glory to God” ,— 


1. Were converted. (F. A. Dus. Weid.) (See Chap. 16.9 and Jer. 
13 lO) 


2. A giving of glory only inspired by fear. They do not turn in 
true repentance to God, (Gab. ) 


Ver. 14. Weidner remarks, ‘“We are still under the Seventh Seal, for 
the entire series of trumpet visions is developed out of the Seventh Seal; 
the first Six Seals bringing in preliminary judgments, while the coming 
Seventh Trumpet, under the Seventh Seal, introduces the final and partly 
anticipated judgment under the Sixth Seal.”’ 


15 And the seventh angel sounded; And the nations were wroth, and 
and there followed great voices in thy wrath came, and the time of 
heaven, and they said, the dead to be judged, and the time 

The kingdom of the world is be- to give their reward to thy “serv- 

come the kingdom of our Lord, ants the prophets, and to the 

and of his Christ: and he shall saints, and to them that fear thy 
reign ‘for ever and ever. name, the small and the great; and 
16 And the four and twenty elders, to destroy them that destroy the 
who sit before God on their thrones, fell earth. 
upon their faces and worshipped God, 19 And there was opened the *tem- 
17 saying, ple of God that is in heaven; and there 

We give thee thanks, O Lord God, was seen in his “temple the ark of his 

the Almighty, who art and who covenant; and there followed lightnings, 

wast; because thou hast taken thy and voices, and thunders, and an earth- 
great power, and didst reign. 18 quake, and great hail. 

1Gr. unto the ages of the ages *Gr. bondservants 

8Or, sanctuary 


Vers. 15-19. “THE SEVENTH TRUMPET JUDGMENT. 
Ver. 15. Before introducing the third woe in detail there is given 
617 


THE.REVELATION OF JOHN 


the thanksgiving song of the elders for the establishment of the kingdom 
and the hour of vengeance, etc. 


“And the seventh angel sounded’’,—Alford calls attention to the fact 
that the seventh member in each series of visions, seals, trumpets and vials, 
are all differently accompanied from any of the preceding series in each case. 
(a) At each seventh member we hear what is done not on earth, but in 
heaven; (b) each seventh member is followed by the statement that there 
followed voices, thunders, lightnings and earthquake; (c) at each seventh 
member it is plainly indicated that the end is come or is close at hand, 
All this, he says, forms grounds for inference that the three series of visions 
are not continuous but resumptive; not, indeed, going over the same ground 
with one another, either of time or occurrence, but each evolving something 
that was not in the former and putting the course of God’s Providence 
in a different light. “They are not, therefore, to be thought of as in mere 
temporal succession. 


The Seventh Trumpet is to be limited to verses 15 to 18, although 
some include verse 19. But verse 19 is to be taken as traditional, belong- 
ing to and forming a transition to what follows. (A. Eb. Gab. Weid.) 


“great voices’’,—1i. e., of the four beasts (Ew.), of the angels (D.), 
of the innumerable hosts of Chap. 7.9 (Hen.), of the armies of heaven 
(Weid.). The view of Weidner is perhaps the best, although it may be 


well to think of them as the armies of heaven and the four living beings © 


as distinguished from the elders’ voices in the next verse. [he question, 
says Dusterdieck, is neither to be asked or answered. ‘That these voices 
have a proleptical import is seen in the fact that they describe as some- 
thing already done what really does not occur until Chap. 18. (Ew. Dus. 
ae) 


“tn heaven’’,—i. e., whither the look of John is directed, John at 
this time not being in heaven. (D. Dus.) 


“the kingdom of the world’’,—i: e., the regal dominion over the 
world. (A. B. D. Hen. Dus.) (See Psalm 2.2.) 


“shall reign’’,— (See Dan. 7.14.) Fausset says it is the setting up 
of heaven’s sovereignty over the earth visibly and that here begins the 
Millennial reign, the consummation of the mystery of God. 


‘This Seventh Trumpet’’, says Seiss, ‘‘is the last trumpet, at the sound 
of which the dead are raised and the prophets and saints receive their 
rewards, and it is only then that the voice declares, “The kingdom of this 
world ts become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ’. It is there- 
fore directly against the record here given to think of this reign of universal 
peace and righteousness, the Millennium, as taking place before the resur- 
rection of the saints and before the second coming of the Lord.’”’ 


Weidner, with a reference to I Cor. 15.24-28, says this pcints to — 


the final end and judgment and is no temporal rule on earth, but eternal 
in the heavens. 


Ver. 17. ‘“‘We give thee thanks’’,—Not because they consider them- 
selves partakers of the great power and government of God (Hen.), but 
because the answer to the prayers of the saints for vengeance on their 
oppressors has been furnished by the judgment of the trumpets. (A. F. L.) 


618 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


“Who art and who wast’’,—''Who is to come’ is naturally omitted, 
the consummation having already come, i. e., proleptically. 


Ver. 18. “‘And the nations were wroth’’,—Antichrist and his 
armies shall rise up against Christ. (Psa. 2.1-3.) 

“the time of the dead to be judged’’,—-Stated proleptically and does 
not actually occur until Chap. 20.11. (Dus. Gab.) 

“servants’’,—This is to be referred only to the “prophets’’, which 
latter word is in apposition with the former. 

“them that fear thy name’’,—The entire mass of the godly. 

“them that destroy the earth’’,—The antichristian secular power. 


Ver. 19. God's response to the songs of adoration. 


“the ack of his covenant’’,—1. e., in the holy of holies; the symbol 
of God's faithfulness in bestowing grace on His people and inflicting ven- 
geance on His enemies. It is indicative of what nature the succeeding 
visions are to be, i. e., they relate especially to His own covenant people. 

“lightnings and voices’, etc..—'‘’The solemn salvos of the artillery 
of heaven with which each series of visions is concluded.”’ (A.) “The 
threatening foretokens of that with which the actual execution of the 
judgment comes upon the antichristian world.’’ (Dus. Kl1.) 


CHAPTER LWELVE 


1 And a great sign was seen in found any more in heaven. 9 And the 
heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, great dragon was cast down, the old 
and the moon under her feet and upon serpent, he that is called the Devil and 
her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and Satan, the deceiver of the whole *world; 
she was with child; and she crieth out, he was cast down to the earth, and his 
travailing in birth, and in pain to be angels were cast down with him. 10 
delivered. 3 And there was seen another And I heard a great voice in heaven, 
sign in heaven: and behold, a great red saying, 
dragon, having seven heads and ten 5Now is come the salvation, and 
horns, and upon his heads seven dia- the power, and the kingdom of 
dems. 4 And his tail draweth the third our God, and the authority of his 
part of the stars of heaven, and did cast Christ: for the accuser of our 
them to the earth: and the dragon brethren is cast down, who ac- 
standeth before the woman that is about cuseth them before our God day 
to be delivered, that when she is de- and night. 11 And they over- 
livered he may devour her child. 5 And came him because of the blood of 
she was delivered of a son, a man child, the Lamb, and because of the word 
who is to rule all the ‘nations with a of their testimony; and they loved 
rod of iron: and her child was caught not their life even unto death. 12 
up unto God, and unto his throne. Therefore “rejoice, O heavens, and 
6 And the woman fled into the wilder- ye that dwell in them. Woe for 
ness, where she hath a place prepared the earth and for the sea: because 
of God, that there they may nourish her the devil is gone down unto you, 

a thousand two hundred and threescore having great wrath, knowing that 
days. he hath but a short time. 

7 And there was war in heaven: 13 And when the dragon saw that 
Michael and his angels going forth to he was cast down to the earth, he per- 
war with the dragon; and the dragon secuted the woman that brought forth 
warred and his angels; 8 and they the man child. 14 And there were 
prevailed not, neither was their place * given to the woman the two wings of 


10r, Gentiles 2Gr. inhabited earth 

°Or, now is the salvation, and the power 
and the kingdom, become our God’s and the 
authority is become his Christ’s 


4Gr. tabernacle 


4 


619 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


the great eagle, that she might fly into 
the wilderness unto her place, where she 
is nourished for a time, and times, and 
half a time, from the face of the ser- 
pent. 15 And the serpent cast out of 
his mouth after the woman water as a 





earth opened her mouth and swallowed 
up the river which the dragon cast out 
of his mouth. 
waxed wroth with the woman, and 
went away to make war with the rest 


17 And the dragon . 


river, that he might cause her to be 
carried away by the stream. 16 And 
the earth helped the woman, and the 


Vers. 1-17. THE SUN-CLOTHED WOMAN AND THE MAN-CHILD. 


Says Moorehead, ‘‘After the Seventh Trumpet has sounded and the 
consummation is at length come, the Seer goes back and starts: once more 
with a fresh vision’’. 


of her seed, that keep the command- 
ments of God, and hold the testimony 
of Jesus. 


Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School says that this vision and 
the two subsequent ones are supplemental and explanatory of what has 
gone before and that they have therefore a retrogressive character. 


Alford of the Contemporaneous Historical School remarks also that, 
“the principal details of this section are descriptive rather than propbetices 
relating to things past and passing.’ 


Ver. 1. “a great sign’’,—1i. e., important in its meaning as well as 
vast in its appearance. (F. A. Dus.) 


“sign’’,—i. e., a symbol (A. Eb. Hen. Dus.); one of those appear- — 


ances by which something is signified to the Seer (Chap. 1.1). (A. Dus.) 


Dusterdieck well remarks that the context and the very word itself 
shows it must be taken symbolically since the woman must be taken to 
represent something. 


The rest of this verse can be the better understood when a decision 
has been reached as to whom the woman represents, 


1. Sadler, Bernard, and especially the Romanists say she represents 
But the ideal description of the 


the Virgin Mary. (Are. Lap.) 
woman and the events pertaining to her, as well as her relation 
to the rest of her seed, precludes this. 

2. The New Testament or Christian Church. (V. B: El. Be. Ly. Ar. 
Ca. Ham. Wor. Bar. Ira. Lord.) Stuart thinks the reference is 


to this Church particularly at the time of Christ’s birth, while 


others (Chri. Stern) refer it to the time of the Antichrist. If the 


man-child refers to Christ, as most authorities think, then this — 
view, according to Lange, Moorehead and others, miscarries in | 


verse 5, because most assuredly, say these authorities, the New 
Testament Church did not give birth to Christ. 


Elliott takes this view, referring the expression to Christ’s true 


visible Church on earth inclusive only of those that are alive at 
any particular time on earth. The “heaven’’ meant is that, of the 


political heaven, the sun and the moon representing the chief rulers — 


of the state, while in the same way the stars signify the lesser 


rulers, the former to be referred to the ruling powers of the Roman — 
world decorating and supporting the Church at the particular 
time of the vision, while the latter is to be referred to the eccle- 


siastical rulers or Bishops recognized at the time to which the 
vision points as dignified authorities before the world. The 


620 





ee 


(POE SR EVEDA TIONZOP JOHN 


man-child he takes as representing the children of the Church 
united into a body politic and raised to dominant power. 

3. The Old Testament and the New Testament Church in undivided 
unity. (D. H. L. Au. Vic. And: Ghr. Hen. Geb, Sei. Beck.) But 
there seems to be no hint of this in the prophecy and it also raises 
the question as to who could be represented by her seed. 

4. The Old Testament Church, the Old Testament congregation of 
God (A. F, Au. Ew. Eb. Zu. Vol. Hei. Hof. Lud. Her. Gab. Pet. 
Weid. Moor.), the woman’s travail representing the Old Testa- 
ment believers’ ardent longing for the promised Redeemer. ‘‘Israel, 
of whom according to the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God 
blessed forever.” (Rom. 9.5.) 

Lange, Elliott and others seem to think this view is incompatible 
with the wilderness experience, but a careful exegesis will show, 
we are inclined to think, that this last interpretation is the only 


tenable one. (See Isa. 7.14; Micah 4.10; 5.2-4.) 


“clothed with the sun’’,—There is endless conjecture as to what the 
sun and the moon and the stars represent. Many make the sun stand for 
Christ, who to Israel is the Sun of Righteousness (V. N. Ar. Me. Ca. Pet. 
Gab. And. Dau. New. Lap. Gro. Stern), while by many of these same 
authorities the moon is referred to the reflected light of the Old Testament 
typical system. 


Alford refers the stars to the twelve Patriarchs, hile others (V. Be. 
Ar. Lap. Stern) refer them to the twelve Apostles, and yet others (Dus. 
Pet. Gab. Weid.) to the twelve tribes of Israel. 


Perhaps it is well enough to see with Fausset and Weidner the 
thought that the Old Testament Church, clothed with the sun, is the 
bearer of divine, supernatural light in the world, and that by the moon 
under her feet, she will, as Ludhardt says, “‘in spite of her trials, finally 
triumph over night which for her has passed away’’; or it may be better 
still to see, as Dusterdieck does, in all these designations only poetic descrip- 
tions of brilliancy, glory, etc. 


Ver. 3. “a great red dragon’’,— Elliott says this is the fit represen- 
tative of any heathen persecutor but here it symbolizes Imperial Rome as 
an antichristian persecuting power. By the great majority of commenta- 
tors, however, the dragon is taken to mean the Devil. (V. D. Ar. Ly. Eb. 
Hen. Dus. Lap. Gab. Moor.) 

Dr. Maitland says, ‘““‘What meaning is there in language, if we can 
make the dragon anything but the great enemy of man; while we read. 
“The great Dragon was cast out, that old Serpent called the Devil and 
Satan’ res (See verse 9.) 

“great’’,—i. e., great in size, oe which is inferred his dreadful 
power. 

“red’’,—1. e., fiery red, symbolical of destruction and corruption 
(Eb.); perhaps also because he is a murderer from the beginning (Dus.) 
(John 8.14), and is intent upon the murder of the child to be delivered 
and of all believers. (Chap. 6.4.) 

The assumption by the dragon of so many of the details of the Beast 
of Chap. 13.1 indicate that he lies in wait for the child in the form of that 
antichristian power which is afterwards represented by the Beast. 


621 


THE REVEVATION- OF {IGEN 


“seven heads’’,—Not seven deadly sins (Tirinus), nor a caricature — 


of the Seven Spirits of God, i. e., seven evil spirits (Au.), nor the. non- 
unitous power of Satan (Hof.), but perhaps the perfection of diabolical 
subtlety and wisdom (D. Pet.). 


The seven heads, says Dusterdieck, refer to the antichristian secular — 


power of the Roman empire, which is seen in Chap. 13 under another 
form, the number of heads, horns and diadems being based upon the histor- 
ical relations of that empire, the seven crowned heads referring to the im- 
perial successions, and the ten horns representing ten rulers, the number all 
to be taken in literal accuracy. 


“ten horns’’,—A symbol of his earthly power. (D. Weid.) 
“seven diadems’’,—Implying universality of earthly dominion as 


held by the Prince of this world. (A. F. Gab. Weid.) Note that the 
dragon has seven diadems on his heads, while the Beast of Chap. 13.1, 
the Antichrist, has ten diadems on his horns. In Chap. 17.9-13 John 
explains these heads and horns as so many kings, 


Ver. 4. “And his tatl draweth’’, etc..—(See also Dan. 8.10). 


Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School says the reference is to a 
time when the antichristian persecuting power was in supremacy in only 
one-third of the Roman political heaven, namely in the fourth century 


(about A. D. 313), the dragon symbolizing Maximim, who ruled in the | 


Asiatic third of the Roman world and who severely persecuted the Church 
even while in the other two-thirds it enjoyed toleration and protection, 
the ‘“‘drawing with his tail and casting down to earth of the stars’’ referring 
to his degrading and even killing the bishops and rulers in ecclesiastical 
affairs. / 

There are those (Ei. Ew. Dus.) who think the reference to the 
dragon’s tail is a poetic trait and represents his eagerness for combat; while 
others still (A. Weid.) think it represents the magnitude and fury of the 
dragon, while the reference to the “‘third part of the stars’’ many of these 
authorities (Eb. Vic. Pet. Sad. Will. Weid.) are inclined to think refers 
to the angels which the Devil drew down with him to perdition at the 
time he was cast out of heaven. (Jude 6.) 

“standeth before the woman’’,—Simcox says that this evidently 
“symbolizes the enmity of the serpent against the seed of woman, begin- 


ning with the intended treachery of Herod and the massacre of the inno- 


cents, but including also that malice which pursued Him through life, the 
temptation and at last the cross.”’ 


Ver: 5. “delivered of a son’’,—The words, “rule all nations with a 
rod of iron’, cited verbatim from Ps. 2.9, leave no possibility of doubt as 
to who is here intended. It is the Lord Jesus and none other, and the 


reference is to the historical birth of Jesus. (A. L. F. D. Eb. Dus. Pet. Gab. — 


Sad. Hen. Lee. Sim. Weid. Boyd. Carp. Rinck, Currey, Moor.) * 


Some wrongfully regard the child as Christ formed mystically in be- 


lievers and so of all regenerated children of God (Be.); others take the 


being “‘born’”’ as the professing of the Nicene Creed and so becoming a — 


child of God in the midst of the persecutions of the heathen secular powers 
(B. Ap. Ar. Ca. Stern); while others (Ei. Hei. Her.) say the child is the 
Christian Church proceeding from the Jewish Church, while still others 


622 





MAHEARE VERA TION OR JOHN 


claim the reference is to the Roman Catholic Church. It is, however, im- 
possible to dispose of the reference by any of these interpretations. 


“caught up unto God and unto his throne’’,—Elliott of the Consecu- 
tive Historical School interprets this as the enthroning of Constantine over 
the Roman Empire in the character of a Christian emperor, inclusive of 
other orthodox Christian Roman emperors after him. It was, he says, 
Constantine, the son of Christ’s faithful Catholic united Church, elevated 
to an avowedly Christian throne, that might well be called the throne of 
God, like Solomon’s, and thus was Christianity caught up to the place of 
supremacy in the Roman Empire. Thus, as Gibbon says, “‘Christianity 
was seated on the throne of the Roman world.’’ It was Constantine and 
other emperors, such as Theodosius, who ruled the heathen “with a rod of 
tron’, discountenancing them and finally putting an end to all toleration 
of Paganism. 


The idea, however, is that of deliverance from danger, and the refer- 
ence is doubtless to Christ’s historical ascension (V. A. L. D. Eb. Hen. 
Dus. Gab. Tor. Mor. Sco. Gra. Weid. Moor.) after a conflict, as Alford 
says, with the prince of this world who came and tried Him and found 
nothing in Him. ‘‘Words can hardly be plainer than these,’’ says Alford. 
“It surely is but needful,’ he continues, ‘‘to set against them, thus under- 
stood, the interpretation which would regard them as fulfilled by the 
‘mighty issue of the consummated birth of a son of the Church, a baptized 
emperor, to political supremacy in the Roman empire,’ ‘united with the 


9S 


solemn public profession of the divinity of the Son of man’. 


All Futurists, however, contend that it was not with the history of 
the present-day Church that the vision was concerned. Christ, they say, 
ascended and took His place at the right hand of God. ‘Then the present 
age began. It is not even mentioned or recorded in the vision at all. It 
is the whole history of the Old Testament Church, the Old Testament 
congregation of God, and of Israel, in God’s covenant relation to His 
chosen people. down to the very end of time that John sees. In the 
thought of John and of all the Apostles no such period as twenty centuries 
was to intervene. 


Weidner remarks, ‘““The thought here that this man-child is to rule 
all the nations with a rod of iron brings by anticipation this very period 
of the final end before us,’ while Moorehead likewise remarks, ‘“The chap- 
ter touches the first advent and then sketches the events that pertain to 
the time of the second advent.”’ 


Petingill, Mackintosh and a few others have a curious idea here. 
They think the “catching up’ does not refer to the historical, bodily. 
ascension of Christ from the mount of Olives, but to His spiritual body, 
believers who are to be caught up at the coming rapture, that the man- 
child therefore is still in progress of birth, the Church not being fully 
formed as yet, and that the dragon is still seeking to destroy the man- 
child, the true Church of Christ in the world today. 


Ver. 6. This verse anticipates what is more minutely described in 


verses 13 to 15. (V. A. Dau. Ew. Dus. Hof. Hen. Weid.) 


Ver. 7. ‘“‘war in heaven’’,—Elliott says the reference here is to 
Christianity contending against heathenism in the time of Julian, the 
Apostate, which ended in the final downfall of paganism on Julian’s death 


623 


THE*REVECA DION OR OFIN 


in A. D. 363, whose death-cry was, ‘‘O Galilean, thou hast conquered’, 
and the downfall of heathenism Elliott interprets as the Dragon and his 
angels being cast out of heaven. 


Alford and others think that the war here nentaned occurred at the 


time of Christ’s ascension into heaven. Their view of the matter is that — 


the Dragon not being able to overcome Christ while on earth, pursued the 
Man-child at His ascension even to the throne of God, and this caused the 
war; ‘‘carried the war,’ as Weidner says, “into heaven itself, returning 
thither with his angels, with the vain hope of supplanting Christ on the 
throne of heaven——God permitting it, in His eternal counsels, for the sake 
of the glory of His Son.”’ 


Says Alford, “‘I would appeal in passing to the solemnity of the 
words here used, and the particularity of the designation, and ask whether 
it is possible to understand this of the mere casting down of paganism from 
the throne of the Roman empire?”’ 


Alford, referring to Luke 10.18 and John 12.21, thinks this casting 
down of Satan from the office of accuser in heaven is evidently connected 
with the work of redemption. He accordingly says, ‘“The day of accep- 
tance in Christ has dawned and Satan’s voice is to be heard before God 
no longer, and his angels, those rebel spirits, whom he led away, are cast 
down with him into the earth, where now the conflict is raging during 


the short time which shall elapse between the Ascension and the Second — 


Advent when he shall be bound.”’ 


The casting down of Satan from heaven took place directly after the 
ascension of Christ, immediately upon the issue of the war. 

The one rather formidable objection to this view is that in verse 12 
it is said that the Devil knew he had but “‘a short time’ before he was to 
be bound, and inasmuch as this is said from the standpoint both of the 


supernatural knowledge of the Devil and the elders in heaven it can hardly 


bear the same relation to the idea of duration as the same expression could, 
and indeed does, when used by the Apostles in their expressions of “‘short 
time’, “‘shortly come to pass’, etc., and doubtless therefore means just 
what we would mean by the same expression, namely, a very little while 
indeed, and not 2000 years and more from the ascension of Christ. And 
then, too, Ephesians 6.12 seems to imply that Satan is still in the heavenly 
places, even while he is the prince of this world. ‘These objections are not, 
however, altogether unsurmountable. But because of the foregoing, and 
because of other reasons, the Futurists take the position that this war in 


heaven occurred after the Rapture of the saints, and that Satan will be then ~ 


present, accusing the brethren before God day and night, whereupon 
(Zech. 3.2) Christ rebukes him and Michael leads the hosts of heaven 
against him with the result already known. 


These authorities remind us that Satan and his angels were first cast 
out of heaven at some time previous to the fall of man (II Pet. 24 and 
Jude 6), yet he was still permitted at least in Old Testament times to enter 
into the presence of God in heaven as the accuser and adversary of man 
(Job 2.127 \ and 16.12; Zech. 3.1,2), and that there is no reason to 


: 


believe, especially in view of Eph. 6.12, that this was not true in New ~ 


Testament times and will be true until the end of this war - when he will 
be cast down to enter heaven no more forever. 


624 


: 


THE? REVELATION OF JOHN 


“ Michael’”’,—Not Christ (L. V. Hen.), inasmuch as Michael of this 
verse and the child of verse 5 cannot be the same person. He is Michael, 
the archangel, the adversary of Satan in their strife about the body of 
Moses, and in the Old Testament the guardian of the Jewish people in 
their conflict with heathenism, and the leader of the good angels in all 
their conflicts with the power of Satan. (See Dan. 10.13,21; 12.1 and 
Jude 9.) (B. D. A. Ew. Au. Eb. Hof. Dus. Gab. Weid.) ‘The con- 
struction is irregular and is best explained by supplying “‘gotng forth’’ as 
in our text. 


Ver. 8. “neither was their place found any more tn heaven’’,—He 
was no longer to maintain any place in heaven. 


Ver. 9. The various designations describe his nature and activity 
as completely as possible. It shows what the saints on earth, whence he is 
cast, have to expect from him. 


““serpent’’,— (See Gen. 3.1). 
“Deuil’’,—The Greek for “‘slanderer’’, ‘‘accuser’’. 
“Satan’’,—The Hebrew for ‘‘adversary’’. 


Ver. 10. “‘a great voice in heaven’’,—Whose, is left unknown, Not 
of angels (Be.), for they would scarcely have called the saints “our breth- 
ren’, nor of the already perfected saints (B. V.), for they would have 
spoken in the first person rather than in the third, and said “‘our accuser’, 
and “‘we overcame’. It is probably that of the Elders representing the 
Church, inasmuch as the expression, “our brethren’ suggests this. 


Elliott, of course, thinks ‘““‘heaven’’ to be symbolical of political eleva- 
tion and power, and that this song prefigures some similar song of the 
Christians of the Roman world on the occasion of their triumph and 
exaltation over Heathenism under the reigns of Maximin and Licinius and 
Julian. 


“Now ts come”’,—t. e., is realized. In the ultimate the textual and 
marginal readings are practically the same. The song, it would seem, is 
introductory to the final events which are now about to occur. 

“our brethren’’,—Elliott, of course, finds here a reference to the 
martyr-victors of the antichristian persecution days of the Roman empire, 
the “kingdom of our God”’ referred to in the former part of the verse 
being that of Constantine with Christianity dominant in it. 

“The dispensation of the kingdom, ‘the kingdom of our God,’ etc.,”’ 
says Scofield, “begins with the return of Christ to the earth, runs through 
the ‘thousand years’ of His earthly rule, and ends when He has delivered 
up the kingdom to the Father (See II Sam. 7.8 and I Cor. 15.24.).”’ 

“accus2th day and night’’,—(Derived from Zech. 3 and Job | 
and 2.) 


Ver. 11. “‘they overcame him’’,—‘‘They’”’ of course refers to “‘our 
brethren’. 

“because of the blood of the Lamb’’,— ‘Their victory over Satan was 
grounded in and was the consequence of the Lamb having shed His blood; 
without that the charges of the Adversary against them would have been 
unanswerable.’ (A.) 


625 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


“because of the word of their testimony’’,—It is because they give a 
faithful testimony unto death that they are victorious; this is their part 
and the shedding of the blood was the Lamb's part. 


Ver. 12. “‘rejotce’’,—Because of what is said in verses 10 and 11. 


Those who place the war at the time of the historical ascension of Christ 
(A. D. Dus. Weid. Crav.) give as the principal reason for rejoicing only 
the fact that Satan has been cast down, and are of course compelled to 
look upon what is said in verse 11 as proleptical, i. e., something recorded 
as past but which is still to take place in the future. 


“knowing that he hath but a short time’’,—Depending upon. the 
fact that “‘the time is at hand’’ and that the Lord will soon come to judge 


Satan together with all his instruments. 


Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School insists that the “‘woe’’ 
here announced is to be regarded as a detached and solemn notification by 
the dictating prophetic Spirit of some woe soon to come upon the Roman 
empire, the reference being to heretical persecutors within the Church, and 
to the Gothic scourge which soon came. ‘The first of these he finds in 
verse 13, which refers to persecution by bitter Arian emperors, and the 
second in the Dragon’s attempt to drown the Church in the Gothic scourge 
as prefigured in verse 15. The fleeing into the wilderness he interprets 
as a serious decline in the piety and spiritual state of the Church soon after 
the establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire, and the two wings 
given unto it as the protection afforded the Church by the Eastern and 
Western divisions of the Roman empire under Theodosius the Great. 
Verse 16 he interprets as the overthrow and disappearance of Arianism 
by practically all of the Roman earth, and verse 17 as Satan’s efforts 
against the doctrines of such men as Augustine and others of the seed that 
“kept the commandments of God and held the testimony of Jesus.” 


Ver. 13. “he persecuted the woman’’,—Satan now turns his fury 
toward the mother of the child. If the woman is taken as the Old Testa- 
ment Church, in keeping with the explanation already adopted, she must 
here, it would seem, be thought of either in one or the other of the two 
following ways: 

(1) The remnant of Isreal (Moorehead says the 144,000) con- 
verted doubtless by the preaching of the Two Witnesses’ during 
the last days (Gab. Pet. Mor. Sco. Tor.) after the Rapture of 
the Church. 

(2) The Old Testament Church must be supposed to have passed 
in the interim into the new form of the Christian Church, 
which is the view of Alford and others of his school, and in 
this case the further persecutions of Satan, as directed against 
the woman, will relate to the whole of the Church of this dis- 
pensation. If, however, the object of Satan’s further hostility 
is to be considered as thus directed, an easier solution of the 
problem might present itself if the woman be taken in the first 
place as representing the Old Testament and the New Testament 
Church in undivided unity, or as representing the New Testa- 
ment or Christian Church alone. (See under verse 1, page 620, 
views 3 and 2.) 


626 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Says Alford, “I own that considering the analogies and the language 
~used, I am much more disposed to interpret the persecution of the woman 
by the Dragon of the various persecutions by the Jews which followed 
the Ascension, and her flight into the wilderness of the gradual withdrawal 
of the Church and her agency from Jerusalem, finally consummated by 
the flight to the mountains on the approaching siege, commanded by our 
Lord Himself.”’ 


Ver. 14. “the two wings of the great eagle’’,—A figure of God's 
delivering Providence. The figure is taken from Ex. 19.4 and Deut. 
32.11. The article must not be supposed to identify the eagle with that 
of Chap. 8.13 (Eb.), nor with the figures in Exodus and Deuteronomy. 
The article is simply generic. (A. D. Dus.) 


“into the wilderness’’,—(For views of the Historical Schools see 
above.) According to the view of the Futurists the reference is here perhaps 
to the place of isolation among the nations of the earth during the last days. 
John has of course before his mind the picture of Israel fleeing out of 


Egypt. 
“into her place’’,—1. e., prepared for her by God. (Verse 6.) (See Ex. 
PAPA UE. 

“she ts nourished’’,—As God nourished Israel in the wilderness, so 
will He care for these saints (the Jewish remnant, according to the Futur- 
ists) against whom the Dragon is endeavoring to vent his rage. 

Some because of this expression, interpret the woman as the imurisible 
spiritual Church of Christ, the flight into the wilderness meaning that 
God’s true servants are withdrawn from the eyes of the world. But this 
they have been just as much at all times and will continue so until the 
great manifestation of the Sons of God. _ 

“from the face of the serpent’’,—Not to be connected with “‘fly”’ 
(V. Zu.), but with “‘nourtshed” (A. B. D. El. Ew. Dus. Hen.) , import- 
ing safe from, hidden from. 

“time and times and half a time’’,—In explaining this expression we 
must adopt one or the other of three different views: 

(a) The year-day theory which reckons a day a year. According 
to this mode of reckoning, a day will be a year, a month will be 
thirty years and a year will be 360 years. 

(b) The symbolic view which gives the expression but a mystical 
meaning without chronological force, involving no particular 
length of time. 

(c) The literal view which makes the period designated to be just 
three years and a half, one time (year), two times (two years) 
and a half of a time (half year). 

Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School adopts, as we have seen, 
the year-day theory, as do practically all interpreters of this school. It is 
however difficult to find the period. If we think of the flight into the 
wilderness as taking place any time between the Ascension and the Destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, 1260 years would bring us to no event which can with 
any propriety be pointed out as putting an end to the wilderness state of 
the Church. Elliott makes the flight to begin soon after the establishment 
of Christianity in the Roman empire (the flight consisting in a serious 


627 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


decline in the piety and spiritual state of the Church, thus “‘vanishing in 
its distinctive features from public view’’), but then the 1260 years brings 
us to a period which is not, says Alford, altogether satisfying as meeting — 
the requirements of the prophecy. It is also in order to ask here, if the 
decline in piety spoken of is the beginning of the wilderness state, was the 
open establishment of the Protestant churches the end of it, and this 
Elliott would hardly allow. 


If we adopt the second view, ““we seem,” as Alford says, ‘‘to incur 
the danger of missing the prophetic sense, and leaving unfixed that which 
apparently the Spirit of God intended us to ascertain.’ 


Futurists in general take the literal view and place this period ates 
the Rapture of the Church. Petingill refers it to the first half of the 
time of Antichrist, while others (Gab. Weid, et al.) refer it to the last 
half of the same period. Of course the period is the same as the 1260 
days of verse 6, but this need not necessarily refer to the same actual time 
as the 1260 days of Chap. 11.3 which we saw referred, according to the 
Futurist view, to the first half of the period under consideration. The 
most natural inference would be that of Petingill’s, but then the question 
would arise as to the woman’s place and protection during the last half 
of the time of Antichrist when she would be especially in need of God’s 
nourishing care. “This consideration inclines us, in case the Futurist inter- 
pretation be accepted, to the view of SEGRARY and Weidner and others of 
this school of interpretation. 

Alford says of all prophecies the eel view of this time period can 
be applied least satisfactorily to this one. ‘“The conflict,’ he says, “‘is that 
between Satan and the Church, whose seed, as expressly interpreted to be, 
is God's Christian people, and is it likely that a few days-or years will 
limit the duration of a prophecy confessedly of such wide import?”’ 


7? 


Ver. 15. Satan’s attempt to destroy the saints with a flood. Com- 
pare the passage of Israel through the Red Sea; although Dusterdieck seems 
to think that John is simply forming living images from the symbolical 
mode of speech of the Old Testament, and here gets his concept from pas- 
sages such as Ps. 18.5-17; 32.6; 42.8, rather than from the passage of 
Israel through the Red Sea. The various intrepretations of this “‘river’’ 
are so numerous as to bewilder one. 


The Allegorists, pointing to Chap. 17.1, where the ‘‘many waters’’ 
are expressly explained as a figure of ‘many nations, make these expressions 
identical, and thus we have here a ‘‘river of people’ which will roll against 
the Church. ‘““The abundance of Godless men or various trials’ (And.). 

Among the Preterists and Historical interpretations are the following: 
“The flight of the Christians to Pella’ (Ew.) ; ‘“The armies of Vespasian’”’ 
(Wet.); ‘““Roman persecutions after Nero’ (Ham.) ; “The flood of bar- 
barous nations” (Wor. Stern); ‘“The Saracens’’ (V.); “The wild Ger- 
manic masses flowing against Rome’”’ (Au. ); “The army of Antichrist” 
(Lap.) ; “The Arian heretics” (Ca.); “The force of persecutions’ (Hen. 
Eb.). All of these interpretations take from the passage of course any 
and all reference to prophecy yet to be fulfilled. Alford, interpreting the 
flight into the wilderness as the flight of the Christians before the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, says, ‘“Then the river which the dragon sent out of his 


mouth after the woman might be variously understood,—of the Roman a 


628 





PbHeEaREY ELATION: OF: JOHN 


armies which threatened to sweep away Christianity in the wreck of the 
Jewish nation,—or of the persecutions which followed the Church into her 
retreats, but eventually became absorbed by the civil power turning Chris- 
tian,—or of the Jewish nation itself, banded together against Christianity 
wherever it appeared, but eventually itself becoming powerless against it 
by its dispersion and ruin,—or again, of the influx of heretical opinions 
from pagan philosophers which tended to swamp the true faith; I confess 
that not one of these seems to me satisfactory to answer the conditions; 
nor do we gain anything by their combination. But anything within 
reasonable regard for the analogies and symbolism of the text seems better 
than the now too commonly received Consecutive Historical interpretation, 
with its wild fancies and arbitrary assignment of words and figures.”’ 


Weidner remarks, “‘Although we do not profess to understand or 
explain any of these prophecies concerning events still lying in the future, 
we deem it far better to accept the idea that God will in some way bring: 
about all these events as here indicated, than to adopt the strange and arbi- 
trary fancies with which the allegorists and historical interpreters seek to 
becloud us.”’ 


Perhaps one of the simplest explanations, whether we adopt the His- 
torical or the Futurist view, is that of Gaebelein, who sees in the water 
cast out by Satan a symbol of the hatred which Satan stirs up against the 
faithful. 


Ver. 16. Some are inclined with Weidner, to take the contents of 
this verse literally (see Num. 16.26-35); while others take it sym- 
bolically, as Gaebelein for instance, who says it refers to the help rendered 
the believing remnant of Jews by the Gentile nations among whom they 
are in isolation, and who have been converted by believing the final message 
of the Gospel of the Kingdom. 


Ver. 17. “the rest of her seed’’,—This verse presents another 
puzzling inquiry. Elliott, as we have seen, refers the verse to Satan’s 
attempts to subvert the doctrines of such men as Augustine and Vigilantius. 
Others of the Historical School say the reference is to the Christians who 
survived the earlier persecutions. But in reality there was no ‘‘rest’’ in this 
sense, because the efforts of the Dragon as thus conceived were entirely 
unsuccessful. 


Alford finds himself wondering if the woman after all may not 
symbolize the true visible Church, which continued as established by our 
Lord and His Apostles, in unbroken unity during the first centuries, but 
which as time went on was broken up by evil men and evil doctrines, and 
has remained, unseeit, unrealized, her unity an article of faith, not of sight, 
but still multiplying her seed, those who keep the commandments of God 
and have the testimony of Jesus, in various sects and distant countries, 
waiting the day for her comely order and oneness again to be manifested, 
when the Lord’s prayer for the unity of His people being accomplished, 
the world shall believe that the Father sent Him. ‘“‘If,’’ says Alford, ‘we 
are disposed to carry out this idea, we might see the great realization of 
the flight into the wilderness in the final severance of the Eastern and the 
Western churches in the seventh century, and the flood cast after the 
woman by the Dragon in the irruption of the Mahometan armies, But 


629 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


this, though not less satisfactory than the other interpretations, is as 
unsatisfactory.” ; 


Among the Futurists, who place the time of all this Satanic hostility | 


after the Rapture of the Church, the following interpretations are found: 

Weidner thinks the reference is to those believers among the Gentiles 
who in that day accept the Gospel. 

Gaebelein refers it to the godly remnant in the land of Palestine in 
distinction from those in isolation among the nations into which the 
woman had fled. Similar to this is the view of Moorehead, who refers 
the fleeing. woman to the 144,000 sealed among the Jews, and the “rest 
of her seed’’ to the Jewish martyrs of the last three and one-half years 
which constitute the time of the Great Tribulation, and in this expression 
he thinks perhaps the countless throng of Gentiles, as seen in Chap. 7.9-14, 
may be included. 
. ‘The question I own is a puzzling one, but its answer must be sought 
in keeping with the school of interpretation to which the student finds 
himself inclining. . 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


1 and ‘he stood upon the sand of the 
sea. And I saw a beast coming up out 
of the sea, having ten horns and seven 
heads, and on his horns ten diadems, 
and upon his heads names of blasphemy. 
2 And the beast which I saw was like 
unto a leopard, and his feet were as the 
feet of a bear, and his mouth as the 
mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave 
him his power, and his throne, and 
great authority. 3 And / saw one of 
his heads as though it had been *smit- 
ten unto death; and his deathstroke was 
healed: and the whole earth wondered 
after the beast; 4 and they “worshipped 
the dragon, because he gave his author- 
ity unto the beast; and they “wor- 
shipped the beast, saying, Who is like 
unto the beast? and who is able to war 
with him? 5 and there was given to 
him a mouth speaking great things and 

. blasphemies; and there was given to 


1Some ancient authorities read, / stood &c., 
connecting the clause with what follows 

“Gr. slain 

*See marginal note on Verse 12 


Vers. 1-10, 
Mereels 


him authority “to continued forty and 
two months. 6 And he opened his 
mouth for blasphemies against God, to 
blaspheme ‘his name, and his tabernacle, 


even them that “dwell in the heaven. 
7 And it was given unto him to make 
war with the saints, and to overcome 
them: and there was given to him 
authority over every tribe and people 
and tongue and nation. 8 And all that 
dwell on the earth shall “worship him, 
every one whose name hath not been 
“written from the foundation of the 
world in the book of life of the Lamb 
that hath been slain. 9 If any man 
hath an ear, let him hear. 10 ‘If any 
man ‘is for captivity, into captivity he 


goeth: if any man shall kill with the 


sword, with the sword must he be 
killed. Here is the *patience and the 
faith of the saints. 


4Or, to do his works during See Dan. 11.28 

°Gr. tabernacle 

Or, written in the book . . 
the foundation of the world 

7The Greek text in this verse is somewhat 
uncertain 

8Or, leadeth into captivity 

"Or, sted fastness 


. slain from 


THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA. 


“and he (the Dragon) stood upon the sand of the sea’’,— 


In order to call forth the beast out of the sea, to whom he is to give all 


his power and authority. 


“out of the sea’’,—By the vast majority of commentators the sea is 


taken, and rightly, as symbolic of the disordered and confused life of the 
Gentile nations of the world. (L. F. E. A. Be. Eb. Bar. Hen. Hof. Vic. 
And. Lap. Coc. Kli. Wor. Pet. Lee. Cow. Weid. Moor. Stern.) 


630 


OOO ——— es 


“a 


(he REV EEA ITTION, OF JOHN 


“ten horns’’,—Mentioned first not because they are crowned (A. F.), 
but doubtless because appearing first as the beast rises from the sea. (B. 
Hen. Weid.) 

“upon his heads names of blasphemy’’,—It is not, as Zundel says, 
one letter on each head; nor perhaps as others (D. Ew. Hen. Dus.) say, the 
same name on each head. ‘The meariing is doubtless that each one of the 
heads appears to have a frontlet with an inscription on it that was blas- 
phemous, in that it ascribed some attribute to this power that belonged 
to God alone. Alford seems to think the reference is to the divine titles 
given to kings. 

The beast, which is the same as that in Chap. 17, has seven heads 
‘and ten horns, on each horn a crown, and on each head a name of blas- 
phemy. In Chap. 17.9 we are told that the seven heads are seven moun- 
tains; in Chap. 17.10 we are told that the seven heads are seven kings; 
in Chap. 17.11 we are told that the beast himself is an eighth king, and 
in Chap. 17.12 we are told that the ten horns are ten kings. It would 
seem that this beast bears some relation to the fourth beast which Daniel 
saw rising out of the sea. Daniel saw four beasts coming up out of the 
sea. Daniel’s fourth beast had ten horns and among them there was a 
“little horn’’ which came up and plucked up three of the other horns, and 
made war with the saints. 


Ver. 2. Dusterdieck and Cowles say this description of the beast 
refers merely to its rapacity and power uniting in itself the most dreadful 
weapons of the strongest beasts. 

The first of Daniel's beasts was like a lion, the second like a bear, 
the third like a leopard and the fourth was a strange nondescript with ten 
horns. The beast which John saw, as will be seen from its description, 
seems to be a compound of Daniel’s first three beasts, the beast of John 
being himself identical with Daniel’s fourth beast. (A. L. F. El. Pet. Gab. 
Sco. Will.) 

Says Scofield, ‘“The three animals, leopard, bear and lion, are found 
in Dan. 7.4-6 as symbols of the empires which preceded Rome, and whose 
characteristics all entered into the qualities of the Roman empire; Mace- 
donian swiftness of conquest, Persian tenacity of purpose and Babylonish 
voracity. ‘This first beast of John is the same as the fourth beast of Daniel 
‘(Dan. 7.24). The ‘ten horns’ are explained in Dan. 7.24 and Rev. 17.12 
to be ten kings, and the whole vision is‘of the last form of Gentile world- 
power, a confederate ten-kingdom empire covering the sphere of authority 
of ancient Rome. The first three verses of this chapter refer to the ten- 
kingdom empire, while verses 4-10 refer to the ten-kingdom emperor, who 
is emphatically the beast. (See Rev. 19.20.)”’ 

It would seem, as Williams says, that ‘‘he represents some great prin- 
ciple of evil found in all the heathen kingdoms.”’ 

“the dragon gave him his power’’, etc.,—In order to use him as the 
instrument of his diabolical wrath against the rest of the seed of the 
woman. 


Ver. 3. “and his deathstroke was healed’’,—TVhe whole chapter is a 
difficult one to interpret and this and other perplexing expressions must be 
explained in keeping of course with the interpretation which is given to the 
_beast introduced by the first verse of the chapter. 


631 


THE REVELATION ‘OF JOHN 


It is a much mooted question as to just what the beast refers. Some 
declare that it represents merely the aggregate or sum total of the God- 
opposed empires of the world and that it is not to be restricted to any 
particular manifestation. But David Brown has very properly said, ‘“The 
beast is described with such precision as well as fullness of detail that it 
will not do to generalize it away by calling it simply the great world-power 
which in every age is antagonistic to the kingdom of God. It is contrary 
to all principles of strict interpretation to dispose of detail so specific, so 
varied and so peculiar in this way.”’ 


This beast and the one in verse 11 are doubtless, as Cowles says, 
co-ordinate and co-operative and therefore contemporaneous. 

Interpreters of the Historical Schools here unite in referring the whole 
description to Rome, but they are all so divided among themselves that 
utter confusion really prevails. 


Some of them refer the whole chapter to Papal Rome, exercising both 


political power, as represented by the first beast, and ecclesiastical power — 


as represented by the second beast, the second beast representing the Papal 
Priesthood. (B. V. El. Ca. Coc. Lud.) As a fair example of this inter- 
pretation the following is gleaned from Elliott. He says in substance: 


The “‘sea’’ is the flood of invading Goths; the image of the 
beast is the Papal Councils of Western Europe. The “Antichrist’’ 
of Saint John and the “little horn’’ of Daniel are one and the same. 


When the angel in Chap. 17.9 said the seven heads of the first 
beast were seven hills he fastened the symbol at once to Rome, the 
seven hills of the city of Rome, which at once refutes any interpreta- 
tion that refers the heads to the seven successive world powers, of 
which it is said in Chap. 17.10 that five had fallen before John’s 
time (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece), while the sixth, 
which then was, referred to Rome during John’s own time; the 
remaining one which is yet to come being variously understood. 

When the angel further said that the seven heads were seven 
“kings’’ or “‘kingdoms’’ he makes it plain that he refers to seven 
heathen-like Governors or rather successive forms of government. 
The first six heads are (and this is the generally received Protestant 
interpretation) Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs and Military 
Tribunes (the first five which are fallen) and the imperial form com- 
mencing with Augustus Caesar. [he seventh head was the soverig 
ment under Diocletian and his three colleagues. 

Under Julian the last heathen head of the Roman empire was 
struck down through an edict by Theodosius (which was the wound 
‘unto death), the pagan sacrifices and temples being suppressed, but 
in the rise of Papacy this deadly wound of the last pagan ruling head 
was healed. The ten horns sprouting from the beast’s last or Papal 
head refer to ten kingdoms existing about A. D. 532, Anglo-Saxons, 
Franks of Central, Alleman-Franks of Eastern, Burgundic-Franks of 
South Eastern France, Visigoths, Suevi, Vandals, Ostrogoths, 
Bavarians, and the Lombards. ‘The ten horns all sprout from the 
eighth head and this eighth head is the Popes. The Popes are the 
Antichrist and all that is said of the persecution and blasphemy of 
the beast is true of the Popes. The miracles are pretended miracles 
and 666 means Latetnos. : 


632 


HE eREVELATION OF JOHN 


Others refer the first beast to Pagan Rome and the second beast to 
Papal Rome. (Bar. Faber, Bickersteth, Cuninghame.) As a fair example 
of this interpretation the following is gleaned from Barnes. He says in 
substance: 


The ten horns refer to Rome contemplated as made up of ten 
subordinate kingdoms just after the invasion of the Northern hordes 
and at the time the Papacy was about to rise. After the time of 
Constantine the Pagan Roman empire began its decline, and, as if 
wounded to death, would have become extinct had it not been revived 
in the days of Charlemagne under the influence of Papal Rome, 
which latter is the second beast of verse 11. 


The worship mentioned in verse 4 is not religious worship, but 
homage such as is shown to one whom we deem our superior and 
all such homage rendered under Papal Rome was really homage to 
Satan. 


Verses 6 and 7 refer to the Albigenses and the Waldensians. The 
miracles are only pretended miracles, i. e., ‘‘signs and lying wonders.”’ 
Making an image of the beast and causing it to live means that 
John saw in a vision such a state of things existing as if, or similar 
to what would be the case if an image had been made of the beast, 
or Pagan Roman empire, and the people did homage to it. All this 
would have been fulfilled if Pagan Rome, the old Roman secular 
imperial power, should become to a large extent dead or cease to 
exert its influence over men (wounded, as it were, to death), and if 
then the Papal spiritual power should cause a form of domination 
to exist strongly resembling the former in its general character and 
extent; and this very thing was done in the empire that sprung up 
in the days of Charlemagne through the influence of the Papacy. In 
this we discern the image of the former Roman power. Causing the 
image to breath and speak, in verse 15, means giving signs of life and 
issuing authoritative commands, while “‘worship’’ again refers to 
homage shown to the empire or the emperors, 


The “‘mark’”’ of verse 16 means that there would be some mark 
of distinction, some indelible sign, something that would designate 
with entire certainty those persons who belonged to the Papacy, and 
this is true inasmuch as one can usually tell the Roman Catholic. 
Verse 17 refers to the Papacy trying to control the markets and the 
wealth of the world. Often they have prohibited trade or traffic with 
the Protestants. 


Others again refer the whole chapter to Pagan Rome, the second 
beast representing the Pagan Priesthood. (D. Al. Be. Ew. Ei. BI. Lu. Cow. 
Vic. Gro. Ham. Bos. Wet. Her. Dus, Alc.) 


Cowles says the second beast cannot be Papal Rome because Papal 
Rome did not exist in the age of the first seven emperors whose regime 
was 600 years before Papal Rome became a well-defined system and 1000 
years before she became a persecuting power. He says it referred to the 
Pagan Priesthood which everywhere ministered to the idolatrous homage 
paid to the Roman emperors and everywhere inspired the animus of 
Paganism. 


633 


HE. REV ELATTONAORZIORNN 


Others again refer the first beast to the secular persecuting power 
(Pagan or Papal) and the second beast to the sacerdotal (priestly) perse- 


cuting power. While this latter refers primarily to the Pagan Priesthood, 


inasmuch as it was this that made the image of the emperors, compelled 
the Christians to do homage to the same, and wrought the pretended 
miracles mentioned, it refers as well to the Papal or so-called Christian 
Priesthood. (A.) The wounded head, says Alford, represents the Roman 
empire, which, having long been a head of the beast, was crushed and to 
all appearances exterminated, but was healed in the establishment of the 
Christian Roman empire. The image of the Beast for the time being 
would be the image of the reigning emperor, the giving of life to the image 
referring doubtless to some lying wonders permitted to the Pagan priests 
to try the faith of God’s people. The buying and selling refers to the 
commercial and spiritual interdicts laid on nonconformity, both of Pagan 
and Papal persecutors. 

Craven, who wavers between the Historical and the Futurist views, 
says in substance: 

The wounded head is the sixth or Roman world-power, the 
wound consisting not only in the fact of Rome’s nominal conversion 
under Constantine but also to the fact that shortly after Constantine 
it ceased to be a Roman sovereignty. “The empire under Charlemagne 


cannot be the seventh head since it never extended over the field of. 


the Eastern Churches and not indeed over all the Western. If the 

seventh head is to be analogous with the other six we must look for 

it still in the future. He does not deny the possibility of the Futurist 
view and in fact commits himself to the view that the consummate 
fulfillment is still in the future. 

‘The seven heads and ten horns are, as we have seen, variously inter- 
preted. Among those who refer the beast to Pagan Rome many explain 
the seven heads as seven individual emperors of Rome. (D. Bl. Ei. Ew. Lu. 
Vic. Hil. Cor. Bau.) Hammond and Grotius refer the seven heads and 
the ten horns to the seven hills of Rome and the ten servant kings. 

_Dusterdieck, who applies the beast to Pagan Rome, says the seven 
heads are seven emperors and the ten horns are ten emperors, seven of whom 
were real emperors (one for each head) and the other three were usurpers 
growing up between the fifth and sixth heads, the tenth horn therefore 
corresponding to the seventh head being still in the future. 

Of those who restrict the beast to Papal Rome, some refer the seven 
heads and ten horns to seven forms of Roman government and the ten 
kingdoms subservient to the Papacy from the French kingdom to the 
Polish. 

Among those who decline to restrict the reference of the beast to 
Rome we have the seven heads referred to ‘“‘the seven world-periods”’ 
(And.), “‘the seven kings before the appearance of the Antichrist’ (Lap.), 
“the seven persecutions of Christians’ (Al.), ‘“‘the seven powers hostile 
to Christianity corresponding to the seven periods of the New Testament 
history’? (Stern), and as we have before seen, Craven joins with others 
(A. K. Eb. Hen. And. Mil. Dau. Bur. Glas.) in referring the seven heads 
to the seven world-powers, which they interpret as Egypt, Assyria, Baby- 
lon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and finally, as the seventh, the Roman 


empire with its ten horns which followed the downfall of Rome upon ‘ 


634 


a es 


Hie rReNy BCA TION OFF JOHN 


the Barbaric invasion and under which we now live; while others (Fu. 
Hof. Lud.) omit Egypt and starting with Assyria give us the following, 
Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Macedonia, Syria under Antiochus Epiphanes, 
Rome, and finally, as seventh, the future Apocalyptic Kingdom. 


Burgh says the generally received interpretation that the whole chap- 
ter refers to Papal Rome in its political and ecclesiastical character, 1. e., the 
empire and the Hierarchy of the Papacy, is refuted by the following: 


1. No one has ever found the ten-fold division of the empire. 
Twenty-eight different commentators have named sixty-five differ- 
ent kingdoms, reckoning only once the kingdoms common to the 
different lists. What would it be if all the commentators were 
consulted! 


2. Study the meaning of “‘blasphemy’’ in the Bible and you will 
find that while the character of Rome is corruption and perversion 
of the truth,.it is not that of daring and open-mouthed blasphemy. 


3. Papal Rome never, either politically or ecclesiastically, had such 
power over all the world is here depicted. 


4. Even if the 1260 days mean “‘years’’ none of them have been able 
to agree as to when they begin or when they end; whether they 
have already ended or whether the saints are yet in the power of 
the beast: and the saints themselves do not seem to know! 


5. The word “‘miracles’’ is the same word as that used not of pre- 
tended or trick miracles, but of real miracles, and as such they 
have never yet been performed by the Papal Priesthood. 


6. The Papacy does not kill those who do not worship as it dictates 
and it never has. 


7. This class ‘of interpreters has as many different interpretations 
of 666 as there are interpreters. 


Burgh says that beasts uniformly represent “‘kingdoms’’ and horns, 
“kings”. In Chap. 17 it is plainly said that the ten horns are ten kings 
who receive power for one hour (the same hour), and they have one mind, 
showing plainly that ten contemporaneous kings are meant, whose history 
embraces only a short time. Kingdoms may be extended through many 
centuries and that is why it was substituted here for ‘‘kings’’, because it 
suited better the historical system of the men who did the translating. 


Among other Historical interpretations of the head that was wounded 
the following may be noted: 


It was given to the Roman empire by the migration of nations 
but was healed by the rising of a new Roman empire whose chief 
strength lay in the Germanic nations. (L. Au. Eb. Ca.) 

It was the Grecian part of the Roman empire wounded by Julian 
restoring the worship of the Gods and healed by the removal of 
Julian and the succession of Javian. (Coc. ) 

It was the Roman empire invaded by the Moors for 700 years 
and healed by their expulsion by King Ferdinand. (Nicolai. ) 

It was Papal Rome wounded by the humiliation of Pope Alex- 


ander III by Emperor Frederick and healed by the humiliation of 
Frederick by the Pope in 1177. 


635 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


It was the influence of Christ’s victory on the Cross that made — 


the wound, and the healing was the later outward prosperous condi- 
tion of the Roman empire, the new life which it displayed, the 
success that attended its persecutions, etc. (Hen.) 


It refers to the death of Nero, who was actually put to death 


by a sword stroke. Thus most of those who refer the seven heads 
to seven individual kings. (D. Lu. Bl. Ei. Dus. Cor. Hil. Vol. Vic. 
Bau. Renan.) 


Many of these last quoted commentators refer the healing to Nero's 
return from hell to be the final Antichrist. But Dusterdieck quite properly 
disposes of this assumption, while in turn he makes the healing refer to the 
restoration of the empire by Vespasian to its ancient strength and vitality. 
The only way you can get Nero out of 666 is by the use of the Hebrew 
alphabet and the value of the letters as understood in that day, but Brown 
protests and rightly against this in a book written entirely in Greek. ‘The 
seven heads of the beast Dusterdieck refers to seven emperors, Augusta, 
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian and ‘Titus, while the ten 
horns he refers to the same emperors with Galba, Otho and Vitellius, the 
usurpers coming in between Nero and Vespasian, thus making Titus cor- 
respond to the seventh head. “Together with the authorities quoted above, 
he makes the wounded head to be Nero, the fifth head. Others (Au. Eb. 


Hen.) who make the seven heads refer to seven world-powers, refer the . 


wounded head to the sixth world-power, 1. e., the Roman world-power of 
John’s time. Chap. 17.8-11 says the future eighth king would be the 
personified beast himself. 


Having given pretty largely the interpretation of the chapter from 
the standpoint of the Historical School, we will now follow aise largely 
the interpretation of the Futurists. 


The Futurist School, of course, thinks of the beast as a symbol of that _ 
which is still future and refer the prophecy to the days of the Antichrist — 


which are still to come. 


Scofield says, ‘‘Fragments of the ancient Roman empire have never — 


ceased to exist as separate kingdoms. It was the imperial form of govern- 
ment which ceased; the one head wounded to death. What we have 
practically in Rev. 13.3 is the restoration of the imperial form of govern- 
ment as such, though over a federated empire of ten kingdoms; the ‘head’ 
is ‘healed’, i. e., restored; there is an emperor again—the beast.”’ 


Most of the Futurists say the first beast is undoubtedly the Antichrist 
himself (Pet. Lee. Will. Weid. Moor.), although others of this school 
make the second beast, the beast out of the earth, to be the Antichrist. 
(Sco. Gab.) The Futurists expect that in the days of the Antichrist there 
will be a revived Roman empire and that the ten horns of the beast stand 
for the ten kingdoms into which this empire is to be divided. 


Moorehead says the seven heads are seven successive empires, the 


first being Egypt, and the sixth the Rome that was, while the seventh is — 
still future, the revived Roman empire which is the beast out of the sea, — 


the emperor which is the same as “‘little horn’’ of Dan. 9.27 and the Anti- © 


christ. 
Gaebelein says the first beast 1s this revived Roman empire. He says 


636 


rie REVELATION OFSJOHN 


the seven heads refer to the seven forms of government which have charac- 
terized the empire in the past. “The seventh head becomes the eighth 
and it is this eighth head which is wounded as unto death, denoting, as he 
claims, the imperial form of government which had died and is now 
revived in the person of the leader, the “‘little horn’’ of Daniel. He thinks 
the second beast is the Antichrist. He explains the identification of the first 
beast as a person and an empire by the famous statement of Louis XIV, 
who said, “‘I am France.’’ 

Petingill says this first beast, the Antichrist, comes up out of the sea 
of the Gentile world and is a Roman prince, though at the same time an 
apostate Jew. 


Ver. 4. “and they worshipped the dragon. . . the beast’’,—'‘Such 
is the final issue of modern civilization, of all this vaunted progress in 
thought, art, science and methods of education.’”’ (Weid.) ‘‘The very 
phraseology in which they express their worship,’’ says Dusterdieck, ‘“‘seems 
like a blasphemous parody of the praise with which the Old Testament 
Church celebrates the incomparable glory of the living God.”’ 

“who ts able to make war with him’’,—Implying seemingly a desire 
to begin the conflict with the Christians who did not worship the beast, 
and referring perhaps to the great battles for which all things in the 
Apocalypse are preparing. 


Ver. 5. “gtven. him’’,—i. e., by God (L. Bl. Dus. Weid.); per- 
mitted to use his mouth in such a way. Only in accordance with God's 
will can the dragon equip his beast—a consolation for believers. 

“speaking great things and blasphemies’’,—1i. e., words of outrageous 
arrogance and self-glorification. 

“to continue’’,—better “‘to work during’ (as in the margin). (See 
Danmoe +eand 11.28.) CA. Ver. DitZu. Hen. Dus.) 

“forty and two months’’,—The well-known period of the three and 
one-half years of the Antichrist. The last half of Daniel’s “‘seventieth 
week,’ says Weidner. Lange says this expression is not to be chronologi- 
cally calculated. (See other opinions in previous exegesis on page 633.) 


Ver. 6. Describing together with verse 7 more fully what is said 
in verse ot 
“blaspheme His name’’,—Calumny against God Himself, especially 
fulfilled by the beast usurping divine names. 
“his tabernacle’’,—Doubtless referring to heaven. (A. F. Dus.) 
“them that dwell in heaven’’,—i. e., the angels and the departed 
souls of believers. ausset also includes believers on earth who have theit 
citizenship in heaven. 


Ver. 7. “over every tribe’, etc.,—i. e., universal empire and do- 
minion. 

“and to overcome them’’,—Insofar perhaps as the saints must suc- 
cumb to his power and suffer prison, affliction and death. Weidner remarks, 
“Though many shall fall away and worship the beast even among pro- 
fessing Christians (Matt. 24.9-12), the true believers shall be preserved 
through (or exempted from,—according to the exegesis adopted) the 
Great Tribulation.’’ Gaebelein and those who teach the “‘any moment 
rapture’ and that the Church will be caught up before the Great Tribu- 
lation takes place, make the saints here the Jewish saints, while those who 


637 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


believe the Church will go through the Great Tribulation make them the 
saints who will be living on the earth just prior to the coming of Christ. 


Ver. 8. “all that dwell upon the earth’’,—-A description usual for 
those who are in antithesis to those whose conversation is in heaven, i. e., 
unbelievers, the ungodly, worldlings. 


“shall worship him’’,—Not the “‘dragon’’ (L. Dus.), but the beast. 
All this points to the great and final apostacy predicted by our Lord. 
(Matt. 25.11,12) and of which we read also in II Thess. 2.3. 


“from the foundation of the world’’,—Taken by many with our 
text as modifying “written”.  (LYA»R. V. Bi Di Zuy Eb, BIS Ewesbus 
Hen. Hei. Ham. Gro, Mil. Crav. Weid. Brown.) By others it is taken 
as modifying “‘slain’’. (A. L. F. Be. BI. Eb. Pl. Vul. Wor. Lee. Sad. Carp. 
Boyd, Blunt. Curry, Pearson.) I Peter 1.19,20 and John 17.24, and the 
position of the words here favor the latter view. Chap. 17.8 does not con- 
tradict this verse here because no other element than that of writing is 
introduced there. Yet it does have an influence in deciding this question. 
Furthermore, as Craven says, the foreordination of a thing and its occur- 
ance are two different things. “The Lamb was not slain from the founda- 
tion of the world, though in the counsel of God it was so ordained. We 
think, therefore, the former view is to be preferred. 


Ver’ 9. 


Ver. 10. The Greek text here is uncertain. The reading of our 
text is a prophetic declaration of how it shall fare with the saints in the 
day of persecution, their trials being severally appointed by God’s fixed 
counsel. (See Jer. 43.11 and Zech. 11.9.) The verse is both a warning 
to believers to suffer with patience without having recourse to weapons 
of carnal welfare, because “they that take the sword shall perish by the 
sword’ (Weid.), and a warning to the persecutors that they shall be 
punished with retribution in kind; while in this last fact, namely, that 
God will avenge his elect, some see an intended consolation to believers. 


Bespeaking solemn attention to what follows. 


“here ts’’,—i. e., in the patient endurance of these afflictions. 
é 


breath to it, even to the image of the 
beast, *that the image of the beast should 


11 And I saw another beast coming 
up out of the earth; and he had two 


horns like unto a lamb, and he spake 
as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all 
the authority of the first beast in his 
sight. And he maketh the earth and 
them that dwell therein to *worship the 
first beast, whose deathstroke was healed. 
13 And he doeth great signs, that he 
should even make fire to come down 
out of heaven upon the earth in the 
sight of men. 14 And he deceiveth 
them that dwell on the earth by reason 
of the signs which it was given him to 
do in the sight of the beast; saying to 
them that dwell on the earth, that they 
should make an image to the beast who 
hath the stroke of the sword and lived. 
15 And it was given unto him to give 


1The Greek word denotes an act of rever- 
ence whether paid to a creature, or to the 
Creator. 


both speak, and cause that as many as 
should not *worship the image of the 
beast should be killed. 16 And he 


causeth all, the small and the great, and . 


the rich and the poor, and the free and 
the bond, that there be given them a 
mark on their right hand, or upon their 
forehead; 17 and that no man should 
be able to buy or to sell, save he that 
hath the mark, even the name of the 
beast or the number of his name. . ke 
Here is wisdom. He that hath under- 
standing, let him count the number of 
the beast: for it is the number of a 
man; and his number is *Six hundred 
and sixty and six. 

2Some ancient authorities read ‘hat even the 
image of the beast should speak; and he shail 
cause &c. 

3Some ancient authorities read Six hundred 
and sixteen. 


ae ee 


‘ 
a 


Tore REVECATION: OF JOHN 


Vers. 11-18. “THE BEAST OUT OF THE EARTH. 


Ver. 11. “another beast coming up’’,—This second beast, an ac- 
complice of the first, leading the people to worship him, seems to be a 
personification of false prophecy. (See Chaps. 16.13; 19.20; 20.10 and 
Matt. 24.11,24.) 


“out of the earth’’,—Dusterdieck thinks this refers to the fact that 
this beast is to work upon the inhabitants of the earth. Others (Hen. 
Lee) see here a symbol of the earthly, sensual, worldly, demoniacal nature 
of the beast. Alford and Fausset say it means ‘‘out of human society and 
its progress, just as ‘out of the sea’ was an empire rising up out of con- 
fusion into order and life.’’ We are inclined to the view of Milligan and 
others, who, regarding the sea as the Gentile nations opposed to God, would 
refer the earth to the Jews as God’s prophetic and priestly people, the beast 
thus having a religious and not a secular origin. 


“two horns like unto a lamb’’,—We hardly think this is meant as a 
contrast with the lamb of seven horns (Chap. 5.6) as of less power, and as 
though the two-horned beast claimed to exercise all the power of Christ, 
even though this may be true. If there is any contrast it is with the first 
beast, but we are inclined to think that the number in itself has no special 
significance, but only expresses the resemblance of a lamb and designating 
the peculiarity of false prophetism, and as a lamb it must necessarily have 
two horns. (See Matt. 7.15 where is found the warning of Christ against 
false prophets. ) 


“spake as a dragon’’,—‘‘Though the appearance and profession of 
this second beast are sacerdotal its words and acts are devilish,’ says 
Alford, who doubts not that the term dragon is chosen on account of the 
dragon before mentioned even though we did not hear the first dragon 
speaking (which Dusterdieck offers as an objection to the reference). 

“He looks like Christ and is like Satan’’, (Sim. ) 

Scofield says, ‘““This beast out of the earth is the same as the false 
prophet of Chaps. 16.13; 19.20; 20.10 and is the Antichrist. He is the 
last ecclesiastical head, as the beast of verses 1-8 is the last civil head. For 
purposes of persecution he is permitted to exercise the autocratic power 


of the emperor-beast.”’ (Bla. Gab.) 


Ver. 12. “tn his sight’’,—i. e., beneath the eyes of the first beast as 
a prime minister would serve his king. 

“whose deathstroke was healed’’,—(See verse 3, the cause of the 
astonishing adoration. ) 


Ver. 13. ‘“‘doeth great signs’’,—Of course all those who refer this 
second beast to Papal Rome, as does the Historical Semel say that these 
miracles are not real, but ostensible, illusive wonders. (L 


Others claim them to be real from the fact that ee same noun and 
verb are used as John used in his Gospel and the noun is the same as that 
generally used to designate the miracles of Christ. (Crav.) Still others 
say they are real but are miracles of demoniacal kind and by demon aid like 
those of the Egyptian magicians. (V. F. Weid.) 


“that~ ==W hether we tread.“so that’? (A. B. Hen.) or “that”’, the 
sense is quite the same. In the latter case ‘‘that’’ explains the conception of 
““great’’, 1. e., miracles, great,—-so great “‘that’’, 


639 


(HE PREVEDATIONCOR JOHN 


“causeth fire to come down’’,—mimicing Pentecost, says Bede. But 
this is hardly to be thought of. We are more apt, as Dusterdieck says, 
to think of the miracles of Elijah (I Kings 18) and so regard this false 
prophet as the forerunner of the Antichrist even as Elijah went before the 
true Christ and shall again precede Him at his second coming. 


Ver. 14. This power to perform miracles was given to Him by 
Satan subject to the will of God and by these diabolical miracles the 
worldly-minded are deceived. 


“make an image of the beast” ,—Lange, though not a Futurist, is 
quite right we think in saying, “‘It is not an image of the first beast in 
the abstract but in his quality of having the deathstroke and reviving 
again that is commanded’’, or as Weidner, a Futurist, puts it, “‘Just as 
Paul maintained that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God by 
His resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1.4), so in the times of the Anti- 
christ stress will be laid on the fact that though this first beast had received 
his deathstroke, nevertheless he had lived again and that therefore he had 
established his right to claim divine majesty and worship.”’ 


Ver. 15. “‘cause’’,—The subject of this verb is not the false prophet 
(D. Ew. Zu.) but the image now made alive (BI.). 


Dusterdieck says, ‘“The description contains a suggestion of what has 
been reported concerning divine images actually speaking and John appears 
to presuppose the reality of such demoniacal miracles.’’ But John could 
hardly be so superstitious as this explanation would involve. Dusterdieck 
of course refers the image to that of the deified emperors, such Christians 
being put to death as would not worship the same. 


Gaebelein thinks the image will most likely be put up outside of the 
land of Palestine, perhaps in Rome, while Weidner suggests that it will 
be placed in the temple at Jerusalem and constitute the abomination of 
desolation that Christ refers to in Matthew and to which Daniel referred 
three times. (Pet.) 


Gaebelein says the first beast is a political power, the second a reli- 
gious leader; the first a Gentile power with a Gentile head, and the second, 
a Jew, else his claim of being Israel’s true Messiah would not be accepted 
by the Jews. He says the second beast is the final, personal Antichrist, 
the man of sin, the son of perdition. His two horns are an imitation of 
the priestly and kingly power of Christ. 


Ver. 16. ‘“‘He’’,—the second beast. 


“a mark’’,—Even as masters brand their slaves, and kings their sub- 
jects. Dusterdieck says that they put the mark on themselves by the mere 


fact of their being deceived by the second beast to worship the first beast. 


But Chaps. 14.9; 16.2; 19.20; 20.4 to which he refers hardly support 
his view, and the stamping is more naturally understood of those whose 
office it is, the subject here being left uncertain. 

“on their right hand and on their forehead’’,—the most conspicuous 


part of the body where it is most readily presentable to the eye. The 


purpose being visibility, whether it be attached to the one or the other 
place is a matter of indifference. Hengstéenberg thinks, ‘‘on the forehead 


for confession and on the right hand as the instrument for action’’, while © 


640 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Fausset says, ‘‘a prostration of bodily and mental powers to the beast’s 
- domination is implied’. But these are, of course, mere surmises. 


Ver. 17. The mark is the name of the beast, or the number of his 
name, i. e., the number which the letters of his name make when added 
together according to the practice of thus calculating the numerical value 
of letters in names which was widely prevalent. ‘‘Most commentators,” 
says Weidner, ‘think that we dare not interpret here literally of an actual 
mark impressed,—that as in the case of the servants of God no actual 
visible mark is intended, so here the mark signifies, as Alford says, ‘rather 


Rt?) 


conformity and addiction to the behests of the beast’. 


“to buy or to sell’’,—Those bearing the mark will hinder the inter- 
course even in business of the saints who do not have the mark. The 
Antichrist will control the labor market. In order to buy or sell one will 
have to join the organization of which the Antichrist is the head. 


Dennett says, ““Under the mask of the welfare of the empire all will 
be subjected to this awful tyranny under the pains and penalties of the 
deprivation of the commonest liberty of the individual.’’ Petingill calls 
it, “The logical heading up of the boycott system.” 


Ver. 18. “Here ts wisdom’’,—It takes wisdom to understand the 
mysterious mark. 

“it ts the number of a man’’,—The number can be found because it 
is expressed in a human way, i. e., counted as men generally count. 

“stx hundred and sixty-stx’’,—These figures must not be taken as 
an expression of time. (Be.) Others think that we must not accept any 
interpretation of them that does not find in them the indication of some 
name. 

It is well known that each letter of the alphabet in the Greek as 
well as the Hebrew had a value attached to it, as noted above. Among 
the Historical School of interpreters more than 100 attempted solutions 
or guesses, some of them very ingenious, have been tabulated. If the 
Hebrew alphabet is used, perhaps the name of Nero furnishes the best 
solution. This is at present a very popular interpretation and the modern 
school of rationalism boastingly claims it as the only possible solution. 
(Thus Ew. Fri. Hit. Hil. Vol. St. Da. Cow. Gebh. Baur. Renan, Benary, 
‘Reuss, Hausrath.) However, by far the larger number of scholars agree 
that it is entirely out of place to use the Hebrew alphabet for this name in 
a book that is written entirely in Greek. 

The most plausible of the explanations in which the Greek alphabet 
is used is the word Lateinos, meaning Latin, and thus containing a refer- 
ence to the Roman empire. The numerical value of the letters are as 
follows: 30-1-300-5-10-50-70-200, making in all 666. To this view 
ate inclined A. D. F. Ei. Eb. Bl. Ca. Dus. Wor. Sad. Lee. Crav. Schaff. 
From the viewpoint of the Futurist School we see no reason at present 
why the solution of Lateinos may not be retained with a reference of 
course to the revived Roman empire, although we have nowhere seen this 
view advocated. 

Some of the Futurists take the figures symbolically, it being, says 
Petingill, ‘‘the number of incompleteness thrice repeated. It is ever short 
of the perfect seven, showing that however the Antichrist may try to show 


641 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 





himself forth as God, he will fail to deceive at least the very elect.’’ Says 
Gaebelein, ‘‘Six is incomplete and is man’s number. It is humanity fallen, 
filled with pride, defying God.”’ 


Of the two solutions, Lateinos and the symbolical interpretation we 
are inclined to the former, but until the Antichrist comes the mystery will 
not be solved, but when he comes believers will be able to recognize him 
by this number. 


CHAPTER’ FOURTEEN 
This chapter contains seven visions recording apparently .the main 
events of the closing days of this age. 


1 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb creatures and the elders: and no man 


standing on the mount Zion, and with 
him a hundred and forty and four thou- 
sand, having his name, and the name of 
his Father, written on their foreheads. 
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as 
the voice of many waters, and as the 
voice of a great thunder: and the voice 
which I heard was as the voice of harp- 
ers harping with their harps: 3 and 
they sing as it were a new song before 
the throne, and before the four living 


could learn the song save the hundred 
and forty and four thousand, even they 
that had been purchased out of the 
earth. 4 These are they that were not 
defiled with women; for they are vir- 
gins. These are they that follow the 
Lamb whithersoever he goeth. ‘These 
were purchased from among men, to be 
the firstfruits unto God and unto the 
Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was 
found no lie: they are without blemish. 


Vers. 1-5. "THE LAMB AND THE 144,000 ON MOUNT ZION. 


Says Dusterdieck concerning the purpose of this first vision, ““The 
manifestation of the blessed with the Lamb in eternal glory is intented 
to give believers who are on earth, and exposed to persecution on the part 
of the Dragon, a pledge inspiring courage and patience, that if they remain 
faithful they too shall attain to that glory.’’ (Bar.) Says Dennett, “In 
Chap. 13 the frightful oppression and persecution of the saints is seen; 
and in this vision they are displayed as having been tried and come forth 
as gold.” 


Ver. 1. “TI saw and behold’’,—Marking the unexpected, forcible 
contrast to the preceding vision and the lively introduction to that which 
follows. 


“on the mount Zton’’,—Says Alford, “‘I would call attention of the 
reader to the fact, essential to the right understanding of the vision, that 
the harpers and the song are in heaven and the 144,000 on earth.” (A: 
D. St. El. Gab. Pet. Den. Weid.) On the other hand many place the 
144,000 in heaven as well. (V. B. Eb. Ei. Zu. Ew. Gro. Hen. Lap. Dus. 
Lord, Stern.) 


Hengstenberg says, “‘As certainly as the voice from heaven in verse 2 is 
the voice of the 144,000, so certainly must the mount Zion where the Lamb 
stands with them be the heavenly one. According to verse 3 the throne 
of God is on Mount Zion, but this belongs to the heavenly Zion and 
not to the earthly.” 


The arguments as presented by either side are not at all strong or 
convincing. Hearing the voice “‘from heaven’’ immediately after seeing 
the 144,000 some claim implies by contrast that the 144,000 were on 


642 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


earth. But there is little, if any, strength in this argument. ‘The state- 
‘ment, however, in verse 3 that the 144,000 were “redeemed from the 
earth’ might seem to imply that they were in heaven, while the fact that 
they learn and join in the song lends added weight to this fact. We see 
no good reason at this time why they should not be thought of as being 
in heaven. ‘They are redeemed believers. ‘This is certain. The vision is 
for the comfort and encouragement of those believers who are to endure 
the persecutions of the beast. Terrible judgments are about to fall and 
the visions of this chapter and the next are given to prepare the people 
for them. 


“having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their fore- 
heads’’,—While the ungodly are marked with the name of the beast, these 
children of God are here shown as marked with the name of Christ and 
the Father. 


“the hundred and forty and four thousand’’,—Dusterdieck objects 
to identifying these with the 144,000 of Chap. 7.4 because of the lack 
of the definite article. But this in itself is evidence quite insufficient. It 
would seem as if the two groups were to be considered identical from the 
fact, (1) that the number is the same, (2) that both are sealed and the 
seal of Chap. 7.4 may easily be the same as here, (3) that both are elect 
and firstfruits, though it is not distinctly so stated of the 144,000 in 
Chap. 7.4. Moorehead, referring to Chap. 3.10, suggests that there may 
be Gentiles among them. Many writers (Bl. Vo. Are. Lap. Nea.) agree 
with Dusterdieck but the vast majority of commentators identify the two 
OU peat Vn, tot. Eb, Ew, 208 bis Gro. Hil. Het.; Hen, Kilt 
Gab. Pet. Crav. Weid. Glas. Moor. Gebh. Lord, Renck.) 


Ver. 2.7 “a voice from heaven’ ,— 


1. If the 144,000 are in heaven, this is doubtless their voice. (B. V. 
Hen.) Hengstenberg calls attention to the fact, 


(a) that in Chap. 15.2 it is those who have gotten the victory 
over the beast who have the harps of God; 

(b) that the “new song’’ is in Scripture always represented as 
being sung by those to whom it relates; 

(c) that harps belong to the Church according to Chap. 5.8, and 
the expression “‘before the elders’ (verse 3) presents no diffi- 
culty, because it is perfectly proper to distinguish believers 
(he makes the 144,000 represent the whole redeemed 
Church) from their representatives. Of course the voice 
belongs to the harpers. They are harp-singers, accompany- 
ing the harps with their voices. 

2. If the 144,000 are on earth, then the harp-singers must be found 
in another body. Weidner conceives them to be angels. Gaebe- 
lein says they are the martyrs seen in connection with the fifth 
seal and including those slain during the Great Tribulation. 

“many waters and great thunder’’,—‘‘Divinely sweet and yet divine- 


ly terrible.’’ (See Chaps. 1.15 and 6.1.) 
Ver. 3. “they sing’’,—i. e., the harp-singers, of course, as above. 
“as it were’’,—i. e., what sounded like. 
643 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


“a new song’’,—'‘‘New in that it has reference to the faithfulness of 
God and the Lamb whereby believers, on the ground of redemption 


through Christ, are preserved amid the enticements and persecutions of the 


antichristian power and brought to victory and eternal glory.’’ (Dus.) 


“no man could learn the song’’,—Not merely “‘understand’ (D. 
Ew.), but appreciate and join in. (Dus.) The 144,000 could thus learn 
the song because they alone have the experience of that which is celebrated 
in the song, namely ‘‘matters of trial and triumph, of deep joy and 
heavenly purity of heart’. (A.) 


“purchased out of the earth’’,—Thus even angels could not learn 
the song. 


Ver. 4. “that were not defiled with women’’,—Alford says, “‘“The 
past tense shows that their course is ended and looked back on as a thing 
of the past, and so serves to refute all interpretations which regard them 
as representing saints while in the midst of their earthly conflict and trial.” 
So Dusterdieck says, ‘““The subject pertains to the past earthly life of those 
who have died.’’ So also the first clause of verse 5. 


“they are virgins’,—Three explanations of this epression have been 
en 

Noe themselves in entire abstinence from all sexual intercourse, 

, celibacy. (A. Be. Aug. Dus. Jer. And. Nea. Sim. Weid. 
Raine ) Matt. 19.12 and I Cor. 7 do prove, as Simcox says, on 
any fair interpretation that a devout celibacy gives special means 
for serving God. . This interpretation, however, seems incon- 
sistent with Heb. 13.4, and furthermore we can hardly conceive 
of John attributing this special blessedness to 144,000 unmar- 
ried gentlemen. Barnes calls attention to the fact that the word 
““defile’’ applies only to that which is unlawful and cannot there- 


fore be applied to the marriage relation wherein intercourse is | 


lawful and proper. Dusterdieck says that even in the Old Testa- 
ment sexual union itself even in wedlock was defiling. (Deut. 
15.18.) In a sense this is so, and yet a blessing indeed is 


attached in the Old Testament to marriage and the bearing of 


children. 


2. Kept themselves from all fornication as we understand it, i. e., 
illegitimate intercourse. (D. B. Ei. Bar. Hen.) This meaning 
Barnes thinks is determined by the word “‘defiled’’, especially as 
used with the words “with women’’. Stuart says that to take 
it in this sense would be a singular eulogy because the context 
says nothing at all of impurity which is the opposite and therefore 
there is nothing here to make it emphatic. 

3. Kept themselves pure in a religious sense, i. e., spiritually, free 
especially from idolatry. (L. F. V. St. Ze. Gab. Vic. Woi! Coc. 
Gro. Glas. Gebh.) Stuart thinks that a comparison with verse 8 
makes this meaning certain. He says the expression is a symbol 
of purity and not of sex, and therefore in any case the reference 
need not apply exclusively to men. 

We find ourselves inclining to this last and figurative view as involvy- 

ing less embarrassment than either of the others. 


644 


* 
a ee ee ee 


THE REVELATION, OB JOHN 


“follow the Lamb’’,—The tense is present; not therefore on earth 
“even unto death, etc.; (V. D. B. Eb. Ew. St. L. Gro. Coc. Wol. Hen. Wor. 
Glas.), but in Millennial glory, having the privilege of a special nearness 
to Him. (A. F. Zu. And. Aug. Dus. Weid. Stern.) 

“In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne 
of His glory (Matt. 19.28), they shall be the constant retinue of the 
Lamb.” (Weid.) 


“were purchased from among men to be the firstfruits’’,—All the 
redeemed are so purchased and purchased as the firstfruits of creation 
(James 1.18), but these are evidently the firstfruits from among the pur- 
chased themselves. (A. B. F. L. Ew. Dus. Sim. Bar. Weid.) To those 
who say this 144,000 represents all of God’s people (D. Hen. Gla. Crav. ) 
Lange rightly replies that as Chap. 7 made a distinction between the 
144,000 there and the innumerable throng, so here a special selection is 
likewise intended. ‘There is a sense in which all true believers constitut- 
ing the Church are first-fruits (Rom. 8.23; Jas. 1.18; I Cor. 15.20-22) 
and the consequent general ingathering of Israel and the nations is the 
harvest. 


Ver. 5. “‘no Ite’,—i. e., no falsehood. ‘There may be a certain 
contrast to the sphere of falsehood in which the false prophet and wor- 
shippers of the beast move, but it is better to take the word in its general 
sense (Dus.), and not to limit it to idolatry (B. Gro.), nor to the denial 
of Christ (Hen.). They lived.their earthly life in utter truthfulness. 


Alford and Lange rightly say that the vision of this chapter has not 
a backward reference to Chap. 13, but a forward reference to the mystic 
Babylon and to the consummation of punishment and reward. 


Elliott, with strange persistence, contends that the primary emblem 
of the Lamb with the 144,000 on Mount Zion depicted generally Christ's 
policy or government of the faithful all through the reign of the beast, 
characterized as it proved to be with severe Papal persecutions, The 
singing of the ‘“‘new song’ by the harp-singers he conceives to prefigure 
some happy crisis in the earthly fortunes of Christ’s saints and faithful 
ones, and this crisis he would have us believe was the glorious Reformation. 
The “‘new song’ he refers to the blessed doctrine and central truth of the 
Reformation, viz., Christ our righteousness, and during the days of general 
decline in spirituality throughout the Church, following close on after 
the death of Luther and Melancthon, none but those illumined and 
quickened and sealed by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, the faithful, who 
followed the Lamb whithersoever He went, even unto death, the spiritual 
virgins who were “without blemish’, in short, the 144,000 could sing it. 
The angel with the eternal gospel prefigures the missionary era which 
directly followed. 


6 And I saw another angel flying in 
mid heaven, having ‘eternal good tidings 
‘to proclaim unto them that “dwell on 
the earth, and unto every nation and 
tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he 


1Or, an eternal gospel 
2Gr. sit 


saith with a great voice, Fear God, and 
give him glory; for the hour of his 
judgment is come: and worship him 
that made the heaven and the earth and 
sea and fountains of waters, 


Vers. 6,7. THE ANGEL WITH THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL. 


Ver. 6. 


Fausset thinks that as the former portion of this chapter 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


related to the Israelitish world, so here begins the portion HEE: to the 
Gentile world. 


“another angel’’,—i. e., besides those already mentioned, with no. 
particular reference to any other one angel or to the angels of the heavenly 
choir, as Stuart thinks. It may be interesting to note that the old Pro- 
testant expositors referred this angel to Luther and the other two to 
Wicliffe and Huss, 


“eternal good tidings’’,—The article is wanting here just as in Rom. 
1.1. It is preached not to the heathen merely (Eb.) but to all the 
dwellers on the earth. 


The special content of this angel’s message is shown by the next 
verse to be the second coming of Christ and the hour of His judgment 
(Ew. Zu. Dus. Gro. Hen.), but the Gospel here mentioned is, as all the 
older expositors have taken it, the Gospel in its universal sense, the Gospel 
of salvation in Christ (A. L. Eb. Lue. Gebh.) and is not to be confined, 
as Fausset confines it, to the Gospel of the kingdom about to be set up 
on this earth, the Millennial kingdom. It is eternal as declaring the eternal 
truth of God; eternal as to its contents, its origin and its effects. 


The preaching of the Gospel as here mentioned is to have its fulfill- 
ment in the future, and has, as Gaebelein says, nothing to do with the 
preaching of the Gospel during this present time. Its reference lies in 
the latter times, during the days of the Great Tribulation, whether we 
think of the Tribulation as before or after the Rapture. Gaebelein says 
the preaching is done by the faithful remnant of the Jews. 


Scofield comments upon the preaching of the Gore as follows, 
namely: 


(a) That the Gospel was seemingly first preached as the Gospel 
of the Kingdom; it was so proclaimed by John the Baptist 
and continued by Jesus and His Disciples until the Jewish 
rejection of the King. This Gospel will doubtless be empha- 
sized again in the last days. It is the good news that God 
purposes to set up His kingdom on earth in fulfillment of the 
Davidic covenant. 

(b) That upon the rejection of the King by the Jews came the 
preaching of the Gospel of Grace, as it is being preached today, 
the good news that Christ died on the cross for the sins of 
the world. 

(c) That the Gospel mentioned here in verse 6, the “eternal good 
tidings’, the “‘everlasting Gospel’, is to be preached to the 
earth-dwellers at the very end of the Great Tribulation and 
immediately preceding the judgment of the nations, which he 
thinks is set forth in Matt. 25.31. 


Ver. 7. “the hour of His judgment ts come’’,—The time of the 
end is close at hand, the time for the destruction of the Antichrist. “This 
is not perhaps the general judgment but that upon the beast and _ his 
followers. 


“worship Him’’,—1i. e., turn from idols and the worship of the beast 
to serve the true and living God. 


646 


HHERREVELATIONIFOPSIOHN 





8 And another, a second angel, fol- 
lowed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon 
the great, that hath made all the nations 
to drink of the wine of the wrath of her 
fornication. 


Ver. 8. “THE JUDGMENT OF BABYLON ANNOUNCED. 


“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great’’,—-The name of the Old Testa- 
ment God-opposed, secular power, proud, haughty, insolent, oppressive. 
‘The Preterists understand this Babylon to be Pagan Rome; the Historical 
interpreters refer it chiefly to Papal Rome; the Futurists refer it of course 
to the chief city of the antichristian world-power of the last days,—the 
capital of Antjchrist; some maintaining it to be the Rome of the future, 
while others refer it to Jerusalem as ruled over during that time by the 
Antichrist. At any rate Babylon is here the type of the world-power 
which persecutes the Church of God. (See Chaps. 17 and 18.) 


“wrath’’,—i. e., God’s wrath. There is, as Simcox says, a blending 
of two ideas; the wine of Babylon’s fornication of which she made all 
nations to drink, and the wine of God’s wrath of which she and her 
followers are made to drink. The latter is the retribution for the former. 


The whole is from Jer. 51.7,8. (A. D. F. Dus.) 


“fornication’’,—i. e., idolatry. 


9 And another angel, a third, fol- 
lowed them, saying with a great voice, 
If any man ‘worshippeth the beast and 
his image, and receiveth a mark on his 
forehead, or upon his hand, 10 he also 
shall drink of the wine of the wrath 
of God, which is *prepared unmixed in 
the cup of his anger; and he shall be 
tormented with fire and brimstone in 
the presence of the holy angels, and in 


1See marginal note on Chap. 13.12 
°Gr. mingled 


the presence of the Lamb: 11 and the 
smoke of their torment goeth up “for 
ever and ever; and they have no rest day 
and night, they that ‘worship the beast 
and his image, and whoso receiveth the 
mark of his name. 12 Here is the 
‘patience of the saints, they that keep 
the commandments of God, and the 
faith of Jesus. 


3Gr. unto ages of ages 
4Or, stedfasiness 


Vers. 9-12. THE JUDGMENT OF THE BEAST-WORSHIPPERS AN- 
NOUNCED. 
“The most dreadful of all threatenings contained in the whole of 
Scripture,’ says Bengel. 


Ver. 10. ‘“‘he also’’,—1i. e., as well as Babylon (Ew. Dus. Weid.), 
or, as well as having drunk the wine of Babylon’s fornication (L. A. 
Hen.). 


“unmixed’’,—The meaning is without doubt that this wine is not 
to be tempered with water. There is no element of grace or hope or 
compassion blended with the judgment. (L. F. A. D. Eb. St. Ew. Dus. 
Hen. Bar. Will. Weid.) 


“tormented’’,—i. e., in hell proper, Gehenna. 


“with fire and brimstone’’,—A figurative expression referring doubt- 
less to the pangs of remorse and conscience. (V. St. Gro. Bar. Crav.) 


“tn presence of the holy angels’’,—Not ‘‘according to the judgment 
of’’ (D.), but as stated, “‘before the eyes of’’ (Luke 16.23). (A. Dus. 
Sim.) Dusterdieck notes that an aggravation of their punishment is 


647 


THE REVELATION OP JOHN 


signified by the fact that the holy angels and the despised and persecuted 
Lamb are spectators of it. The words indicate only that the angels and 
the Lamb acquiesce in the justice and necessity of God’s awful judgments. 


Ver. 11. The eternity of the punishment is here explicitly set forth. 
(St. Den. Bar. Weid. Will.) 
Ver. 12. A digression of the Seer, as in Chap. 13.10. 


“‘here’’,—i. e., “‘in the inference to be drawn from the certainty of 
this everlasting torment is the ground for the patient endurance of the 
saints... < CA. lus, iene) 


13 And I heard a voice from heaven saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who their labors; for their works follow with 
die ‘in the Lord from henceforth: yea, them. 


1Or, ix the Lord. From henceforth, yea, 
saith the Spirit. } 


Ver. 13. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE HOLY WHO DIE HENCEFORTH. 


“a voice from heaven’’,—It is not said whose voice and it is useless 
to speculate. Alford thinks, however, the word “write’’ points somewhat 
to the angel of Chap. 1.1. Hengstenberg says it is the voice of one of the 
elders or of a departed saint. Lange with some propriety says it is the 
Spirit mentioned in the next clause, and that two distinct voices are not 
to be thought of. 

“from henceforth’’,—Some connect this word with “‘blessed’’, while 
others connect it with “die’’. 

1. The reference is not to the dying henceforth, i. e., to those who 
die during the terrible persecutions which are soon to follow, but 
to the blessedness henceforth of all who die in the Lord, because 
full and complete blessedness of the holy dead is just about to 
begin. (A. F. D. Dus. Hen.) 

2. Not that all who die in the Lord are not tyfedeeod but that those 
who so die during the coming persecutions were to be peculiarly 


blessed. (Zu. Bar. Gab. Coc. Ham. Sim. Gla. Weid.) 


The order of the words seems somewhat to favor the second view; 
although the supporters of the first view escape the force of this argument 
somewhat by declaring that the word “‘blessed’’ is thrown forward to the 
front of the sentence for emphasis sake. That in which the blessedness 
consists will be helpful in deciding the matter. At any rate “die in the 
Lord’’ must not be taken as referring to martyrs (Zu. Coc. Ham.), for 
to this alone it cannot assuredly refer. In what therefore does this blessed- 
ness consist? ‘I’his seems to be explained by the rest of the verse. 

“that’’,—Introducing the ground of ‘the blessedness, i. e., ‘‘in that’’. 

“their labors’’,—i. e., work, toil, persecution, etc. 

“their works follow with them’’,—Not simply in blessed memory, as 
Alford says, but there is evidently here a reference to the reward which is 
theirs for their works. (D. L. Gro. Weid.) 

The blessedness therefore seems to consist especially in their being 
relieved from the awful sufferings and persecutions of those last troublous 
times (Sim.), although their reward in glory whence their works follow 
them is not by any means to be overlooked in the estimate. This blessed- 
ness together with the position of the word “‘henceforth’’ and the fact that 


648 





ripen eVEL A ClONZOR JOHN 


the present tense of the verb ‘“‘die’’ points rather to death at the time under 
consideration than to those who have died in the Lord in past ages, would 
all seem to favor the explanation which attaches “‘henceforth’’ to the verb 
“die’. All who die in the Lord are blessed in that they are delivered 
from the miseries of this wretched world, but this will be especially true 
of those who so die in the awful times which John says are about to come. 
One thing is certain, namely, that those who die in the Lord in those 
days, whether by martyrdom or otherwise, cannot be any more blessed 
in glory than those who have so died in the Lord during all ages. “The 
blessedness must either consist in the fact mentioned above or the first view 
mentioned above must be accepted, namely, that which attached “‘hence- 
forth’ to “‘blessed’’, and the blessedness made to consist in the fact that 
the interval is so short before ‘‘the perfect consummation and bliss’ of 
all who have died in the Lord. 


“Yea, saith the Spirit’’,—The Holy Spirit's ratification to what has 
been said. 


Fausset says the voice mentioned first in the verse is the voice of God, 
while here it is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in the Word and 
ietoe sainico( Ghape 22,1/2 1b Cor. 5.) -*)Pet.'4.14,) 


Lange maintains that the voice in each instance is the voice of the 
Holy Spirit Himself in the Church triumphant. Alford and Dusterdieck 
say it is the first voice still speaking, giving the Holy Spirit’s ratification. 


‘There can be no doubt, however, that the voice in the second instance 
is the voice of the Holy Spirit by whom John was inspired and by whose 
command John recorded what was written, the Holy Spirit who spake 


within John himself. (L. F. St. Hen. Bar. Dodd. ) 


14 And I saw, and behold, a white 
cloud; and on the cloud J saw one sit- 
ting like unto a son of man, having on 
his head a golden crown, and in his 
hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another 
angel came out from the ‘temple, crying 
with a great voice to him that sat on 
the cloud, Send forth thy sickle, and 
reap: for the hour to reap is come; for 
the harvest of the earth is “ripe. 16 
And he that sat on the cloud cast his 
sickle upon the earth; and the earth was 
reaped. : 

17 And another angel came out from 
the ‘temple which is in heaven, he also 
having a sharp sickle. 18 And another 


10r, sanctuary 
°Gr. become dry 


angel came out from the altar, he that 
hath power over fire; and he called with 
a great voice to him that had the sharp 
sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp 
sickle, and gather the clusters of the 
vine of the earth; for her grapes are 
fully ripe. 19 And the angel cast his 
sickle into the earth, and gathered the 
‘vintage of the earth, and cast it into 
the winepress, the great winepress, of the 
wrath of God. 20 And the winepress 
was trodden without the city, and there 
came out blood from the winepress, even 
unto the bridles of the horses, as far as 
a thousand and six hundred furlongs. 
38Gr. vine 


Vers. 14-20. CHRIST’S PAROUSIA AND THE VISION OF ARMAGEDDON. 


Ver. 14. “one like unto a son of man’’,—Not an angel in the like- 
ness of Christ, or representing Christ (V. D. B. Zu. Gro.), which is a 
makeshift to avoid bringing Christ and his Parousia in at this juncture, 
and springing from a desire to interpret the whole series of visions con- 
tinuously, as fulfilled in chronological order. But as Chap. 11.7 is anti- 
cipatory of the same events as Chap. 13, and Chap. 12 is retrospective, 
looking back to events earlier probably than any others indicated in the 


649 


(HE SREVEPAIION SOF OLIN: 


book, so this may be anticipatory of what is more fully described later, 
as for instance in Chap. 20. ‘The reference is to Christ Himself. (A. F. 
L. Ew. Eb. Ei. St..Be, Ca. Vol. Hen. Dus. Pet. Gab. Bar. Weid)) Moor) 
The “‘son of man’, “‘whtte cloud’, “‘crown’’, the parallelism of Dan. 7.13 
and Matt: 26.64, the harmonious contrast between the three following 


angels and the three preceding ones, all argue this expression as referring 
to Christ. 


“golden crown’’,—Implying that the time for His triumphant vic- 
tory has come. 


“a sharp sickle’’,—A symbol of beginning judgment and implying 
that the time for harvest has come, the earth being ripe for judgment. 


Ver. 15. “out of the temple’’,—1. e., as immediately sent from God 
with a message to His Son, and so not improper to present the following 
command to Christ, as Dusterdieck objects. 


“send forth thy sickle’’,—A remembrance of Christ’s own words 
(Mark 4.29). (See also Joel 4.13.) 


Ver. 16. “and the earth was reaped’’,—What reaping is this and 
what is the difference between this reaping and the one that follows, in- 
asmuch as it would be pointless to have the two images worked success- 
ively out if they meant exactly the same thing? 


There can be little if any doubt, as Simcox says, that this first reaping 
refers to the gathering of the elect. (A. F. B. L. Bar. Weid. Moor.) 


Says Wordsworth, “‘It is the manifestation of God's love in the gath- 
ering of the good wheat into the heavenly barn.’’ (Matt. 13.30,39.) 


“Christ,’’ says Weidner, ‘“‘does not do this reaping directly, but in- 
directly, sending forth His angels todoit. (Matt. 24.31; Mk. 13.27.)” 


Bengel says, ‘‘By means of the harvest a great multitude of the right- 
eous, and by means of the vintage a great multitude of the ungodly are 
removed from the earth.” 

Says Moorehead, “‘I Thess. 4.13-18 is another account of this 
majestic scene, the gathering of God’s people into His everlasting kingdom 
by resurrection and translation. ‘This does not occur before the Great 
Tribulation, but it does occur before the wrath of God is poured out.” 


It is the true harvesting of earth’s harvest fruit for God. (L.) 


Fausset says, ‘“‘By the harvest-reaping the elect righteous are gathered 
out; by the vintage the antichristion offenders are removed out of the earth, 
the scene of Christ’s coming kingdom.’’ ‘The fact that there seems to be 
two reapings, and that the former seems to be over before the latter begins, 
favors the thought that the reapings refer to two different classes; and 
the fact that Christ appears in the first and only an angel in the second, 
and especially that there is a casting into the wine-press of God’s wrath 
in the second case and not in the first favors the thought that the second 
reaping is of the wicked and the first is of the righteous, the elect. (A. F. 
Eb. Gla.) Still there are some who refer the whole of the two reapings 
to the harvest of the wicked. (St. Gab. Pet.) 


Stuart says, ‘“What is here begun is consummated in the sequel.”’ 


Petingill says that the whole passage refers to the gathering out of 
the tares and that Chap. 15 shows us the wheat garnered into the barn. 


650 


ROE REV EGATION OFJOHN 


This is more in keeping with the reference in Matt. 13, “‘gather up first 
the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat 
into my barn. ‘The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are 
angels’. 


We are inclined to the view which sees in the reaping of this verse, 
the harvest of the righteous and in the following verses the harvest of 
the wicked. 


Ver. 18. “‘out from the altar’’,—The same altar of incense beneath 
which the souls of the martyrs lie crying for vengeance. (Chaps. 6.9; 8.3; 
LO. 72) 


“power over fire’’,—1i. e., that on the altar, and so perhaps the same 
angel as in Chap. 8.3-5. 


Ver. 19. What the winepress is for the common cluster, that is the 
wrath of God for these. 


Ver. 20. This verse, as Weidner says, describes the terrific nature of 
the punishment that shall overtake the enemies of Christ at the time of 
His coming to destroy the Antichrist. (Chap. 19.11-21.) ‘“‘The battle 
of Armageddon comes now into view for the first time.’’ (Gab.) 


“without the city’’,—1. e., in the country or field. What city? It 
is of course the city of the Beast, doubtless Jerusalem (A. F. Bar. Dus. 
Sim. Gab. Weid. Moor.), although not a few authorities prefer to think 
of Rome. It is the slaughter of the wicked that is here spoken of and not 
their eternal punishment. (B. F. Weid.) 


“bridles of the horses’’,—Some think the reference is to the horses 
of the avenging armies of heaven (St. Hen.), but the expression is meant 
perhaps as a mere measure, as Simcox says,—that any horseman riding 
there would find his horse bridle-deep in blood. Some have conceived of 
the blood as having been merely splashed as high up as the bridles of the 
horses. [he idea in any case is that an exceedingly great slaughter is 
predicted. 

“a thousand and six hundred furlongs’’,—A square number merely 
denoting completeness and universality; four times four hundred, or four 
times four times one hundred, or forty times forty. With four, the 
world number, as the basis the 1600 is thus built up. 


Four times four hundred, denoting the four quarters of the earth 
and the four regions of heaven, as a designation of great expanse. (Be. 
Vic.) A great distance, or a wide extent is all that can well be supposed 
to be meant. (A. St. Dus. Bar. Weid.) 

Alford says it is either this or it is a riddle of the Apocalypse to which 
not even an approximate solution has ever yet been given. Some suggest 
that 1600 is derived from the square of four, the world number, multiplied 
by the square of ten, which is the sign of completeness, thus indicating 
that no created being can escape the judgment of God. 

Other interpretations are: 

1. Forty (the number of punishment) times forty as the symbol of 

terrible punishment. (Eb.) 

2. The river in the valley of Jehosaphat to be discolored with blood 

for 1600 furlongs. (B.) 


651 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


3. Symbolical of terrible punishment extending beyond the’ present 
age into future ages, a state of misery to which the eye can see 
no limieule) 

4. The length of the Holy Land (160 Roman miles,—140 English 
miles) .'\( Bukit Ewe Zu. Pet. Het.) 

5. The breadth of Italy, Rome being the city referred to.. (St.) 

Barnes rightly says it merely denotes that the slaughter would be 

great and that we cannot tell why 1600 is chosen, nor need we inquire. 

Says Wordsworth, ‘“The casting of grapes into a winepress and the 

act of treading them under the feet, so that the juice flows out of them 
in purple streams, is emblematic in Scripture of the destruction of enemies 
in battle with great carnage; so when the day of grace is passed, and the 
season of the world’s vintage is come, will He tread all His enemies under 
His feet with the same ease as the treader of grapes in a Wits tramples 
the ripe, luscious fruit.”’ 


CHAPTER GIA BEN 


1 And I saw another sign in heaven, 
great and marvellous, seven angels hav- 
ing seven plagues, which are the last, 
for in them is finished the wrath of 
God. 

2 And I saw as it were a ’sea of glass 
mingled with fire; and them that come 
off victorious from the beast, and from 
his image, and from the number of his 
name, standing “by the ‘sea of glass, 
having harps of God. 3 And they sing 
the song of Moses the ‘servant of God, 
and the song of the Lamb, saying, 

Great and marvellous are thy 

works, O Lord God, the Al- 

mighty; righteous and true are thy 
ways thou King of the ‘ages. 

4 Who shall not fear, O Lord, and 
glorify thy name? for Thou only art 
holy; for all the nations shall come 

1Or, glassy sea 

“Or, upon 

8Gr. bondservant 


4Many ancient authorities read mations. See 
Jer. 10.7 


and ‘worship before thee; for thy 
righteous acts have been made mani- 
fest. 

5 And after these things I saw, and 
the “temple of the tabernacle of the testi- 
mony in heaven was opened: 6 and 
there came out from the “temple the 
seven angels that had the seven plagues, 
arrayed ‘with precious stone, pure and 
bright, and girt about their breasts with 
golden girdles. 7 And one of the four 
living creatures gave unto the seven 
angels seven golden bowls full of the 
wrath of God, who liveth “for ever and 
ever. 8 And the ‘temple was filled with 
smoke from the glory of God, and © 
from his power; and none was able to 
enter into the “temple, till the seven 
plagues of the seven angels should be 
finished. 


‘See marginal note on Chap. 13.12 

SOr, sanctuary 

“Many ancient authorities read dimen. See 
Chap. 19.8 

SGr. unto the ages of the ages 


‘THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES AND THE BOWLS OF GOD’S 
WRATH. 


Vers. 1-8. 


A compendious description of the following vision extending to the 
end of the sixteenth chapter, and referring to events that shall take place 
on earth just before the coming of Christ to destroy the Antichrist. 


Ver. 1. “‘great and marvelous’’,—wNot only in that the seven angels 
appear simultaneously, but also in their peculiar equipment, and perhaps 
also in the terrible nature of the events signified by them. 

“having seven plagues... the last’’,—-The last because they introduce 
the final and victorious coming of Christ, and because “‘in them ts finished 
the wrath of God’’. How they have and hold these plagues i is not known; 
it belongs to the wonder of the vision. 


652 


THEVREVELATION OF JOHN 
“finished the wrath of God’’,—Not that this is the final judgmen. 
(Hen.), but only the consummation of His wrath in sending the plagues 
on the earth, at the close of which He will come (Chap. 19.11), the 
finishing of His wrath having reference to the beast, the consummation of 
whose punishment is now about to take place. (A. L. F. Dus.) 


Ver. 2. “‘as tt were a sea of glass’’,—Not an actual sea, but some- 
thing appearing like one. It is the same sea as that of Chap. 4.6, the per- 
sonages being the same, the omission of the article not being.a sufficient 
sa (Eb.) for differentiating this sea from that of Chap, 4.6. (A. Dus. 
Sim. 

“mingled with fire’’,—‘‘Added here, and not in Chap. 4.6, because 
here it introduces an element belonging to this portion of the prophecy 
of which judgment is the prevailing complexion.’’ (A. Bar. Weid.) 

“harps of God’’,—Such as serve only for the praise of God. (B. A. 
L. Dus. Bar. Weid.) (See Chaps. 5.8 and 14.2.) Simcox calls attention 
to the fact that the harpers here are not the same as those in Chap. 5.8 
and not (probably) the same as those in Chap. 14.2, although Gaebelein 
thinks those of Chap. 14.2 and here are identical. 

“standing by the sea of glass’’,—‘‘Upon”’ hardly harmonizes with 
the scenery of Chap. 4.6 and is in itself somewhat unnatural, although a 
sea of glass would be a solid support; or it might be they stand and walk 
upon the sea like their Lord, sustained by faith. But “by the side of’ 
accords better with the children of Israel when they sang the song to which 
allusion is made; and furthermore it is justified by a similar use of the 
preposition in Chaps. 3.20 and 8.3. (L. A. Sim. Crav.) 

This vision in Chap. 15 is given for the encouragement of those who 
will have to pass through the Great Tribulation. 

“mingled with fire’,—This expression has caused many curious 
interpretations, ‘of which we are entitled to our choice or are privileged to 
surmise another. 

1. The mass of Gentile Christians inflamed with love to God. (Gro.) 


2. The peace of the world (sea) and the operation of the Holy 
Spirit in the world. (Coc.) 

3. Grace will not be denied to penitents (the sea standing for bap- 
tism) in the midst of the flames of divine wrath. (Ca.) 

4. The firm ground of truth (the sea upon which they stand) 
illumined by the fire of divine righteousness. (V.) 

5. Dusterdieck says that the sea of glass refers to the eternal fullness 
of joy in God‘s presence with which the victors will be rewarded, 
and that the fire refers, as Alford says, to judgment, and that 
thereby is designated the unity of God’s saving grace and right- 
eous judgment. 

Who are these that come victorious from the beast? 

1. The martyred company worshipping in glory, the harpers of 
Chap. 14,2-3. (Gab.) 

B ee ig multitude which no man could number, of Chap. 7.9. 

et. 

3. Both the martyrs of Chap. 14.2-3 and the great multitude of 
Ghap. 7.9: (DL. Weid.’ Moor.) 


653 


“KECK EV BUA LIONS © Rad Oriin 


4. Barnes and others of the Historical School of course refer them 
to those who remain true in the midst of the papal persecutions of 
the past ages. 


Ver. 3. “Moses, the servant of God’’,—(See Exodus 15 and also 
14:31.) 


“song of Moses and of the Lamb’’,—Not two songs, one of the 
saints of the Old Testament and the other of the New Testament saints 
(And.), nor is any allusion made to the connection between prophecy 
and the Gospel (Coc.). Nor is it the song of Moses applied to Christ 
and the things of Christ (V. D. Eb. Ca. Gro. Hen.); neither can we say 
it is a song composed at once by Moses and the Lamb (Ew. Dus.). It 
is one song doubly designated. It betokens the unity of the Old Testa- 
ment and the New Testament Church, and is the celebration in one song 
of the typical redemption of Moses at the Red Sea and the real redemption 
by the Lamb. It is at the same time the song of Moses and of the Lamb, 
the song being one and the same. It is the whole redemption as mediated 
by Moses and the Lamb. (L, Ger. Sim. Weid.) 

Fausset, ““This is the new song mentioned in Chap. 14.3. The 
singing victors are the 144, 000 of Israel, the first fruits, and the general 
harvest of the Gentiles.” 


Ver. 4. “‘all the nations’’, etc.,—Says Fausset, ‘“The conversion of 
the nations shall therefore be when Christ comes and not till then, and 
the first moving cause will be Christ’s manifested judgments preparing all 
hearts for receiving Christ’s mercy.” 


Milligan suggests that the worship of the nations referred to is one 
of “‘awe, of trembling and of terror’ (Phil. 2.10,11), but Weidner, agree- 
ing with Fausset above. says it is better to refer it to the events occurring 
after the coming of Christ and during the time of the Millennium. 


“thy righteous acts have been made manifest’’,—Both in the publi- 
cation of the Gospel and in the destruction of His enemies. Fausset says, 
“The elect after their trials, especially those arising from the beast, shall 
be taken up before the vials of wrath are poured on the beast and his 
kingdom. The Lord coming with the clouds and in flaming fire, shall 
first catch up His elect people and then shall destroy the enemy.” 


Ver. 5. “thy temple of the tabernacle of the testimony’’,—The 
temple (naos) is the ““Holy Place’’ of the tabernacle (Chap. 11.1) (A. L. 
Ew. Dus. Hen.), and not the “‘Holy of Holies’’ (Eb. St. Gro.), and it is 
here mentioned in its quality of being the place of testimony (Hen.), which, 
says Alford, “‘is peculiarly appropriate seeing that the witness and the cove- 
nant of God are about to receive their great fulfillment’’, reminding, as 
Weidner says, ‘of judgment and of God’s faithfulness in avenging His peo- 
ple.’’ The tabernacle was called the “tabernacle of testimony” because it 
was a testimony or witness of the presence of God among His people, i. e., it 
served to keep up the remembrance of Him. 


Ver. 6. “arrayed with precious stone’,—The reading of “‘linen’”’ 
instead of “‘stone’’ is accepted by A. L. Tich. Weiss. The manuscript 
authority is about equally divided with perhaps a slight weight in favor of 
“stone’. The word “‘linen’’ seems to suit the sense a little better and 
better agrees with the two adjectives, which by some are taken as the 


654 


THe REVELATION OF JOHN 


emblem of holiness (the common representation in regard to the heavenly 
inhabitants,—Bar.) ; by some, as symbolical of the righteousness which 
demands the judgment wrath about to be poured out; and by others as 
a description of the angelic priestly attire. 

If the word “‘stone’’ be retained, it cannot be referred to Christ Him- 
self as the Corner Stone (I Peter 2.26), nor to “‘the various adornment of 
virtues” (Be. And.), but it means that each angel wears a garment set with 
a pure and brilliant gem or with many such gems. (Dus. Weid.) Later 
expositors accept the reading “‘linen’’, but the considerations above noted, 
together with the fact that “‘stone’’ is the more difficult reading, and there- 
fore the more likely to be the original, seem to favor the translation of 
- our text. 

“golden girdles’’,—Another emblem of divine righteousness (Gab. ) 
Thus also was Christ girded (Chap. 1.13), and these angels were clothed 
with authority and divine righteousness to act for Christ. 


Ver. 7. “‘bowls’’,—This is a better word than “‘vials’’, the Greek 
word designating that which is broad rather than deep, more like the 
vessels used in the temple below. 


“full of the wrath of God’’,—Filled with that which represents his 
wrath, as it were with a poisonous mixture. 


Ver. 8. “‘the temple was filled with smoke’’,— 
1. A sign of His divine majesty. (B. Dus. Weid.) 


2. A sign of His unapproachableness in the manifestation of His 
holiness. (L. Mil.) 


3. A sign of the wrath of God. (B. Eb. Gro. And. Hen. Hei.) 

4. A sign of the incomprehensibility of the divine judgments. (Lap.) 

The first three views are each very proper and should perhaps be 
combined. 

“God cannot be approached at the moment when He is revealing 
Himself in all the terrors of His indignation (Ex. 19.21).”’ (Mil.) 

The whole description, says Weidner, ‘‘conveys an impression of the 
awful sacredness of God’s presence.”’ 

“When God pours out His fury, it is fit that even those who stand 
well with Him should withdraw for a little, and should restrain their 
inquiring looks.”’ (B.) 

“from the glory,” etc.,—i. e., from His presence in which His glory 
and His power were displayed. 

“till the plagues should be finitshed’’,—When satisfaction has been 
rendered His holy wrath, then access to Him shall be possible. 


CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


1 And I heard a great voice out of the a noisome and grievous sore upon the 
‘temple saying to the seven angels, Go men that had the mark of the beast, 
ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the and that *worshipped his image. 
wrath of God into the earth. 3 And the second poured out his bowl 

2 And the first went, and poured out into the sea; and *it became blood as of 
his bowl into the earth; and *it became a dead man; and every ‘living soul died; 

1Gr. sanctuary 8See marginal note on Chap. 13.12 
2Or, there came 4Gr. soul of life 


655 


Vers le2ds 


THEIREVELA RON ORs JOIN 


even the things that were in the sea. 

4 And the third poured out his bowl 
into the rivers and the fountains of the 
waters; °and “it became blood. 5 And 
I heard the angel of the waters saying, 
Righteous art thou, who art and who 
wast, thou Holy One, because thou didst 
thus “judge; 6 for they poured out. the 
blood of saints and prophets, and blood 
hast thou given them to drink: they are 
worthy. 7 And I heard the altar say- 
ing, Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, 
true and righteous are thy judgments. 

8 And the fourth poured out his 
bowl upon the sun; and it was given 
unto ‘it to scorch men with fire. 9 And 
men were scorched with great heat: and 
they blasphemed the name. of God who 
hath the power over these plagues; and 
they repented not to give him glory. 

10 And the fifth poured out his 
bowl upon the throne of the beast; and 
his kingdom was darkened; and they 
gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 and 
they blasphemed the God of heaven 
because of their pains and their sores; 
and they repented not of their works. 

12 And the sixth poured out his bowl 
upon the great river, the rrver Euphra- 
tes; and the water thereof was dried 
up, that the way might be made ready 
for the kings that come from the sun- 
rising. 13 And I saw coming out of 
the mouth of the dragon, and out of 
the mouth of the beast, and out of the 


5Some ancient authorities read and they 
became 

®Or. judge. Because they . .. prophets, 
thou hast given them blood also to drink 

TOr, him 


mouth of the false prophet, three un- 
clean spirits, as it were frogs: 14 for 
they are spirits of demons, working 
signs; which go forth ‘unto the kings of 
the whole “world, to gather them to- 
gether unto the war of the great day of 
God, the Almighty. 15 (Behold, I 
come as a thief. Blessed is he that 
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, 
lest he walk naked, and they see his 
shame.) 16 And they gathered them 
together into the place which is called 
in Hebrew *Har-Magedon. 

17 And the seventh poured out his 
bowl upon the air; and there came forth 
a great voice out of the “temple, from 
the throne, saying, It is done: 18 and 
there were lightnings, and voices, and 
thunders; and there was a great earth- 
quake, such as was not since “there were 
men upon the earth, so great an earth- 
quake, so mighty. 19 And the great 
city was divided into three parts, and 
the cities of the “nations fell: and Baby- 
lon the great was remembered in the 
sight of God, to give unto her the cup 
of the wine of the fierceness of his 
wrath. 20 And every island fled away, 
and the mountains were not found. 21 
And great hail, every stone about the 
weight of a talent, cometh down out 
of heaven upon men: and men blas- 
phemed God because of the plague of 
the hail; for the plague thereof is ex- 
ceeding great. 

8Or, upon 

°Gr. inhabited earth 

WOr, Ar-Magedon 
"Or, sanctuary 
12Some ancient authorities read there was a 


man 
Or, Gentiles 


‘THE JUDGMENT OF THE SEVEN BOWLS OF Gopb’s WRATH. 


The pouring out of these bowls all occurs during the blowing of 
the Seventh Trumpet. 


The Historical School of interpretation construes these bowls as pre- 
figuring events which are of course already past; Elliott, for instance, 
referring them to the French Revolution. 


Alford here joins with the Futurist School of interpretation and 
referring to the last words of Chap. 15.1, ‘‘seven plagues which are the 
last, for in them ts finished the wrath of God’’, he says, “There can then 
be no doubt here, not only that the series reaches on to the time of the 
end, but that the whole of it is to be placed very close to the same time. 
It belongs by its very conditions to the time of the end.” 


The Futurists, of course, place all these occurrences in the times of 
the Great Tribulation at the close of this dispensation. 

Blunt says, ‘“They appear to represent those human woes and con- 
vulsions of nature to which our Lord referred when in Matt. 24.29 and 
Luke 21.11. He speaks of the signs that will precede His Second Coming.”’ 


656 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


‘God now begins,” says Weidner, “‘in a direct way to bring to an 
end the Great Tribulation through which His faithful ones are passing 
by visiting judgment upon the followers of the Antichrist.”’ 


Ver. 1. “a great voice out of the temple’’,—According to Chap. 
15.8, the voice of God. (A. B. L. F. Zu. Dus. Hen. Weid.) 


‘THE FIRST BOWL. 


Ver. 2. “‘went and poured’’,—Each angel as his turn comes leaves 
the heavenly scene and from the space between heaven and earth pours his 
bowl out upon the appointed object. (See Exodus 9.9.) 


“notsome and grievous’’,—A more general expression for ‘“‘bad and 
evil’. As usual the Allegorical and Historical interpretations of this plague 
have been of infinite variety. Elliott, with many other interpreters (Faber, 
Keith, Galloway, Cuninghame), explains it to prefigure ‘‘that tremendous 
outbreak of social and moral evil, of democratic fury, atheism and vice, 
which was speedily seen to characterize the French Revolution.” 


While some take the sores literally, others (Gab.) interpret sym- 
bolically of the breaking out-of the internal corruption of the world in 
its vile and apostate condition. 


THE SECOND BOWL. 


Ver. 3. “‘as of a dead man:’,—WNot the idea of a great pool of blood 
as of many slain (D. Ei. Hen.) but loathesome and corrupting blood 
clotted and putrefying as when a dead man lies in his own blood. (A. B. 
Zu. Dus.) 

Elliott interprets this bowl as a judgment that would fall on and 
destroy the maritime power, commerce and colonies of the countries of 
Papal Christendom; that is, of France, Spain and Portugal, these being 
the only Papal kingdoms to which such maritime colonies and power 
attached. And the fulfillment of the prophecy, he says, stands conspicu- 
ous in the history of the wars that arose out of the French Revolution. 

Perhaps most commentators interpret all these vial judgments sym- 
bolically, making the sea in this instance represent the nations in restless 
state and this vial as designating the moral and spiritual death among 
the nations. The future alone can decide the question, but the close 
resemblance to the Egyptian plagues suggests that the fulfillment may be 
a literal one. 


THE THIRD BOWL. 


Ver. 4. “and tt became blood’’,—It does not say “‘they became’, 
i. e., the waters, although some ancient authorities so read. The reading 
may be, however, as in the margin, “‘there came’’, which reading is also 
proper in connection with the first two vials. The singular, however, “‘it 
became’, can be retained and, in harmony with the analogy of Chap. 8.11 
and the first two vials, it seems best to think of the rivers and the fountains 
becoming blood. The rivers and fountains may be taken together and 
be regarded as neuter, and so the singular “‘it’’ be used. 


Ver. 5. ‘“‘the angel of the waters’’,—Not the angel who emptied 
the bowl into the waters. (Eb. Gro. Weid.) A definite angel is meant 


657 


THE REVELATION: OF JOHN 


who is placed over the streams as his special sphere. (D. A. F. Ew. Zu. 
And. Lap. Hen.) 


“who art and who wast’’,—The ‘‘who is to come’ is absent here as 
in Chap. 11.17 because the coming is already in process of fulfillment. 

“thus judge’’,—Literally, “‘judge such things’; the “‘such things’ 
being the equivalent of “‘thus’’ and referring to verse 4, as seen by verse 6, 
where the blood of these rivers is referred to as their drinking water. 


Ver. 6. “they are worthy’’,—1. e., have merited this judgment and 
they have to taste the vileness and the bitterness of their apostacy. 


Ver. 7. “I heard the altar saying’,—The simplest way of under- 
standing these words is that they represent a personification of the altar. 
(A. F. D. Dus. Weid.) The altar speaks just as the blood of Abel is 
said to cry, and the stones of Jerusalem are said to cry out. Many exped- 
ients are resorted to’to avoid this explanation. Some supply a personality, 
“another angel of’? (Zu. Lut.) ; “the angel who guards the spirits of the 
martyrs’ (Gro.); “an inhabitant of heaven standing by the divine altar’ 
(Ew.). Others resort to allegory: ‘“The inner affection of the saints, 
angels, or men who by teaching rule the people.’ (Be.) ‘“‘The angelic 
‘powers as bearers of our prayers.’’ (And.) None of these explanations 
are deserving of serious attention. 

Elliott explains this bow! of a judgment of war and bloodshed that 
would begin to be poured out on the countries watered by the Rhine and 
the Danube and on the sub-Alpine provinces of Piedmont and Lombardy, 
all of which, he says, was fulfilled during the French Revolutionary wars. 


THE FOURTH BOWL. 


Ver. 8. “‘given unto it’’,—Not to the angel (B. El. Ew. Hen.), but 
to the sun (A. F. D. L. Dus.). So far as the grammar goes it could be 
either “unto it’’ or “‘unto him’’, but the sense of the passage refers it to 
the sun, while the gender testifies as strongly for the one as for the other. 
While some take the sun literally, Gaebelein prefers the symbolical mean- 
ing, the government ruling them, i. e., the Roman empire. 

“to scorch men with fire’,—The fire of the sun and not some other 
fire, as it is taken by some (B. Hen.), who refer “tt was given unto it’’ to 
the angel. 

“men’’,—This is perhaps to be taken generically simply as referring 
to men, although because of the definite article “‘the’’ it is possible to find 
reference here, as does Fausset, to the particular men who had the mark 
of the Beast. 


This bowl Elliott interprets of the darkening, partially or entirely, 
either of the power of the German emperor, who might be considered as 
most properly the sun in the symbolic firmament of Papal Christendom, 
or perhaps of the sovereigns of those Papal kingdoms, more in general, 
all of which was accomplished in the wars of the French Revolution. 


THE FIFTH BOWL. 


Ver. 10. “the throne of the beast’’,—-The throne given to it by the 
Dragon (Chap. 13.2). The throne of the beast refers here to the spot, 
the place where the power and presence of the beast had its proper resi- 
dence. “The actual center of his entire kingdom is here meant. The lands 


658 


THERE V BUATION OF JOHN 


over which he ruled were covered with darkness as in the ninth Egyptian 
plague. (Exodus 10.21-23.) Says Moorehead, ‘‘Judicial blindness smites 
his kingdom; madness and defiance rule.”’ 


“his kingdom’’,—The kingdom of the beast considered according to 
its geographical extent (A. Dus.), those lands which owned his rule. 


“was darkened’’,—Occasioned not by an injury to the sun but by a 
special miraculous act. (A. D. Dus.) 


“they’’,—1. e., the inhabitants, the worshippers of the beast. 


“gnawed their tongues for pain’’,—Not because of the darkness so 
much, as this is no cause for pain; but because, as verse 11 shows, of the 
plagues poured upon them by the preceding bowls, although the darkness 
makes them all the more unbearable. 


_ Ver. 11. This verse shows that the first three plagues are still con- 
tinuing: the sores are still in force. It shows that the bowls are cumulative 
and not successive. 


Elliott interprets the throne of the beast as the Papal seat of Rome, 
the judgment consisting in the abolition of the Pope’s temporal authority 
over the Roman state accompanied by insults and injuries heaped by the 
French on the Papal power from almost the very commencement of the 
French Revolution, the Pope himself being torn from his throne and 
carried a prisoner into France, where he died in exile in 1799. 


THE SIXTH BOWL. 


Ver. 12. “for the kings that come from the sun-tising’’,—The 
interpretation of these kings from the sun-rising is various indeed. The 
view of Ebrard, that they are the four angels of Chap. 9.4, and that of 
Ewald, that they are the Parthian allies federated with Nero going against 
Rome need merely to be mentioned to be set aside. 


Wordsworth says that the prediction is not necessarily a literal one, 
but that what is signified is that the Roman empire must be attacked, 
divided and weakened by enemies, and that this is most significantly ex- 
pressed here by adverting to the only enemies, Parthia and her allies, who, 
when this book was written, were able to make any impression upon that 
empire. But this view has no more in its favor than many other such 
which have been advanced in the interest of the Synchrono-Historical 
interpretation. 


Elliott of the Consecutive Historical School explains the Euphrates 
as the Turkish power, the same as that prefigured under the Sixth Trumpet 
as “‘loosed from the Euphrates’, which power, having overflown its 
Euphratean banks over Grecian Christendom, is here, as a symbolic river- 
flood, represented as being dried up, the process starting by internal revolt 
and insurrection in the Turkish empire in 1820, as the next great event 
after the out-pouring of the fifth bowl on the throne of the Beast. Elliott 
then calls attention to the fact that the Turkish power has been the greatest 
bulwark to the Mohammedan religion, and that Mohammedanism has 
been the most formidable obstruction to the Christianization of the Eastern 
world, and he therefore asserts, somewhat gratuitously it would seem, that 
what is here intended by the coming of the kings of the east is their con- 
version, the coming of eastern princes and peoples into the Christian faith. 


659 


THE REVELATION: OF JOHN 


But Alford rightly says that “‘to suppose the conversion of the 
Eastern nations or the gathering together of Christian princes to be meant, 
or to regard the words as referring to any auspicious event, is to introduce 
a totally incongruous feature into the series of bowls which confessedly _ 
represents judgment, the seven last plagues.” 


By others the expression has been taken of the restoration of the Jews 
to their own land. (Me. Br. New. Cun. Burgh.) But Alford’s objection 
weighs equally strong against this. Besides the Jews are not represented 
in Scripture to be so concentrated in eastern countries at the close of their 
dispersion, and furthermore they are not represented at this time as 
“kings’’, but as ‘‘a nation scattered and peeled and trodden down’’. 


The remarks of Alford, given above, bear equally against the view 
which makes these kings to be Jews adopting the Christian faith; or the. 
Babylonian Jews going to the aid of the Palestinian Jews, and it weighs 
especially against the view of Fausset who, following the ancient inter- 
pretation of Primasius, says these kings are primarily the transfigured saints 
coming with the King of kings, at His Second Coming, these saints being 
kings and priests, as set forth in Chap. 1.6. Fausset of course, in harmony 
with his interpretation, takes the drying up of the Euphrates in a figurative 
or symbolic sense, it being the mystical river of the antichristian Babylon, 
and its drying up the diminution of that Babylon’s power for opposition 
to the truth. 


We are inclined to think that the only understanding of the words 
under consideration which will suit the context or the requirements of this 
series of prophecies is that the kings of the whole earth are to be gathered 
in battle against God and the Lamb, and the way is thus prepared for 
those coming from the east. (A. D. Bl. Ew. Dus. And. Gab. Pet. Sco. 
Weid. ) 


The circumstance has its basis no doubt in the dividing of the waters 
of the Red Sea for the passage of the children of Israel. 

From the rising of the sun, the land beyond the Euphrates, conquer- 
ing hordes were wont to come from the earliest times down upon lower 
Asia and especially upon Canaan. ‘This affair must, in keeping with the 
other bowls, represent a judgment upon the ungodly. “These kings of the 
east are doubtless a part of the “‘kings of the whole earth’ (verse 14) and 
are instruments of the dragon and the beast who go up to war, not against 
Babylon (the apostate Church) but against believers. The plague of the 
sixth vial does not lie in the fact that thesé kings of the sun-rising come 
(L.), but that they assemble at Armageddon for their own destruction. 


On account of the saying that the river Euphrates was dried up, some 
(D. Eb. Hof. Bru.) maintain that a battle of the eastern kings against 
the spiritual Babylon is intended. But Hengstenberg says well, ‘‘that the 
expedition is directed not against spiritual Babylon, that is, Rome, but 
against Canaan, that is, the Church, is rendered manifest by verse 16, 
and as well by verse 14, and by the fact that all the other vials bear 
an oecumenical character, and sweep over all the earth, the whole of the 
God-opposing wickedness, and not merely some particular phase of it.” 
“The Euphrates’, says Hengstenberg, ‘‘is mentioned here merely in respect 
to the hindrance it presented to the march of the ungodly power of the 
world into the Holy Land, against the Holy City; against the Church.” 


660 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN’ 


The drying up of the river Euphrates may be taken of course sym- 
bolically of any barriers whatsoever which may have held back the kings 
of the east, the removal of which is symbolized by the drying up of the 
river. On the other hand it may quite as well be taken in an altogether 
literal sense. (A. Sim. Pet. Gab. Dus. Weid.) Dusterdieck, whose inter- 
pretation in the main we believe to be correct, contends that these kings 
from the sun-rising refer proleptically to the ten kings of Chap. 17.12 
who give their power to the beast, and that in Chap. 17 will be found 
the details of their defeat. This is, however, perhaps more than we are 
warranted in drawing from the text. 


Vers. 13-16. These verses contain without doubt a parenthetical 
vision. 


Ver. 13. “the false prophet’’,— The second beast of Chap. 13.11. 
“anclean’’,—Designating also the demoniacal nature of these spirits. 


“as it were frogs’’,—The form in which the spirits appeared. “The 
likeness is to be explained from the uncleanness, offensiveness and per- 
tinacious noise of the frogs. The representation may rest upon I Kings 


22A20-22% 


Here again all sorts of interpretations too numerous to mention are 
given by the Allegorical and Historical Schools, such as, “‘three forms 
of divination in which Maxentius trusted’ (Gro.); the sophists, Faber, 
Eck and Emser (Lut.); the Jesuits, Capuchins, and Calvinists (Ca.) 

Elliott interprets these spirits as the spirit of infidelity proceeding 
from the mouth of the Dragon, the Devil; of popery proceeding from the 
mouth of the Beast, the Papal Antichrist; of priestcraft proceeding from 
the mouth of the False Prophet, the apostate Papal priesthood; all of 
which manifested themselves throughout France and England and other 
lands with great intensity beginning about the year 1830, and are still: 
operating in the world today. 


Ver. 14. Here we find the definition of these spirits, “spirits of 
demons’, and here it would seem the limits of interpretation are clearly 
set. Weidner says, ‘‘We must insist that these spirits are just as real as 
the dragon and his two beasts from whose mouths the spirits actually 
proceed.”’ 

“working signs’ ,—lLange says these are “‘lying, apparent miracles’. 
But it is the word always used for miracles in John’s Gospel. As the false 
prophet used miracles to seduce men to the worship of the beast, so do 
these spirits in order to gather the kings together for the great battle. 

“the kings of the whole earth’’,—The rulers of the inhabitants of 
the earth worshipping the beast. 

“unto the war’’,—The final conflict for the kingship of the world. 
This gathering is the signal for Christ’s coming as set forth in II Thess. 
baie 5) 

“the great day of God, the Almighty’’,—Explained in detail in 
Chap. 19. ‘It is evidently, as Craven says, the day of Christ’s appearing 
to establish His Millennial kingdom, and not the future final-end judg- 
ment (B. D. L. Dus.) ; nor yet is it hardly to be taken with Hengstenberg 
in a comprehensive way, denoting all the phases of God’s judgments. 


661 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


“This great gathering of the beast and of the kings of the earth 
against God and the Lamb, is,’’ says Alford, ‘‘the signal for the immediate 
and. glorious appearing of the Lord. And therefore follows in the next 
verse an exhortation to be ready and clad in garments of sane eb 
when He comes.’ 


Even this, some of the Historical interpreters refer to the devastation 


of Rome. (Ei. Ew.) 


Ver. 15. “I come as a thief’’",—The Lord Himself speaks. John 
apparently hears, and writes down as he hears, the words of Christ spoken 
in the midst of his vision. (F. L. Sim. Mil. Sei. Hen. Weid.) Others say 
it is the Seer speaking in the name of Christ. (A. D. Dus.) 

“Reepeth his garments’ ,—The figure of a man keeping watch in his 
clothes in apprehension of the coming thief. In a spiritual sense the gar- 
ments are the robes of righteousness put on by faith in Christ, the destitu- 
tion of which will cause the shame che of in that day. 


Ver. 16. ‘“‘And they gathered’’,—1i. e., the three unclean spirits. (A. 
F, D. Bl. Dus. Sim. Weid.) . 

If the English version ‘‘he’’ is retained, the reference would be to 
God (L. Eb. Hen. Gab.), and not to the angel of the Sixth Bowl (B.), 
nor to the Dragon (Ew.). 

“them’’,—1i. e., the kings just mentioned and their armies. 

“Har-Magedon”’,—'‘Har”’ means hill, mountain. “‘Magedo’’ means 
slaughter. Magedo is the name of the place where occurred the overthrow 
of the Canaanite kings by God’s miraculous interposition under Deborah 
and Barak. (Judges 5.9.) Here also Josiah was defeated and slain. (II 
Kings. 234293) 

Gebhart uses this last reference, viz., that as once in Magedo the 
Theocracy was borne to its grave in the defeat of Joshua, so in Har- 
Magedon the Lord will avenge the crime of the heathen. ‘The point of 
comparison, however, is rather with the first reference, namely, the defeat 
of God’s enemies, the Canaanites. (A. B. Eb. Dus. Kli. Weid.) 

Ar-Magedon means City of Magedon, or City of Slaughter; Har- 
Megedon means Hill of Magedon, or Hill of Slaughter. There is some 
reason for believing that, whether the one or the other word is used, it 
should not be regarded as the name of any one particular place, but that it 
rather gives the special characteristic of this final world-conflict. In fact 
we read in the Hebrew of ‘‘the waters of Megedo” (Jud. 5.19) and of’ 
“the valley of Megedo”’ (Zech. 12.11), but nowhere in the Hebrew Bible 
do we read of “‘the hill of Megedo” or of ‘‘the city of Megedo’’. The 
Megedo of Palestine is not a mountain, not even a hill, nor is it a city. 
In the neighborhood of Megedo (Megiddo), as Thompson, in his ““The 
Land and the Book”’ tells us, there is ‘‘only a little hillock or heap of 
sand’’, while in the common parlance of the Arabs and Syrians today the 
Megedo of Palestine is the very antithesis to a hill. It is a plain, and the 
Palestinian might therefore the more likely be the great ancient plain of 
Esdraelon, the great world’s battleground of all past ages. 

In keeping with the interpretation which makes the word descriptive 
of a characteristic (great slaughter) rather than a definite place, there are 
those who think the last world war just closed was indeed the very battle 


662 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


of Har-Magedon, and that therefore, as John Robertson says, ‘““The Second. 
_ Advent of our Lord is now by Prophetical schedule due, and may at the 
next tick of the watch in your pocket be seen in the sky.”’ 


“It is evident,’’ says Weidner, “‘that we must distinguish between the 
battle of Har-Magedon and the Day of Judgment; for in Zech. 14.4,5 
the mount of Olives, and in Joel 3.12 the valley of Jehosaphat, is repre- 
sented as the scene of that great event.” 


‘THE SEVENTH BOWL. 


Ver. 17. “upon the atr’’,—Perhaps as the abode of the powers of 
darkness, Satan being the prince of the powers of the air. 


“a great voice’’,—i. e., of God. (A. Sim. Wor. Dus. Weid.) 


“Tt ts done’’,—That is, the end has come, the time for the overthrow 
of the Antichrist. The Lord has come! 


Some (B. D. Dus. Hen.) say that was done which was commanded 
in verse 1. But it is better to explain as above and take the expression in a 
proleptical sense, importing that the outpouring of the seventh vial had 
done that which should accomplish all and bring in the end. ‘‘It is,’’ says 
Alford, ‘‘as if one who had fired a train should so speak even though 
the explosion had not yet occurred.’’ (L. F. Sim. Weid.) 


Ver. 18. Here we have the same signs as in Chap. 11.9, though 
extremely heightened. Verse 21 shows that verses 18-21 do not conclude 
the effects of the Seventh Bowl, but rather begin them, which effects do 
not cease until the overthrow of Babylon and the destruction of the great 
antichristian forces. 


Ver. 19. “‘And the great city’’,— 
ie PapaliRome:s (A; El Bar.) 


2. Heathen Rome, the great heathen metropolis. (D. Ew. Al. BI. St. 
Vol. Dus.) 


3. Jerusalem, which at that time will be antichristian and the seat of 
_ the Antichrist. (B. Eb. Zu. Mil. And. Lap. Sim. Her. Hof. Weid. 
Stern.) (See Chap. 11.8.) 


4. An ideal city embracing all anti-christianity, of which at that time 
heathen Rome was the highest representative point. (E. L.) 


Views 2 and 4 are quite the same in essence, Fausset declaring that 
the reference is to spiritual Babylon (heathen Rome), the capital and seat 
of the apostate Church. 

It is, after all, a matter of conjecture as to which city is intended. In 
favor of view 3, is the fact that it would be pointless to suppose Babylon 
to be mentioned twice in this one verse, while taken the other way there 
isaclimax. The identical expression, “the great city’’, is used of Jerusalem 
in Chap. 11.8. It must not be overlooked, however, that Babylon is even 
more often called ‘‘the great’. 

The objection to view 3 by Hengstenberg that the judgment of the 
vials is upon the heathen worldly power as opposed to God has no weight 
in view of the fact that if the interpretation of Jerusalem is here accepted, 
it must refer of course to Jerusalem as at that time under the power of the 
Antichrist. Dusterdieck argues in favor of view 2 that it follows from 


663 


THE UCRE VEDA TION LORTIOEUIN 


the connection of Chap. 13 as well as from the context here; but the 
strength of his argument is not apparent. One cannot afford in a case 
like this to be arbitrary 1 in his choice of expositions, but to us the inference 
seems to favor taking “‘the great city’’ as Jerusalem. 

‘divided’ ,—i. e., split by the earthquake. 

“into three parts’’,— (See Zech. 14.4,5). The meaning is doubtless 
that the city was broken up and overthrown, sustaining a very large and 
severe damage. It seems that the number “‘three’’ is here taken in a sym- 
bolical sense, as Stuart says, and that the reference is to the fact that the 
city was reduced to a ruinous state. Stuart, however, admits that the 
meaning may be that chasms in the earth divided the city into three parts. 


“cities of the nations fell’’,—Other great cities in league with the 
antichristian forces also fell from the violence of the earthquake. 

“Babylon the great’’,—The reference here is doubtless to spiritual 
Babylon, that is, heathen Rome, whose fate is referred to by way of antici- 
pation. (See Chap. 14.8.) 

Some make “Babylon the great’’ and “‘the great city’’ one and the 
same, referring both to Jerusalem (Mil.) or both to heathen Rome, but 
as already noted it would seem best to distinguish them. 

“remembered in the sight of God’’,—All the plagues were but pre- 
paratory, the divine intent being in the midst of them, to make Babylon 
drink the cup of His wrath in the judgment which is now to follow. (See 
Acts 10.31 on the expression, and Psa. 10.13 on the thing designated.) 


“flerceness’,— The boiling-over outburst. 


Ver. 20. (See Chap. 6.14.) Islands and mountains disappear, but 
earth remains. ‘The case is different in Chap. 20.11, says Burger. Heng- 
stenberg says the islands and mountains are indicative of kingdoms, and 
this may be true, but there is no strong reason for not taking the expression 
literally, as the result of earthquakes frequently is an effect of this kind. 


Ver. 21. “the weight of a talent’’,—-Fifty-seven pounds Attic, or 
ninety-six pounds Hebrew; sixty times heavier than ever known before. 

Says Ebrard, “‘We are assuredly not to imagine that actual, natural 
hail is meant.’’ “Thus also Barnes and Stuart and many others who think 
it only a frightful image to denote the terrible and certain destruction that 
is to come upon Babylon, symbolizing the tremendous blows of suffering 
and sorrow which the antichristian world sustains in this time of revolu- 
tion. ‘There is, however, no incontrovertible reason for not taking the 
hailstones in a literal sense. (RF. Pet. Gab. Sim. Weid.) . 

“and men blasphemed God’’,—1. e., those not being struck by the 
hail, the others being killed. A different issue than in Chap. 11.13. 

The destruction of Babylon alluded to is described in the following 
chapters. 

Elliott here joins, as it were, the Futurists and interprets this Seventh 
Bowl as symbolizing events yet future, although he gives to the entire 
passage a figurative meaning. ‘The “‘air’’ he explains to be the European 
political and moral atmosphere just as he explains the Apocalyptic firma- 
ment elsewhere to mean the political firmament, and the result of the 
pouring out of the Seventh Bowl is to be a convulsion, vitiation, and 
darkening of the moral and political atmosphere of Western Europe. The 


664 


THE-REVELA TION?’ OF JOHN 





thunders, lightnings and voices indicate, he says, the wars and tumults 
which are to follow, while the hailstorm, he seems to think, indicates 
that France, the most northerly of the Papal kingdoms, is to become at 
least one of the chief operators or instruments of the plague, inasmuch 
as he thinks a judgment from the North is indicated. Other expositors, 
comparing this prophecy with the one in Ezekiel 38 and 39, prefer to 
explain the hailstorm of Russia, inasmuch as the prophecy in Ezekiel 
seems to point to Russia’s taking part in the pre-millennial conflict. This 
last view, Elliott says, “‘is also not improbable.”’ 


Vitringa explains the hailstorm simply to indicate a judgment im- 
mediately from heaven, and refers to the hail which fell in the seventh 
Egyptian plague, and also that which fell on the Canaanites, as described 
in Josh. 10.11. 

Elliott also says, “‘It seems to me very possible that there may be here, 
too, that which shall literally answer to the prediction. Compare the as yet 
unfulfilled prophecy in Isa. 30.30. But the analogy of all the Apocalyptic 
prefigurations requires primarily a symbolic explanation.”’ 

The dividing of the great city into three parts Elliott explains as 
“the final breaking up of that decemregal form of the Papal empire, which 
has now characterized it for nearly thirteen centuries, into a new and tri- 
part form.” 


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 


1 And there came one of the seven 
angels that had the seven bowls, and 
spake with me, saying, Come hither, I 
will show thee the judgment of the great 
harlot that sitteth upon many waters; 
2 with whom the kings of the earth 
committed fornication, and they that 
dwell in the earth were made drunken 
with the wine of her fornication. 3 
And he carried me away in the Spirit 
into a wilderness: and I saw a woman 
sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, *full 
of names of blasphemy, having seven 
heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman 
was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and 

10r, names full of blasphemy 


“decked with gold and precious stone 
and pearls, having in her hand a golden 
cup full of abominations, ‘even the 
unclean things of her fornication, 5 


and upon her forehead a name writ- 
ten, *MYSTERY, BABYLON THE 
GREAT aloe eMOLHER IOP) THE 
HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMI- 
NATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And 
I saw the woman drunken with the 
blood of the saints, and with the blood 
of the ‘martyrs of Jesus. And when 
I saw her, I wondered with a great 
wonder. 

*Gr. gilded 

8Or, and of the unclean things 


‘Or, a mystery, Babylon the Great 
5Or, witnesses, See Chap. 2.13. 


THE MYSTERY OF THE SCARLET WOMAN AND THE BEAST. 
THE DIVINE VIEW OF ‘‘BABYLON’”’. 


Vers. 1-6. 


‘THE JUDGMENT OF BABYLON. 


Twice before has the fall of Babylon been introduced by way of 
anticipation (Chaps. 14.8 and 16.9), but in this and the succeeding 
chapter we are to have a detailed account of it. The time referred to is 
that immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. 


Ver. 1. “one of the seven angels’’,—Probably the one who poured 
out the seventh vial, because it was during the outpouring of his vial that 
reference is made to the fact that God remembered Babylon in the fierceness 


665 


PHEVREVEUAITTIONCOPSIORIN 


of His wrath. We are not, however, told which angel it js and it is useless 
to conjecture. It is the same angel who showed John, according to Chap. 
21.9, the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. 

“Come hither’’,—Barnes says, ‘“The reference is not to local motion 
but to a certain direction of the contemplation.”’ 

“T will show thee the judgment’’,—A promise not immediately ful- 
filled in verse 3, nor indeed even in this chapter. The harlot is shown in 
her antichristian form, but not until Chap. 18.1 does the judgment occur. 

“the great harlot’’,—This is explained in verse 18 as being a symbol 
of ‘‘the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth’. It is not 
uncommon in Scripture to represent a city under the image of a woman. 

“sitteth upon many waters’’,—This was literally true of the old 
Babylon. Verse 15 shows that by “‘waters’’ is here meant ‘‘peoples, and 
multitudes, and nations and tongues’ over which the city or government, 
symbolized by the woman, ruled. : 


WHO Is THE GREAT HARLOT? 


1. Babylon to be rebuilt on the Euphrates. 


2. A great world-city of the last days, either, one to be built as the 

seat of the antichristian government, or in an ideal sense, any and 

a ee cities that have directed persecution against the people of 
O 

Jerusalem. (Zu. Her. Hartwig.) 

Heathen Rome. (Dus. Hen. Sim.) 

PapaltRomeé. (AaB: WV WEI GanGab i Bare Goce Glass 


The apostate church of the future in general, Roman Catholic, 
Greek Catholic and unfaithful Protestantism. (F. Au. Mul. Pet. 
Hahn. Moor.) 


The first three views are not to be seriously Bessie 


1. Literal Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates which is to be. 
the seat of government during the end of this age. “This cannot 


NU BW 


be, because: 
(a): That city was not built on seven hills, but on the plains of 
Shinar. 


(b) Literal Babylon was never a part of the Roman empire, and 
as the Babylon of the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters is 
seen in closest identification with this empire and for a time | 
at least its center and capital, the Babylon in Asia is ruled 
out at once. 


The objection of Petingill that Babylon had long before John’s time 
ceased to “‘reign over the kings of the earth” is hardly relevant because 
Isa. 13.20-22 seems to imply that it is to be rebuilt. But even so, the 


two objections noted above outweigh any evidence that might be quoted 
in Babylon’s favor. 


2. A great world-city of the last days. There are no arguments of 
any strength adduced in favor of this view. Milligan gives four 
arguments against the view, but they are of little weight, express- 
ing themselves as they do from the standpoint of the School of 
Spiritual Interpretation. 


666 


PH eREVELAPION;JOF JOHN 


3. Jerusalem. ‘This city is also built on seven hills, four large and 
three small. But the fact that Jerusalem as well as Babylon is 
called “‘the great city’’ (Chaps. 11.8 and 16.19) is not sufficient 
ground for applying the reference here to that city. 


As to which one of the other three views should be accepted will per- 
haps be the easier decided after the exposition of this chapter. 


Ver. 2. The fornication here mentioned committed by the kings of 
the earth as well as by all the nations is of course of a spiritual sort and 
suggests that the harlot will seduce men from the worship of the true God 
to worldliness and sin and to the worship of the beast. 


Ver. 3. “carried me away in the Spirit’’,—This expression is found 
only here and at Chap. 21.10 where the vision of the New Jerusalem is 
introduced. It denotes spiritual ecstacy and here refers to a change wrought 
in the ecstatic direction of the spirit of the Seer, and not bodily removal. 


“into a wilderness’’,—Amidst all her pomp and luxury the place 
where she reigns is really desolate. Many think in keeping with verse 16 
that the harlot is to be seen in the wilderness because of the complete 
desolation pending over her. (D. Ew. St. Dus. And. Lap. Hof. Hen. Ros. 
Bar.) Hengstenberg confirms this conclusion by reference to the funda- 
mental passages of the Old Testament (Jer. 50 and 51 and Isa. 21.1). 
He further says we are led to this conclusion by the contrast of the great 
and high mountain in Chap. 21.10. 


The desert place or wilderness Elliott explains as a reference to the 
Campagna of Rome which is even now in an actual desolate state, a state 
which began when first the ten-horned beast of western anti-Christendom 
having emerged into existence, the harlot Church of Rome rose on its 
back to supremacy, and has so continued ever since. 


“a scarlet-colored beast’’,—The same beast as in Chap. 13.1. (F. 
A. L. St. Dus. Hen. Mil. Gab. Weid. Glas. Moor.), not only because of 
the features they have in common, and that he is always afterwards men- 
tioned as the beast, but Chap. 19.19,20 clearly identifies them. 


“scarlet colored’’,—Not the color of a covering (D. Zu.), but of the 
beast itself. It is a fiery red and is a sign of the blood shed by it. It 
implies blood-guiltiness and deep-dyed sin. 


“full of names of blasphemy’’,—These were found before only on 
the head of the beast, but now as ridden and guided by the harlot, over all 
the beast tenfold more blasphemous in its titles and assumptions than ever. 


“having seven heads and ten horns’’,—As did the beast in Chap. 13. 
(See verses 9 and 12 for the explanation of these heads and horns.) 


Ver. 4. “‘purple and scarlet’’,—Purple was the color of the imperial 
robe placed on Christ (John 19.2) and here indicates royal sovereignty, 
while the “‘scarlet’’ evidently refers to her being stained with the blood of 
the saints. (St. Dus. Weid.) 


Many Protestant commentators see in this verse a description of the 
robes of the Roman popes and cardinals, and perhaps not altogether 
unjustly, especially if in any sense the harlot can refer to Papal Rome. (A. 


BRVeEusGab:) 
667 


THE REVELATION: OF JOHN 


€ 


Alford refers the words “‘scarlet’’ and “‘purple’’ to the same thing, 
but while this is possible it is superfluous to designate by two emblems the 
same thing. 


“a golden cup full of abominations’’, etc..—The language is prob- 
ably founded on Jer. 51.7. Not that the cup serves her to drink the blood 
of saints and martyrs (verse 6), but the cup with which she invites and 
entices to drunkenness and uncleanness, the cup with which she seduces 
and corrupts the nations. 


Here the Allegorist has opportunity to give reign to his imagination, 
as for instance, ‘‘hypocrisy’’ (Be.), 1. e., the enticement of feigned truth; 
“worldly happiness, the majesty of government’ (Lap.); ‘‘Scripture dis- 
torted by wicked interpretation’ (Coc.); ‘“‘papal doctrine; the cup of the 
Wass Gaats 

Elliott finds in it a reference to the indulgences, the worship of relics 
and other sacrilegious impositions of the Romish Church, while in the 
purple and scarlet dress and precious stones he finds a prefigurement of the 
robes of the Romish dignitaries and the costly embellishment of their 
chapels and churches. 

About all we are warranted in reading from the text is that just as 
she was arrayed in gold, etc., so is the cup golden but is full of abomina- 
tions, holding as it does the wine of her fornication. 

“fall of’’,—This is first followed by a genitive (“‘abominations’’) 
and then by an accusative (“‘unclean things’). Many (A. BI. Ew. Hen.) 
make both depend upon “‘full of’’. ‘This gives a change of construction 
which is most remarkable, but Hengstenberg says it is allowable to avoid 
sO many genitives inasmuch as another genitive follows; while Alford 
says it is to mark a difference between the more abstract designation of the 
contents of the cup as ‘“‘abominations’’ and the specification, of them if the 
concrete as “unclean things’. 

Others (L. Dus.) avoid all this by connecting the accusative “‘unclean 
things’ with the verb “holding’’ and saying it is a later interpretation of 
the “‘abominations’. ‘They regard it as parallel with “‘cup’’. But this 
would seem to put the unclean things in her hand and not in the cup. 

Stuart more appropriately regards it as in apposition with “cup’’ and 
as exegetical of its meaning. 

Our text tries to adopt the idea of Dusterdieck and Lange by a pure 
apposition, but this is most crude. Of the four views that of Alford and 
the margin of our text appeal to us most strongly, although the difficulty” 
has to us no satisfactory solution. 


Ver. 5. “‘a name written’’,—As was customary with harlots. 


“MYSTERY’’,—It is difficult to decide whether this word is to be 
regarded as a part of the name, or as indicating the symbolical character of 
the city. Many (A. Hen. Wor. Lil.) think it belongs to the name. 
Lillie gives some five reasons for this view but they are hardly strong 
enough to be convincing, and it is better with other authorities (St. Dus. 
Bar. Sim. Mil. Weid.) to take it as indicating that what follows is to be 
symbolically, mystically, spiritually understood. 

According to some, the words following “Babylon the Great’’ are 
not to be considered a part of the inscription, but an exclamation of the 


668 


nee REVELATION: ORFJOHN 


author, inasmuch as Babylon would not thus openly and shamelessly wear 
a frontlet proclaiming such a character. (St.) — 


“BABYLON THE GREAT” ,— (See Chaps. 14.8 and 16.9). The 


chief city as the concrete representation of the whole antichristian empire 
in the days of the Antichrist. 


“MOTHER OF HARLOTS’’,—She is the chief of these and the 
cause of the rest being what they are. She made her own daughters, the 
cities of the Gentiles, to be harlots, and gave them to drink of her own 
cup of abominations, says Dusterdieck. 


She was the mother of “‘that spiritual apostacy from God, which in 
the language of the prophets is called adultery, and the promoter of 
lewdness by her institutions.’’ (Ba.) 


Ver. 6. “drunken with the blood’’,—A reeling, intoxicated harlot. 
“The phraseology,’ says Stuart, ‘‘is derived from the barbarous custom of 
drinking the blood of enemies slain in the way of revenge.”’ 


“saints and martyrs’ ,—There is no distinction in kind here. It is 
by their testimony as saints that they become martyrs. 


Here Elliott finds reference to the bloody persecutions which have 
characterized the Romish Church more especially during certain periods 
of her history. 


“IT wondered with great wonder’’,—There are many explanations 
advanced: 


1. “That such a woman could finally be the product of the historical 
development of the Church of faith then existent. He wondered 
at the degeneracy of the apostate Church. (L. Moor.) 


2. Because of the change in the beast which he had seen in Chap. 
iSehe (ib, 


3. Because of the phenomenon of so powerful a beast being con- 
strained to carry the woman. (B.) 


4. Because he recognized in the harlot the woman he had seen in the 
wilderness in Chap. 12 and marveled at the contrast. (A. F. Au.) 


5. Both the woman and the beast were each one a mystery, but it 
is the complex mystery of the beast bearing the woman that caused 
the wonder, and it was this that the angel explained in the follow- 
ing verses. (Dus. Crav.) 


Dusterdieck calls the fourth explanation as just given an egregious 
mistake because there is nothing in the text to occasion it; the mystery 
must be the thing the angel explained, and of the relation of the harlot 
to the woman of Chap. 12 not a word does the angel say. 


Moorehead objects to this view on the ground that the woman of 
Chap. 12 symbolizes Israel, the Messianic nation; and furthermore the 
woman, as protected in the wilderness in chapter 12, whoever she may 
symbolize, could hardly in so short a time become the vile and guilty 
harlot of Chap. 17. This latter objection, of course, is made on the 
ground that the wilderness experience of the first woman occurs but three 
and one-half years before the content of the present vision is to be realized, 
according to the Futurist view; but from the viewpoint of Alford and 
others who hold this fourth explanation this objection of Moorehead’s 


669 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


loses its force, because they think of the woman of Chap. 12 as the Chris- 
tian Church of Apostolic times. 


The fifth view above is perhaps the right one. 


7 And the angel said unto me, 
Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will 
tell thee the mystery of the woman, and 
of the beast that carrieth her, which 
hath the seven heads and the ten horns. 
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and 
is not; and is about to come up out 
of the abyss, ‘and to go into perdition. 
And they that dwell on the earth shall 
wonder, they whose name hath not been 
written “in the book of life from the 
foundation of the world, when they be- 
hold the beast, how that he was, and is 
not, and *shall come. 9 Here is the 
‘mind that hath wisdom. The seven 
heads are seven mountains, on which the 
woman sitteth: 10 and °they are seven 
kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the 
other is not yet come; and when he 
cometh, he must continue a little while. 
11 And the beast that was, and is not, 
is himself also an eighth, and is of the 
seven; and he goeth into perdition. 12 
And the ten horns that thou sawest are 
ten kings, who have received no king- 


dom as yet; but they receive authority 
as kings, with the beast, for one hour. 
13 These have one mind, and they give 
their power and authority unto the 
beast. 14 These shall war against the 
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome 
them, for he is Lord of lords, and King 
of kings; and they also shall overcome 
that are with him, called and chosen and 
faithful. 15. And he saith unto me, 
The waters which thou sawest, where 
the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and mul- 
titudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 
And the ten horns which thou sawest, 
and the beast, these shall hate the har- 
lot, and shall make her desolate and 
naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall 
burn her utterly with fire. 17 For God 
did put in their hearts to do his mind, 
and to come to one mind, and to give 
their kingdom unto the beast, until the 
words of God should be accomplished. 
18 And the woman whom thou sawest 
is the great city, which ‘reigneth over 
the kings of the earth. 


14Some ancient authorities read and he goeth 
°Gr. on 

8Gr. shall be present 

4Or, meaning 


®Gr. hath a kingdom 


5Or, there are 
Vers. 7-18. THE LAST FORM OF GENTILE WORLD-POWER. 
Ver. 8. “The beast ... was, and is not; and is about to come’, 


etc..—This expression occurring twice in this verse and also in verse 11 
with slight variation identifies the beast in each of these instances as one 
and the same. ‘The explanation is found in verse 10. 


“shall wonder’’,—1i. e., in admiration, and shall worship him. (Chap. 
13.3,4,8.) Fausset says, ‘““They exult with wonder in seeing that the 
beast which had seemed to have received its death-blow from Christianity, 
is on the eve of reviving with greater power than ever on the ruins of that 
religion which had tormented them.” 


Ver. 9. “Here ts the mind that hath wisdom’’,—See Chap. 13.18 
and Dan. 12.10, where spiritual discernment is required in order to 
understand the symbolical prophecy. Hengstenberg translates, “‘Here be- 
longs the understanding that hath wisdom,’’ meaning that wisdom here 
has its right place, and intimating that a problem is presented here which 
it is the province of the more profound spiritual insight to handle. ‘The 
words seem to indicate, says Simcox, that the mind which hath wisdom 
will recognize the meaning of the image, though it is obscurely expressed. 

The reference is to wisdom enlightened from above. The words 
bespeak attention and challenge spiritual discernment. (El.) 


“The seven heads are seven mountatns’,—In the next verse these 
same heads are said to be seven kings—seven mountains and seven kings— 


670 


‘THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


and thus is presented a problem which it is utterly impossible to solve to 
general satisfaction. [he usual interpretation is that by these words the 
city of Rome is pointed out. (A. D. EI. St. Gab. Pet. Dus. Lee, Bar. 
Sim. Moor.) 


Others say that while the specific reference is or may be to Rome, 1: 
has a wider reference to the various world empires which have arisen like 
great mountains in the world’s history, the specific reference being doubt- 
less to Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the 
empire which is to come. (F. Mil. Hen. Sad. Crav. Will. Gebh.) 

There are four arguments of considerable weight in favor of this last 
view: 

1. It is unreasonable to literally interpret the seven heads first of 

“mountains” and then of “‘kings’’. 


2. We are told in Chap. 13.3 that one of the heads was wounded 
to death and such a description cannot apply to a literal mountain. 


3. In the symbolic language of Scripture, Isa. 2.2; Dan. 2.35, and 
especially of the Revelation, mountains signify kingdoms. 


4. The explanation of “seven kings’, or “‘kingdoms’’, the terms 
being interchangeable in Scripture, seems to confirm the interpreta- 
tion adopted. 

We would have then a double description of the same object, first 
“mountains” and then “‘kings’’. The thought of Rome may have been 
present in the mind of John as one, perhaps even as the most important, 
phase of a much wider truth. 


But the text says plainly that the seven heads “‘are seven mountains 
on which the woman sitteth’’, and verse 18 says, “the woman ts the great 
city which reigneth over the kings of the earth’. The seven heads of the 
beast, then, as related to the woman, must apparently find their reference 
in something that has primarily to do with the city of Rome. But these 
heads are also related to the beast and in this respect they are said in the 
next verse to be kings. 


Ver. 10. “‘and they are seven kings’’,—There are three general 
interpretations of this expression. 


First. “That which takes it as referring to actual kings. 


Dusterdieck says that the entire force of the context demands this. 
This results especially, he says, from the description in this verse, and 
furthermore the entire sense of verse 11 depends upon this conception 
inasmuch as the future eight kings are contemplated as the human- 
personal manifestation of the whole beast. 

There is considerable difference in the enumeration of these kings. 

Of the schools of interpretation which place the fulfillment of the 
prophecy in the past, some start the five with Caesar, make the sixth 
(which is) Nero, and the seventh (which is to come) Galba (St. Wet.), 
while others claim that Caesar was a Dictator and not an Emperor, and 
start the five with Augustus, make the sixth (which is) Galba, and the 
seventh (which is to come) Otho. 

Dusterdieck, Simcox and others claim that with these enumerations 
the rest of the prophecy receives nothing that can be considered even as a 
typical fulfillment, and holding that Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, his 


671 


‘THE REVELA TION*OFP JOEIN 


successor, were only usurpers reigning but a few weeks each, they begin 
their enumeration of the five with Augustus, make the sixth (which is) 
Vespasian, and the seventh (which is to come) Titus, who continued but 
a short while, reigning only two and one-half years. 


Lange says it is no more necessary to take these ““kings’’ as so many 
actual, literal kings than it is to take the beast as an actual, literal beast or 
animal, while Alford says it misses the propriety of the symbolism and 
introduces utter confusion. 


Alford also calls attention to a fact in which there is considerable 
force, namely that the word “‘fallen’’ refers to a violent fall, an overthrow 
such as applies to the downfall of empires, and cannot refer to kings who 
die in their beds. It is also difficult to reconcile this view with the facts 
of the case, there being so much confusion introduced in the effort to name 
the kings. Nor is it hardly probable that John would enter into the 
minute details of the internal government of any heathen nation. 


Second. That which takes the seven kings as so many forms of 
government which the Roman empire would be under from its early origin 


to its final destruction. (B. El. Ar. Os. Gab.) 


The five which are fallen are Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, 
and Military Tribunes. The sixth, or the one which is, is the imperial 
form of government of John’s day, commencing with Augustus Caesar. 


As to this disposition of the first six forms of government, scholars 
adopting this method of interpretation are practically unanimous. 


The seventh, or the one which is to come and continue a short while, 
is variously interpreted; the Dukedom of Rome (New.), the Christian 
emperors from Constantine to Augustulus (Cun.), the Western Govern- 
ment after the division of the Roman empire into East and West (Me.). 


' But all of these views make the seventh head a Christian headship. 
How then can the eighth head be of the seventh? 


The seventh form of government Elliott conceives to be that ushered 
in under Diocletian, and which received its death wound under Julian 
through the Christian emperor Theodosius. The healing of the wound 
and the living again of the beast in its eighth head Elliott conceives to be 
the rising to prominence of the Papacy, as seen perhaps first in Pope 
Gregory, whereby the Popes of Rome began to be a new head to the 
empire, and this in the distinct character of Antichrist. 


Among the Futurists we have the following from Gaebelein: ““The 
seventh, the one which is to come, is the revived Roman empire of the’ 
future, the final form of Roman government. The eighth is the beast, 
as the text distinctly says, and is the emperor of this revived Roman 
empire, the ‘little horn’ of Daniel’s prophecy.” 

Simcox says of this method of interpretation in general, ‘‘Consider- 
ing that the Dictatorship, the Decemvirate and even the Military Tribunes 
were but transitory episodes in the Roman government—the first avowedly 
exceptional, the second both exceptional and ephemeral, and all three, as 
well as the primitive monarchy, probably unknown to John’s original 
readers—this view does not appear even plausible.’’ Other objections 
have been registered against taking the expression as referring to forms 
of government, but neither they nor Simcox’s are at all formidable. 


672 


(HE KEVELCATIONVJOR IOHN 





Third. ‘That which takes the beast as the embodiment of the God- 
opposed worldly imperial spirit, a general symbol of secular antichristian 
power, and takes the “seven kings’ here mentioned as empires or king- 
doms. (A. K. L. Au. Eb. Hen. Mil. Hof. Lud. Weid.) Here again is 
much division of opinion. The majority of commentators who follow 
this method of interpretation are agreed that the five fallen are Egypt, 
Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. 

And all such commentators are agreed that the sixth, or the one that 
is, is the imperial Rome of John’s day. 

The seventh, or the one which is to come, presents the difficulty. 
Some think of the Christian Roman empire beginning with Constantine, 
during which time the beast (antichristian pagan imperial Rome) ceases 
to be. (A. Mil. Sad. Will. Au.) Others think of the kingdoms, or world- 
powers of modern Europe, which have taken the place of the Roman 
empire, i. e., the present system of European governments. (K. Lud. Hof. 
Hen. Lee. Weid.) 

If the third method of interpretation be adopted (and to this we 
are inclined), then either explanation of the seventh king or kingdom may 
be appropriately taken. 

Alford says, “‘As related to the beast these heads are kings; not kings 
over the woman or the city she symbolizes, but kings in relation to the 
beast of which they are the heads. ‘Therefore to interpret these kings 
as emperors of Rome, or the successive forms of government over Rome 
(which, by the way, have never been made out) is to miss the propriety 
of the symbolism altogether and to introduce utter confusion.’”’ 

The difficulty in Gaebelein’s interpretation is that he begins with a 
form of government in which kings rule, then makes his seventh form 
of government also a kingdom (the revived Roman empire), and then in 
interpreting the beast himself as number eight (as the text does) he sud- 
denly refers the beast, not to a form of government, but to the “‘/ittle 
horn’’ of Daniel ruling over the revived Roman empire, the seventh form 
of government. It is to be noticed that while the third method of inter- 
pretation makes the heads to be world-kingdoms and the second method 
makes them different forms of government of the one Roman kingdom. 
they both unite in making the sixth head to be imperial Rome of John’s 
day. At this point the difficulty begins. To make the revived Roman 
empire (the beast himself, as Gaebelein admits and in fact contends) to 
be the seventh head (which is to come) as Gaebelein does, is to find our- 
selves without an eighth, for the text plainly says the beast himself is the 
eighth. Then, too, most certainly this revived Roman empire must be 
the last form of antichristian imperial power, and to make the “‘little horn” 
of Daniel, who plainly is to be the ruler over the empire represented by the 
beast, to be the eighth head of a regime which must of necessity follow 
the seventh is certainly not the most discriminating sort of interpretation. 
In other words he seems to make the beast represent both the seventh and 
the eighth head. It is for this reason we accept the third explanation as 
given above. 

“he must continue a little while’’,—Calls attention to the fact that 
this expression does not refer to a short continuance, but rather means 
Pass time’’, it being duration and not nonduration which is being 
stressed. 


673 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Others think that the idea of brevity is made prominent, i. e., his 
kingdom shall soon come to an end. (Dus.) 

The decision here must be made to fit in with the view, or rather the 
result of the view, taken above of the “‘seven kings’. 


Ver. 11. “And the beast that was, and ts not, ts himself also an 
eighth’’,—This is the beast named in verse 8. 

Among those who interpret the “‘seven heads’’ as seven actual kings 
is Simcox, who thinks that here the reference is to Nero, who is yet to 
return from the dead as Antichrist. Nero killed himself A. D. 68—‘‘was 
and ts not’, 1. e., he had been and was not at the time of this vision, but 
his reappearance was looked for by man. 

This eighth beast, it would seem, is to be the eighth world- -power 
concentrating in itself, as Weidner says, all the rage and God-opposed spirit 
of the seven preceding kingdoms, and is the last and worst manifestation 
of the ungodly power of the world. Its king, he says, will doubtless be 
the Antichrist, prefigured by the “little horn’ of Daniel. (F. Sad. Weid.) 


“and ts not’’,—This refers to the time during which it was ““wounded - 
to death’’, and has the deadly wound” of Chap. -13-3. 

Dusterdieck says, ‘“This eighth king cannot be symbolized by a head 
on the beast, because he is not one of their series and has a different position 
from them.’ “Thus the explanation of Hengstenberg and Klieforth who 
maintain that in the seventh head the eighth is also found, cannot be 
accepted; nor can that of Vitringa be accepted, who maintains that there 
is a true head of the beast distinct from the seven and that this is the 
eighth. No single head can fully represent it, says Milligan. 

Elliott says the seventh head vistble on the beast is in order of exist- 
ence its eighth, this eighth head having evidently sprouted up from the 
seventh or preceding one cut down, this last having been “‘wounded to 
death by a sword”. But this “deadly wound was healed” by the sprout- 
ing up of an eighth in its place. It was a new seventh in place of the 
old seventh; so that the last head visible on the beast, though visibly the 
seventh, was in point of chronological succession the eighth. It was on 
this new seventh head, or in other words, the eighth head that the ten 
horns appear with the ten diadems on them. 

“ts of the seven’’,—Not one of the seven, but out of them, i. e., 
their result and succession. (A.) It is not therefore that “‘his fate is that 
of the seven’’, i. e., he must fall, go to ruin (Hen. Gebh.); nor that he 
is one of the seven, in the sense of Nero coming back (D. St. Ew. Vol. 
Hil.) , which is incompatible with the words of the text and unjustified in 
a simple exegetical respect. 

Fausset has well expressed what seems to be the right interpretation 
of these words. He says, ‘““The eighth is a new power or person proceed- 
ing out of the seven, and at the same time embodying all the god-opposed 
features of the previous seven concentrated and consummated, the eight 
being the embodiment of all the seven.’’ He proceeds from the totality 
of the seven, says Lange. 

Milligan says, ‘““The preposition ‘of’ is to be understood in its com- 
mon acceptance in John’s writings, as denoting origin, identity of nature; 
as Primasius puts it, ‘the beast is the essence, the concen tree expression 
of the seven, the embodiment of their spirit’.”’ 


674 


WHERE BOA IONZOR JOHN 


“goeth into perdition’’,—‘‘He does not fall like the other seven, but 
is destroyed by the Lord in person, going to his own perdition.”’ (F. A. 
Weid.) It means being cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. 


Ver. 12. The angel now turns from the heads of the beast to the 
horns. 


“And the ten horns are ten kings’’,—i. e., kingdoms regarded as 
summed up in their kings. (A. F. El. Bar. Hen. Mil. Sim. Gab. Weid.) 
These ten kingdoms represent the ultimate kingdoms of thts world which 
will wage war against Christ. ‘These correspond’’, says Gaebelein, “‘to the 
ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image and the ten horns of Daniel’s fourth 
beast.”’ 


Alford and Fausset say they are the ten European kingdoms which 
are to grow out of the fourth great kingdom of Daniel 7.23, and ‘“‘in the 
precise number and form here indicated, they have not,’ says Alford. 
“yet arisen, and what changes in Europe may bring them into the required 
number and form is not for us to say.’ “They are not therefore,’’ says 
Fausset, “kingdoms that arose in the overthrow of Rome, but are to arise 
out of the last state of the fourth kingdom under the eighth head.”’ 


Daniel says, ““The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon the 
earth (the Roman empire of John’s time); and as for the ten horns, out 
of this kingdom shall ten kings arise; and another shall arise after them, 
and he shall be diverse from the former and he shall put down three kings.” 


For the ten Romano-Gothic kingdoms extant A. D. 532 to which 
Elliott refers the ten horns see page 672. Elliott calls attention to the fact 
that while the number has varied slightly from time to time, now one less, 
and now one or two more, still the number ten will be found to have 
been maintained from time to time as that of the Western Rome or Papal 
kingdoms from the date mentioned on down to the present time. He also 
calls attention to the fact that these Romano-Gothic kingdoms did in the 
sixth century appropriate to themselves the Roman diademic badge of 
sovereignty. 


Many take the number “‘ten’’ symbolically as representing complete- 
ness, and referring to all the antichristian powers of the earth which were 


to arise after the sixth head or Roman empire had been broken up. (Hen. 
Mil.) 


Others, like Simcox, who take the same view of the kingdoms, say 
the number is exactly ten, but that we cannot as yet point them out 
exactly. Fausset and Alford and those agreeing with their interpretation 
also take the number as literally ten. It seems that there is no sufficient 
reason why it should not be so taken. 


“have recetved no kingdom as yet’’,—i. e., in John’s time, for that 
was still the period of the sixth kingdom. (Mil. Bar. Weid.) 


“authority as kings’’,—1i. e., have the authority usually exercised by 
kings. They will receive this authority about the time that Antichrist’s 
manifestation draws near. 


“with the beast’’,—It is implied that they reserve their kingly rights 
in their alliance with the beast (F. A.) ; ‘‘with the aid or cooperation of 
the beast’ (St.). They depend upon the beast for their authority, 


675 


THE REVELATION’ OF JOHN 


“exercise their authority in connection with the beast and under his influ- 
ence’ (Bar.); ‘“‘receive authority as associates and aids of the beast’’. 
(Dus. ) 

Fausset says it implies that they will be contemporaneous with the 
beast in its last or eighth form, although not until the latter part of his 
reign does the Antichrist associate these ten kings wih him. 


“one hour’’,—This is by all taken schematically or symbolically for 
a brief while. ‘The end will be very near when the ten horns appear.” 
(Sim.) This, says Lange, is “‘the specific antichristian evening of the 
world which preceded the Parousia.’’ Except for some — preconceived 
opinion no one would ever think of taking these words otherwise than 
here explained. 


Fausset says, “‘It is a definite time of short duration, during which 
the Devil is come down to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, having 
great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. It is probably the 
last three and one-half years.’’ With Fausset agree all Futurists who 
conceive the period in question to be that after the Rapture of the Church 
has taken place, at which time the ‘“‘war in heaven’’ occurred and Satan 
was cast down. 


Ver. 13. “one mind’’,—1. e., view, interest, consent. They have 
a common cause and a common theory and are united in one and the same 
purpose. 


Ver. 14. “war with the Lamb’’,—1i. e., in concert with the beast, 
described in Chap. 19.19. This will not be, says Fausset, until after they 
have executed judgment on the harlot, as set forth in verses 15 and 16. 


“they that are with him’’,—1i. e., the saints who shall accompany 
Him when He comes. 


Ver. 15. (See Isa. 8.7 for a similar figure.) It is here, says Alford, 
en infamous parody of Jehovah who sitteth upon the flood. (Psa. 29.10.) 
The waters seem to signify the sum total of the inhabitants of the earth, 
for the great city Babylon “‘shall reign over the kings of the earth’’. (Dus. 
Weid.) 


Ver. 16. “‘these shall hate the harlot’’,—The harlot is ruined in a 
manner least expected. [The next verse shows that God is the moving 
cause of this ruin, but the immediate occasion is not revealed; it is simply 
stated that they shall hate the harlot and annihilate all her glory. This 
verse is an anticipation of the theme of the next chapter. 

“desolate and naked’’,—Her former lovers shall desert her and she 
shall be stripped of her adornments. 

“eat her flesh’’,—-A symbolic expression meaning to confiscate her 
possessions. | 

“burn her with fire’’,—The legal punishment of abominable forni- 
cation. Elliott very strangely conceives of the burning of the harlot by 
the ten horns as referring to a state of existence previous to that pictured 
in the chapter before us and explains it of the spoiling and burning of 
imperial Rome by the ten Gothic powers in the fifth and sixth centuries. 


Ver.17. “‘to do hts mind’’,—i. e., to accomplish his purpose, whilst 
they think only of doing their own purpose. The word “‘his’’ refers to 


676 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


God (F. A. L. Hen. Vul. Weid.), and not to the beast (D. B. Dus. Lud. 
Vole 


“should be accomplished’’,—1. e., in the destruction of the harlot. 


Ver. 18. Showing that the harlot, the great city and Babylon the 
great are one. 


Recurring now to the question of who the great harlot is, we must 
come to some decision as between Heathen Rome, Papal Rome and the 
Apostate Church, as set forth under verse 1 of this chapter. 


First. Pagan Rome. (Dus. Hen.) But against it are the following 
arguments: 


(a) John would not have dared to so speak of Rome in either the 
days of Nero or Domitian, as cherishing an antichristian thirst 
for the blood of the saints. (L.) 

(b) Pagan Rome was never turned upon and treated by any world- 
powers as is set forth by verse 16. 


(c) Chap. 18.2 describes a devastation such as never took place with 
regard to Rome as a heathen city. (A. Sim.) 


(d) Chap. 17.2 is unsuitable to Pagan Rome because she ruled all 
the world and there were practically no independent kings for 
her to commit fornication with. She ruled with crushing sway 
rather than enticed with blandishments. (L. A. Sim.) 


(e) Chap. 18.11,19 is unsuitable to Pagan Rome because she never 
was a great commercial city, and she did not cease to purchase 
even after her pagan condition came to an end. (Mil.) 

(f) Chap. 18.19 is fatal to the Pagan Rome theory because Babylon 
the great is to be in existence when the last plagues are poured 
out. 

(g) It is with great difficulty that Chap. 18.24 is applied to Pagan 
Rome because it is hardly true in her case. “The words of this 
verse are apparently founded on Matt. 23.35. 


(h) Simcox says this view supposes that the beast in its final form 
is controlled by the metropolis of the Roman empire (Chap. 
17.3), but this 1s so far from being the case that the Roman 
pagan empire is fallen before the woman comes on the stage, it 
having disappeared as completely as the other world-powers 
that ruled before it. 


Verses 9 (if the mountains are taken literally), 15, and 18 may seem 
in a way to favor Pagan Rome, but the arguments against this view are 
decidedly preponderant. 


Second. Papal Rome. (A. El. Bar. Wor. Gab. Glas.) The old 
Protestant view. Alford argues for this view from the fact that eighteen 
times out of the twenty-one mentions of harlotry in the Bible, the reference 
is to the Church or the apostate people of God; and Simcox says the three 
exceptions may be more apparent than real. (See Isa. 1.21; Jer. 2.20; 
3 lee ezek. 16 and 23; Micah 1.7.) 


Milligan argues also that the harlot is so distinctly contrasted with 
the woman of Chap. 12 and with the bride of Chap. 21 that it seems 


677 


‘THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


there is a much closer resemblance between them than that which exists 
between a woman and a city. 


Simcox objects with great fervor to the application of this image to 
Papal Rome. He says John’s first epistle Chap. 4.2,3 shows distinctly 
that it cannot be her. The spirit of the theology of the Roman Catholic 
Church is on the whole of God, and certainly is not the spirit of Anti- 
christ. 


Third. The apostate Church of the future. (F. Pet. Sim. Hahn. 
Moor.) Says Fausset, ‘It cannot be Pagan Rome, but if a particular seat 
of error be meant it may find its reference in Papal Rome, but I incline to 
think that the judgment of Chap. 18.2 and the spiritual fornication of 
Chap. 18.3, though finding perhaps their culmination in Papal Rome, are 
not to be restricted to it, but comprise the whole apostate Church, Roman, 
Greek and even Protestant, so far as it has been seduced from its first love 
to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and given its affections to worldly 
pomp and idols.’’ In favor of this view are the following: 

(a) All the arguments for Papal Rome given above apply with equal 

and even greater force to the Apostate Church in general. 

(b) Antichristianity rises only in corrupt Christianity, and any 
other reference misapprehends this fact; though this argument, 
while militating against the idea of Pagan Rome, applies with 
equal force to Papal Rome. 

(c) This view alone recognizes the broad scope of the aschatological 
vision. 


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 


1 After these things I saw another of her plagues: 5 for her sins “have 
angel coming down out of heaven, hav- reached even unto heaven, and God hath 
liek great authority; and the earth was remembered her iniquities: 6 Render 
ightened with his glory. 2 And he 
cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, unto her even as she rendered, and 
fallen is Babylon the great, and is be- double unto her the double according 
come a_ habitation of demons, and a to her works; in the cup which she, 
"hold of every unclean spirit, and a mingled, mingle unto her double. 7 
"hold of every unclean and hateful bird. How much soever she glorified herself, 
3 For *by *the wine of the wrath of her and waxed °wanton, so much give her 
fornication all the nations are fallen; of torment and mourning: for she saith 
and the kings of the earth committed in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no 
fornication with her, and the merchants widow, and shall in nowise see mourn- 
of the earth waxed rich by the power ing. 
of her *wantonness. 8 Therefore in one day shall her 

4 And I heard another voice from plagues come, death, and mourning, and 
heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, famine; and she shall be utterly burned 
out of her, that ye have no fellowship with fire; for strong is ‘the Lord God 
with her sins, and that ye receive not who judged her. 

1Or, prison 5Or, clave together 

“Some authorities read of the wine . . . 6Or, luxurious 
have drunk TSome ancient authorities omit ‘he Lord 

3Some authorities omit the wine of ; 


4Or, luxury 


Vers. 1-8. Gop’s PEOPLE WARNED TO COME OUT OF BABYLON. 


As in Chap. 14.8, so here in verses 1-3 we have a proleptic announce- 
ment of the destruction of Babylon as having already taken place. 

“The chapter relates,’’ says Elliott, ‘“‘to the probable progress of 
events in the fast coming future.” 


678 


THESREVERATIONS OF JOHN 


Ver. 1. “another angel’’,—This doubtless refers to another angel 
besides the one who had just showed John the mystery of the woman and 
the beast in Chap. 17 (St. Dus. Bar. Weid.), or, joining the words to the 
following “coming down’’, it may mean besides the one that last came 
down(B.). It does not therefore mean Christ (Ca. Hen.), nor the Holy 
Spirit (V. Coc.), and of course not Luther (Nicolai). 


“having great authority’’,—1i. e., possibly as the executor of the 
judgment he announced (E. Weid.), although there is in the expression a 
strong intimation that he was an angel of the higher rank or order. (St. 


Bar. Weid.) 


“the earth was lightened with his glory’’,—The visible sign of his 
great plentitude of power and authority just mentioned? the glory of the 
Lord accompanied him. 


Elliott thinks that this together with the fact that the angel cried 
with a “‘mighty”’ voice, thus reaching throughout the whole earth, indicates 
that just prior to the event prophesied “‘there will be a diffusion of great 
religious light’. Vitringa is of the same opinion, while Daubuz infers 
that not only will the idolaters of the corrupt Church be enlightened and 
converted by the fall of Babylon, but that this event will be followed by 
a conversion more general. All this is, however, mere inference, and that 
without the merest warrant. 


Ver. 2. “he cried with a mighty voice’,—So that his message 
resounds throughout the whole earth, as far as the dominion of the city 
that has incurred the judgment extends. ‘This is the only place where 
the word “‘mighty”’ is used with “‘voice’’, the usual word being “‘great’’. 
Milligan thinks the thought is not that all men might hear the voice, 
although this is true, but that it is to strike all with awe and terror. 

“habitation of demons’’,—The stately city shall be entirely desolate. 
CIsao722. 934214.) 


“a hold’’,—A place of detention, a prison house. (A. F. St. Hen. 
Sim.) It is a figurative description of entire desolation; beasts and birds 
of prey dwelling in the deserted ruins and demons making their abode 
there. So great will be the desolation of Babylon the Great after it has 
been destroyed by the Antichrist and his allied kings. John uses the very 
words of Isaiah in describing this destruction. (Isa. 21.9.) 

Scofield says here, ‘‘Babylon, ‘confusion’, is repeatedly used by the 
prophets in a symbolic sense. “Iwo ‘Babylons’ are to be. distinguished in 
the Revelation: ecclesiastical Babylon, which is apostate Christendom, 
headed up under the Papacy; and political Babylon, which is the beast’s 
confederate empire, the last form of Gentile world-dominion. Ecclesias- 
tical Babylon is ‘the great whore’ (Rev. 17.1), and is destroyed by politi- 
cal Babylon (Rev. 17.15-18), that the beast may be the only object of 
worship (II Thess. 2.3,4; Rev. 13.15). The power of political Babylon 
is destroyed by the return of the Lord in glory. The notion of a literal 
Babylon to be rebuilt on the site of ancient Babylon is in conflict with 
Isa. 13.18-22. But the language of Rev. 18 (e. g., verses 10, 16, 18) 
seems beyond question to identify ‘Babylon’, the ‘city’ of luxury and 
traffic, with ‘Babylon’ the ecclesiastical center, viz. Rome. “The very kings 
who hate ecclesiastical Babylon deplore the destruction of commercial 
Babylon.” 


679 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Ver. 3. ‘“‘For’’, etc..—The guilt of sin is here declared to be the 
foundation of the judgment. (See Chap. 17.2.) 


“by the power of her wantonness’’,—The word “‘wantonness”’ 
means insolence, pride, revel, riot, luxury, and the thought is that of inso- 
lence and voluptuousness breaking out into boastful vauntings of pride 
and dissolute revelry. ‘‘Wanton luxury” is really a good translation for it. 
Of course the views here taken are colored by the general view of the 
expositor. 

Those referring Babylon to Pagan Rome (V. Dus. Gro. And. et al.) 
explain the expression of the wantonness exercised with respect to the 
vast resources of the state. It must be remembered, however, that the 
outside kingdoms did not get rich off of Rome, but vice versa. 

Fausset rightly says the reference is not to earthly merchandise, but 
to spiritual wares, to indulgences, idolatries, superstitions, worldly com- 
promises wherewith the harlot, the apostate Church, has made merchan- 
dise out of men. He says it may and doubtless does apply.to Rome papal, 
but it applies to the Protestant Church as well, i. e., the whole apostate 
Church. 


Ver. 4. “‘another voice from heaven’’,—Not the voice of the Church 
triumphant speaking to the Church of God on earth (L.); nor is it the 
voice of God or Christ (B. Hen.) , which would not accord with the length 
or the descriptive tone of the lamentation, the discourse extending to verse 
20; this together with the fact that from verse 9 the grievance of another 
is presented is not appropriate for the mouth of God or Christ. It is 
doubtless an angel speaking in the name of Christ. 

“Come forth, my people, out of her’’,—Saints of God even to the 
last are found mingling with the great city. (See Jer. 51.6,9,45, whence 
the words are taken.) 

“have no fellowship with her sins’’,—To thus have fellowship with 
her sins means to incur the guilt of her sins, and hence the plagues, if 
received, would be deserved. It would be impossible to remain in her 
without guilt. 

Sadler says, “This of course will not come as an audible voice from 
heaven, but it will be a secret, yet universal intimation to all that are in 
the mystical Babylon, that they are to leave her society and her fellow- 
ship.”’ 

“The period,’ says Williams, “‘of this command in the Apocalypse 
appears to be on the great rising of the Antichrist above all; and on the 
destruction apparently of the outward, visible frame and form of Chris- 
tianity, which is to precede the end.”’ 


Ver. 5. “her sins’’,—Not the cry of her sins (D.), but her sins 
being heaped up, as it were, reach even unto heaven. 

“The Babel-tower of sin is a tower which man builds in pride, and 
when its top reaches to heaven, then it is suddenly thrown down.” (Wor.) 


Ver. 6. The one speaking in God’s name now turns to those who 
are to execute God’s wrath. Not to angels (St.), but rather to Antichrist 
and his allied kings. (Mil. Weid.) 

“double unto her the double’’,— (See Isa. 40.2 and Jer. 50.15,29). 


680 


MHESREVELATION OF JOHN 


“in the cup’’,—She is to receive a double portion of the wine of. the 
wrath of God. (See Chap. 14.8,10; 17.4.) 


Ver. 7. Proud security transformed into deepest sorrow. 

“queen’’,— (See Isa. 47.7). 

“no widow’’,—i. e., because the world-power is my husband and 
supporter. (See Chap. 17.5; Isa. 17.8.) 


“shall in no wise see mourning’’,—i. e., not know it by experience. 


Ver. 8. “‘Therefore’’,—i. e., on account of her pride, her luxury 
and her boasting. 

“in one day’’,—1i. e., in one great catastrophe, without succession 
through a contracted period. 

“death’’,—That which makes her a widow. 

“mourning” ,—That which she said she would never experience. 

“famune’’,—This she is to have instead of luxury and abundance. 

“and she shall be utterly burned with fire’’,—-The punishment of a 
fornicatress according to the Old Testament law. (Lev. 21.9, etc.; see 
Chap. 17.6.) It is here the emblem of thorough destruction. 


Vers. 9-19. 


9 And the kings of the earth, who 
committed fornication and lived ‘wan- 
tonly with her, shall weep and wail 
over her, when they look upon the 
smoke of her burning, 10 standing afar 
off for the fear of her torment, saying, 
Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the 


strong city! for in one hour is thy - 


judgment come. 11 And the merchants 
of the earth weep and mourn over her, 
for no man buyeth their *merchandise 
anymore; 12 “merchandise of gold, and 
silver, and precious stone and pearls, and 
fine linen, and purple, and silk, and 
scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every 
vessel of ivory, and every vessel made 
of most precious wood and of brass, 
and iron, and marble; 13 and cinna- 
mon, and “spice, and incense, and oint- 
ment, and frankincense, and wine, and 
oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, 
and sheep; and merchandise of horses 
and chariots and ‘slaves; and ‘souls of 
men. 14 And the fruits which thy soul 
lusted after are gone from thee, and all 


10r, luxuriously 

2Or, cargo 

°Gr. amomum 

4Gr, bodies, Gen. 36.6 (Sept.) 
5Or, lives 


BABYLON. 


things that were dainty and sumptuous 
are perished from thee, and men shall 
find them no more at all. 15 The mer- 
chants of these things, who were made 


rich by her, shall stand afar off for 
the fear of her torment, weeping and 
mourning; 16 saying, Woe, woe, the 
great city, she that was arrayed in fine 
linen and purple and scarlet, and “decked 
with gold and precious stone and pearl! 
17 for in one hour so great riches is 
made desolate. And every shipmaster, 
and every one that saileth any whither, 
and mariners, and as many as ‘gain their 
living by sea, stood afar off, 18 and 
cried out as they, looked upon the smoke 
of her burning, saying, What city is like 
the great city? 19 And they cast dust 
on their heads, and cried, weeping and 
mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great 
city, wherein all that had their ships in 
the sea were made rich by reason of her 
costliness! for in one hour she is made 
desolate. 


6Gr. gilded 
IGr. work the sea 


THE EARTHLY LAMENTATION OVER THE DESOLATION OF 


Ver. 9. At this point three distinct classes of persons are introduced 
to us, uttering their lamentations over the fall of Babylon; kings, mer- 
chants and sailors, their lamentations being of a selfish nature of course. 

“the kings of the earth’’,—Who bore a more or less immediately 
active part in her destruction. 


681 


PHESREVELATION OF JOHN 


“weep and wail’’,—''The deed of the wicked,” says Milligan, “‘even 
when effecting the purposes of God, bring no joy to themselves.” ~ 


“the smoke of her burning’’,—Dusterdieck adheres to an actual burn- 
ing and says that the kings, dreading the burning, stand at a distance 
according to verse 10; whereas Alford contends that this verse is an actual 
objection to the literal understanding of the prophecy in its details, “‘It 
can hardly be imagined’’, he says, ‘‘that the kings should bodily stand 
and look as described, seeing that no combination of events contemplated 
in the prophecy has brought them together as yet.”’ 


Fausset of course refers the expression to a mystical burning of the 
Apostate Church, as a figure of total and irretrievable desolation. 


Barnes, who refers it to the fall of Papal Rome, must of course also 
take it figuratively. 


Elliott thinks that this destruction, which he refers to Rome, the 
mystic Babylon, comprehending not the mere city of Rome, but at least 
Papal Ecclesiastical Rome, is to be effected by the agency of an earthquake 
and a volcanic fire the smoke of which it is said in Chap. 19.3, “‘goeth up 
forever and ever’’. This, he says, could not well be if it was a mere 
burning by human agency, and if by human agency, “‘whence all the terror 
and standing afar off of the kings, merchants, and shipmasters’’, he asks. 


Vitringa and Daubuz refer the catastrophe to the fire with which the 
ten kings are represented in Chap. 17 as burning the harlot, but Elliott's 
objections just registered, if valid, would apply equally here; and besides, 
says Elliott, ‘““how could the kings well have been her burners now, when 
in fact they were her mourners?”’ 


Ver. 10. “‘standing afar off for the fear’’,—i. e., because of their 
own fear. “They seem to be afraid that the destruction might reach them. 
(L. F. Dus. Sim. Weid. ) 


Fausset says, ‘‘God’s judgments inspire fear even in the worldly, but © 
it is of short duration, for the kings and great men soon attach themselves 
to the beast in its last and worst shape, as open Antichrist, claiming all 
that the harlot had claimed in blasphemous pretentions and more, and so 
making up to them for the loss of the harlot.” 


“great city ... strong city’,—Making still more forcible the im- 
pression of its destruction. 


Ver. 11. The lament of the merchants. Many think that the 
description in this verse and the following goes hard with the mystical or 
spiritual interpretation and that it favors the literal one. 


Alford, however, says the difficulty is not confined to its own ‘nter- 
pretation, i. e., Papal Rome, but extends to Pagan Rome in the literal 
sense, because Rome never was a commercial center, much less a market 
for the things mentioned. ‘Thus also Fausset. 


Craven, who holds the view that by Babylon the city of Rome is 
meant, says the difficulties suggested by Alford are imaginary rather than 
real. He says that John doubtless had Rome in mind as symbolizing 
the Apostate Church, and that the description does fit Rome of the time of 
John. And what Rome was in the past, the center of all commerce by sea 
and by land, it may again become in the future. 


682 


THEPAREVELA TION OF. JOHN 


Fausset, of course, says that all the merchandise is spiritual; Craven 
says that to Rome actual and Rome symbolical the description of these 
verses is applicable. 


Alford frankly acknowledges that he must leave the difficulty un- 
solved. But Barnes, who holds the same view as Alford, seems perhaps 
best to resolve the difficulty, and what he says as respects Papal Rome one 
may as easily and as properly say of the Apostate Church in general. He 
says, ‘It is not necessary to suppose that all this would be literally true or 
characteristic of Papal Rome. All this is symbolical, designed to exhibit 
the Papacy under the image of a great city, with what was customary in 
such a city, or with what most naturally presented itself to the imagination 
of John as found in such a city. The enumeration of the articles of mer- 
chandise seems to have been inserted for the purpose of following out 
the representation of what is usually found in such a city, and to show 
the desolation that would occur when the traffic was suspended. So in 
regard to the traffic in slaves (verse 13), it is no more necessary to suppose 
the Papacy would be engaged in the traffic of slaves than in the traffic of 
cinnamon, or fine flour, or sheep or horses.”’ 


Vers. 12,13. These, says Dusterdieck, give a view of the previous 
necessities of the luxurious city. 


Ver. 13. “‘slaves; and souls of men’’,—(Ezek. 27.13) Dusterdieck 
perhaps rightly remarks that the “souls of men’’ refer to slaves in general, 
while the word “‘slaves’’ (literally, bodies) refer to slaves belonging to 
the horses and chariots. (Thus also B. St. Ew. Hen. Sim. Weid.) By 
some the word “‘slaves’’ is translated “‘grooms’’. (St. Sim.) However, 
Lange well says, that the second expression is indicative of an augmenta- 
tion, the extreme consequence of slave-holding. 


Fausset says that apostate Christendom enslaves both body and soul, 
and that the selling of indulgences is but a sample of the latter. 


Weidner says, ‘“‘Many commentators interpret the contents of verses 
12 and 13 spiritually and refer these things to the Papacy, but Sadler cor- 
rectly remarks, ‘Not one of these commodities can be connected particularly 
with any ecclesiastical state of things. It is impossible, as regards the greater 
part of them, to interpret them spiritually’.”’ 

Ver. 14. A direct address to the city, not perhaps by John himself 
(St.), nor by the merchantmen in their lamentation (Weid.), nor perhaps 
by the angel of verse 1, but the rather by the angel of verse 4. It breaks 
the narrative which is resumed again in the next verse. It is a species 
of composition which greatly heightens the energy of the discourse. Alford, 
who seems to think of the merchantmen as speaking, says the passage need 
not occasion any difficulty, as it takes up the weeping and mourning of 
verse 11 as if the “‘their’’ had been “‘our’’, which is not unnatural in 
rhapsodical passages. 


Ver. 15. ‘“‘these things’’,—Those mentioned in verses 12 and 13, 
which have been summed up in verse 14 under things dainty and sump- 


fons. GAB. Dus.) 


Ver. 19. “cast dust on their heads’’,—A sign of their great mourn- 
ing. 


683 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


“costliness’’,—1i. e., treasures; the abstract being put for the concrete. 
The writer, says Stuart, means to designate the splendor and magnificence 
of building, furniture, dress, etc., which made a great demand for articles 
imported by sea from foreign lands. “The Babylon of the future will thus 
become the source of great wealth to all sea-merchants on account of the 
extravagance and luxury which mark her inhabitants. 


20 Rejoice over her thou heaven, and 
ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye proph- 
ets; for God hath judged your judgment 
on her. 

21 And ’a strong angel took up a 
stone as it were a great millstone and 
cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a 
mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, 
be cast down, and shall be found no 
more at all. 22 And the voice of harp- 
ers and minstrels and flute-players and 
trumpeters shall be heard no more at 
all in thee; and no craftsman, *of what- 


soever craft, shall be found any more 
at all in thee; and the voice of a mill 
shall be heard no more at all in thee; 
23 and the light of a lamp shall shine 
no more at all in thee; and the voice 
of the bridegroom and of the bride shall 
be heard no more at all in thee: for thy 
merchants were the princes of the earth; 
for with thy sorcery were all the na- 
tions deceived. 24 And in her was 
found the blood of prophets and of 
saints, and of all that have been slain 
upon the earth. 


1Gr. one 
*Some ancient authorities omit of whatsoever 
craft 


Vers. 20-24. "THE HEAVENLY REJOICING OVER THE DESOLATION OF 
BABYLON. 
Ver. 20. ‘Rejoice over her, thou heaven’’,—We cannot tell whether 


these words are John’s (Zu.), or those of the angel of verse 1, or those of 
the voice of verse 4. The last reference is perhaps the better. (St. Sim. 
Dus. ) 

“thou heaven’’,—i. e., those who dwell in heaven. 

“saints, apostles and prophets’’,—These are regarded as being in 
heaven. (L.A. St. Bar. Sim. Hen.) Hengstenberg says “‘saints’’ are the 
genus of which apostles and prophets are the most eminent species included 
in it. Dusterdieck, on the other hand, thinks these are referred to as being - 
on earth, and so he makes a distinction in this verse as between heaven and 
earth. 


“judged your judgment’’,—‘‘Hath exacted from her that judgment 
of vengeance which is due to you.” (A.) 


Ver. 21. “‘a strong angel’’,—The strength of the angel is empha- 
sized by what he did. 

“cast tt into the sea’’,—This is a symbolical act presenting in a most 
vivid manner both the suddenness and the completeness of the destruction 
of Babylon. } 

“found no more’’,—1i. e., as the magnificent city it had been (L.), but 
would continue as a desolate ruin for a memorial. (L 


Ver. 22. In this verse, says Weidner, emphasis is laid upon the fact 
that three kinds of the activities of life have ceased—the life of pleasure, 
the life of business and domestic life. For the imagery see Jer. 25.10 
and Ezek. 26.13, the first referring to Jerusalem and the second to Tyre. 

Ver. 23. What a contrast to the city of God in Chap 22! 


Ver. 24. Says Weidner, “The future Babylon, the great world-city 
of the last days, will be the central power from which all the persecutions 


684 


THE» REVELATION OF JOHN 


of the saints will arise, especially in the earlier part of Antichrist’s reign, 
before Babylon is destroyed by him and his allied kings.”’ 


CHAPTER NINETEEN 


1 After these things I heard as it were twenty elders and the four living crea- 
a great voice of a great multitude in tures fell down and worshipped God 
heaven, saying, that sitteth on the throne, saying, 
Hallelujah; Salvation, and glory, Amen; Hallelujah. 5 And a voice came 
and power, belong to our God: 2 forth from the throne, saying, 
for true and righteous are his Give praise to our God, all ye his 
judgments; for he hath judged the ‘servants, ye that fear him, the 
great harlot, her that corrupted the small and the great. 
earth with her fornication, and he 6 And I heard as it were the voice of 
hath avenged the blood of his a great multitude, and as the voice of 
‘servants at her hand. many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
3 And a second time they “say, Halle- thunders, saying, 
lujah. And her smoke goeth up “for Hallelujah; for the Lord our God, 
ever and ever. 4 And the four and the Almighty, reigneth. 


1Gr. dondservants 
2Gr. have said 
3Gr. unto the ages of the ages 
Vers. 1-6. "THE FOURFOLD HALLELUJAH OF THE HEAVENLY MULTI- 
TUDE. 


The fall of Babylon is now assumed to have taken place and in this 
chapter the overthrow is celebrated in heaven by a song of triumph. 


Ver. 1. “great multitude’’,—Not necessarily those mentioned in 
Chap. 18.20 (B. Hen.), nor the glorified martyrs only (Ew. Gab.), but 
those who dwell in heaven, ‘‘the united hosts of heaven,’’ says Stuart. 
Others (A. L. F.) say the glorified Church, but inasmuch as the elders 
(representing the glorified Church) give the response in verse 4, it may 
be better here to think,.as Weidner does, of the heavenly host of angels 
standing around about the throne and about the elders and about the four 
living creatures. (See Chap. 7.11.) 

“Hallelujah’’,—Elliott calls attention to the fact that the word here 
used (Hallelujah) is for the first time Hebrew, and therefore with others 
(V. Br. Dau. Bic.) thinks that the Jews are to have a prominent part in 
this song. He says that ‘“‘the Jews will probably just at, or after this 
catastrophe, be converted and join, and perhaps take the lead in, the earthly 
Church’s song of praise on the occasion.’’ Elliott further says, ‘‘I infer that 
down to the time figured by this chorus (i. e., after the destruction of mys- 
tical Babylon) no translation of living saints, or resurrection of the saints 
departed, will have taken place.’’ But this is mere conjecture, and Alford 
rightly says that the Hebrew form passed with the Psalter into the Chris- 
tian Church and is quite natural here. 


Ver. 2. This is an answer to the prayer of Chap. 6.10. Alford 
says, ‘“The vengeance is considered as a penalty exacted, forced out of the 
reluctant hand.” 


“true’’,—1i. e., just,—in the way of retribution. 

Ver. 3. “her smoke’’,—i. e., the smoke of Babylon, the smoke of 
her burning. 

“forever and ever’’,—Unto the ages of the ages. Says Lange, ‘“This 


685 


THE REVELATION: OF JOHN 


, 


far surpasses modern sentimentalities.’ 

Wordsworth says, ‘““Another proof that the destruction of mystical 
Babylon will be final and that therefore Babylon cannot be heathen 
Rome.’ While this refers to the temporal destruction of the mystical 
Babylon, as seen in the last chapter, it implies that those upon whom the 
judgment falls shall suffer everlasting punishment. 


Ver. 4. Confirmation of the praise by the elders and the four living 
creatures. ‘The last act related of them. 


Ver. 5. “‘a voice’’,—Bengel says it belonged to the four living 
creatures, while others (D. Zu.) say it belonged to one of them. It is 
useless to conjecture whose, although it is hardly Christ’s (Ew. St. Hen.), 
who never spoke thus of “our God’’. Dusterdieck thinks because of the 
expression “‘our God” the voice belonged to the elders. 


Ver. 6. “‘retgneth’’,—i. e., hath taken to Himself a Kingdom. 
Christ is considered prophetically as already reigning, for His Advent in 
glory is to follow so soon after the fall of Babylon. The tense of the verb 
in the Greek is past, but our English past tenses are wholly inadequate to 
reproduce the Greek ones and we must therefore in English translate in 
the present tense, “‘retgneth’’; or we might translate “‘did take the king- 
dom”’. 


marriage supper of the Lamb. * And he 
saith unto me, These are true words 
of God. 10 And I fell down before 
his feet to *worship him. And he saith 


7 Let us rejoice and be exceeding 
glad, and let us give the glory unto 
him: for the marriage of the Lamb is 
come, and his wife hath made herself 
ready. 8 And it was given unto her 


that she should array herself in fine 
linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen 
is the righteous acts of the saints. 

9 And he saith unto me, Write, 
Blessed are they that are bidden to the 


unto me, See thou do it not: I am a 
fellow-servant with thee and with thy 
brethren that hold the testimony of 
Jesus: *worship God: for the testimony 
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 


1See marginal note on Chap. 13.12 


Vers. 7-10. “THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB. 


Ver. 7. “rejoice and be glad’’,—Not alone because Babylon has 
fallen, but as the rest of the verse indicates because of the prospects and 
privileges of the Church,—the marriage of the Lamb. 


“the marriage of the Lamb ts come’’,—This is introduced here 
proleptically referring either to the far away future or to the immediate 
future, that is, to the time after the Millennium or to the time before the - 
Millennium. Fausset, with others (A. Zu. Dus. Hen. Weid.), takes the 
first view and says, ‘““The full and final consummation is at Chap. 21.2-9, 
but before this there must be the overthrow of the beast at the Lord’s 
coming, the binding of Satan, the Millennium reign, the loosing of Satan, 
his final overthrow and the general judgment. “The elect Church is trans- 
figured soon after the destruction of the harlot, is transfigured at the Lord’s 
coming and joins with Him in His triumph over the beast.” 


Weidner says, ‘‘In its prophetic aspect it is assumed that the time of 
the marriage of the Lamb is come, though it has not yet occurred in the 
vision, and will not happen until after the events foretold in Chap. 20.14.” 

Hengstenberg says, ‘This is not the marriage supper, the marriage 
feast, as Vitringa falsely infers from verse 9, but the marriage itself. Here 


686 


hb e REVELATIONS OF JOHN 


it ‘ts come’, is already at the door, but it is only in Chap. 21.2 that the 
new Jerusalem comes into view, prepared and adorned as a bride for 
her husband. We are here, therefore, already beyond the victory of the 
ten kings, beyond the thousand years, beyond the last victory over Gog 
and Magog.” 


On the other hand many maintain that the proleptical reference under 
consideration is to the immediate future, and that this marriage of the 
Lamb takes place at the beginning of the Millennial reign, and that Chap. 
21.2,9,10, does not refer to this marriage but to a new and later manifesta- 


tion of the bride. (L. Sco. Mor. Gab. Glas. Crav. ) 


Lange says the above views are very contracted, and that even in the 
parables of our Lord His Parousia is designated as the beginning of the 
marriage. [he marriage and the marriage supper, he says, though distinct 
in themselves, coincide in point of time. 


Craven says, “The bride is the whole body of the saints (the quick 
and the dead, at the first resurrection) at the Second Advent, and the 
marriage is of this body with a personally present Christ in glory and 
government; and the vision of Chap. 21.1 and 2 refers not to the marriage 
but to a new manifestation of the bride.” 

According to this view the marriage consists in the union of 
Christ with the saints, the quick and the dead of the first resurrection, in 
the glory and government of the Millennial Kingdom. 

We are inclined to agree with the teaching of these latter authorities 
as to this matter. Certainly “‘ts come’ refers to something present or pro- 
leptically soon to come, and as Craven says, it cannot be supposed that a 
space of one thousand years is grasped by such an expression. 

Zundel says that both expressions, the “marriage’’ and the “‘marriage 
supper’, are alike in meaning and designate not the future marriage itself, 
but the “preliminary festival of the Messiah’s marriage’, i. e., the one 
thousand years’ reign. 

“his wife hath made herself ready’’,—1. e., arrayed herself in a becom- 
ing manner as seen in the next verse. 


Ver. 8. It is difficult to decide here whether these words are a part 
of the song or an explanation given by the angel or by John, but they 
are probably the words of the Seer himself as would appear from the fact 
that the nature of the linen is explained, and likewise because the expres- 
sion, “And it was given unto her’’, is the same form which recurs so often 
throughout the vision, from Chap. 6.2 onwards. 

“given unto her’’,—Her garments were given unto her by Christ 
Himself. In a sense she, through the Holy Spirit, made herself ready, but 
in the fullest sense, as Fausset says, it is not she but her Lord who by 
giving Himself for her, presents her to Himself a glorious Church, not 
having spot, but holy and without blemish, and sanctifies her, naturally 
vile and without beauty, and puts His own comeliness upon her, which 
thus becomes her. 

“bright and pure’’,—‘‘The brilliant glory of a virtuous life and spot- 
less purity from sin.” 

“righteous acts of the saints’’,—The reference here is doubtless to the 
righteous deeds of the saints themselves (D. A. L. Eb. Ph. Dus. Kli. Sim. 


687 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Gab. Gebh. Weid. R-V.). It is plural, and the literal translation is ‘‘the 
righteousnesses’’. Milligan says, ‘““John had no fear of saying that the 
redeemed shall be presented before God in righteous acts of their own. He 
could not think of them except as at once justified and sanctified in Jesus.” 
Says Dusterdieck, ‘‘A delicate allusion to the grace given by God, as the 
cause and source of the “righteousnesses’’ peculiar to the saints is contained 
in the expression, “And it was given unto her’.”’ 

This very expression, however, “it was given unto her,’ furnishes 
some ground for the other view, namely that it is the imputed righteous- 
ness of Christ that is here meant rather than the saints’ own righteousness. 
(F. St. Ew. Bar. Bez. Sco. Gerh.) 

Stuart points with much force to Phil. 3.9 in answer to the statement 
of Lange, namely, that Christ’s righteousness is not a thing reserved for the 
last times, being something received at the time of regeneration. 

However, this contention of Lange’s together with the comparison of 
what is really its parallel, Chap. 14.4, and the fact of the plural form 
““righteousnesses’’ seems to favor the view first given. 


Ver. 9.. “And he saith’’,—i. e., not the “strong angel’’ of Chap. 
18.21 (Mil.), not an angel constantly attending him (Ew. Eb.), but 
the angel of Chap. 17.1. (A. B. D. Dus. Hen. Sim. Weid.) 

“the marriage supper’,—It might be well here to quote the words 
of Glasgow for what they are worth in themselves and in any possible 
bearing they may have on the order of events in this portion of the Apoca- 
lypse. He says, “In every instance of the word ‘marriage’ (gamos) in the 
New Testament it means the festivities, which were sometimes a consid- 
erable period after the actual covenant or bond of marriage. The wedding 
day was rather the day when the bride was taken to the home of her 
husband’s house, than what’ we should designate the day of marriage, 
that is, after the marriage itself had really taken place. (See Fairbairn, 
Dictionary of the Bible.) By His incarnation Jesus becomes the Bride-| 
groom and His Church became the bride. And if it be necessary to distin- 
guish ‘wife’ from ‘bride’, let it be observed that ‘wife’ (gune) .is the 
word employed in the text of verse 7, and not ‘bride’ (numphe) as in 
Chap. 21.2. The same festive occasion which in verse 7 is called the 
‘marriage’ is here, in verse 9, called the ‘marriage supper’, which shows 
that not the marriage ceremony, but the joyous festivities are meant.”’ 

Milligan says, ‘“After the marriage will come the marriage supper, 
the fullness of blessing to be enjoyed by the redeemed. It may be a | 
question whether we are to distinguish between the bride herself and those 
who appear to be spoken of as guests at the marriage supper. But the 
analogy of Scripture, and especially of such passages as Matt. 22.2; 26.29, 
lead to the conclusion that no such distinction can be drawn. Those who 
are faithful to the Lord are at once the Lamb’s bride and the Lamb’s 
guests.” ; 
Lange says, ‘““The Church in its unitous form is the Bride; in its 
individual members it consists of guests.’’ (Sim. Weid.) 

“These are true words of God’’,—The reference is perhaps to all 
this angel has said from Chap. 17.1 onward. (Fausset refers it to all the 
previous revelations.) They are the very truth of God and so > shall veri- 
tably come to pass. (A. B. Eb. BI. Ew. Dus.) 


688 


WHS UREVBEATION OFsJOHN 


The more proper meaning of ‘‘true’’ is ‘‘genuine’’, though this need 
not be pressed here. Being the genuine, the veritable words of God, they 
shall come to pass; but this is equally the thought from the use of the word 
‘true’, which sense is the usual one throughout the Apocalypse. The 
reference seems not so much to the truth of the contents, but to the reality 
of their being the words of God, being which they are of course true. 


Ver. 10. “‘to worship him’’,—This was doubtless out of an over- 
weening reverence for the one who had imparted to him such great things. 
Simcox says that from the last words John thought the speaker was God 
Himself who was present in the angel, as in the Old Testament, and that 
John meant to worship God in the Angel. Stuart says John lost con- 
sciousness of what he was doing, believing that Christ Himself was veiled 
in the form of the angel. 


Fausset says, “John intending to worship the angel here, as in 
Chap. 22.8, is the involuntary impulse of adoring joy at so blessed a 
prospect as that portrayed by the angel. It exemplifies the corrupt ten- 
dencies of our fallen nature that even John, an Apostle, should all but 
have fallen into ‘voluntary humility and worshipping of angels’ which 
Paul warns us against.” 


Some (A. L. Dus.) say that John probably thought the angel who 
was speaking to him was the Lord Himself; but Chap. 17.1 would seem 
to contradict this sufficiently. Hengstenberg takes it as an act of humility 
on John’s part and commends him for it. Others (V. B. Gro.) recognize 
in it only an excessive token of gratitude. Lange says that the action 
must be regarded as entirely a procedure taking place within the vision, and 
not therefore as a subject for moral criticism. Dusterdieck says at first 
(Chap. 17.1) John had a proper estimate of the angel, but that the last 
words of verse 9 made him suppose the Lord Himself had spoken to him. 
The view either of Fausset or of Dusterdieck may be acceptable, but as 
between the two we the rather prefer the latter. 


“thy fellow servant’’,—1. e., serves the same Lord. 


“thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus’’,—An_ expression 
referring to all believers. 
“for the testimony’’, etc..—Not the words of John explaining what 


the angel had just said (Dus~), but of the angel himself in explanation. 
Cea Ves. Bar.Sim.) 


“of Jesus’’,—1i. e., respecting Jesus (F. A. L. V. D.), and not “‘pro- 
ceeding from Jesus’’ (Dus.). 

“the spirit of prophecy’’,—What the angel says is in substance, 
“Thou and I and our brethren are all witnesses of Jesus, i. e., we bear 
testimony respecting Jesus, and this is the spirit of prophecy, i. e., the 
result of the Spirit of prophecy working in us.‘' (A. F.) 


11 And I saw the heaven opened; 
and behold, a white horse, and he that 
sat thereon called Faithful and True; 
and in righteousness he doth judge and 
make war. 12 And his eyes are a flame 
of fire, and upon his head are many 
diadems; and he hath a name written 


which no one knoweth but he himself. 
13 And he is arrayed in a garment 
‘sprinkled with blood: and his name 
is called The Word of God. 14 And 
the armies which are in heaven followed 
him upon white horses, clothed in fine 
linen, white and pure. 15 And out of 
1Seme ancient authorities read dipped in 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 





his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, Almighty. 16 And he hath on his 
that with it he should smite the nations: garment and on his thigh a name writ- 
and he shall rule them with a rod of ten, KING OF KINGS, AND-LORD 
iron: and he treadeth the *winepress of OF. LORDS. 
the fierceness of the wrath of God, the 

*Gr. winepress of the wine of fierceness 


Vers. 11-16. THE VISION OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST IN 
GLORY. 


Ver. 11. “And I saw the heaven opened’’,—In Chap. 17.3 John in 
spirit was carried ‘to the earth. (B.) 


“a white horse and he that sat thereon’’,—It is certain that the rider 
of this white horse is none other than Christ, whatever may be the case 
in Chap. 6.2. 


Many (F. A. L. St. Mil. Bar. Hen. Dus.) claim that the horse and 
rider in this chapter is the same as in Chap. 6.2, much of this verse being 
verbatim, as they say, with the passage there, and the very construction of 
the participles being the same. Still others (Pet. Gab. Sco. Weid. Moor. ) 
say they are different. 


Says Scofield, ‘“The vision is of the departure from heaven of Christ 
and the saints and angels preparatory to the catastrophe in which Gentile 
world-power, headed up in the beast, is smitten by the ‘stone cut out 
without hands’ (Dan. 2.34,35). It is at this coming of Christ in glory 
that He will deliver the Jewish remnant besieged by the Gentile world- 
powers under the beast and false prophet. ‘This battle is the first event 
in ‘the day of Jehovah’, and is the fulfillment of the smiting-stone pro- 
phecy of Daniel.” 


“Fatthful and True’’,—(See Chap. 3.14). “Faithful,” because his 
promises to His believers have always been and are now again in largest 
possible measure fulfilled. “‘True’’, because by His triumphant going forth 
He proves Himself to be the Messiah announced from olden time. Fausset 
says we must distinguish between this coming, His Parousia (Matt. 24.27. 
29,37,39) and the end or-final judgment (Matt. 25.31; I Cor. 15.23). 


Ver. 12. “his eyes are a flame of fire’’,—-Verbatim with Chap. 6.4. 


“many diadems’’,—Not the crowns of the ten kings, because having 
the crowns signifies that he has already conquered them (Zu.); because 
in fact He is just going forth to conquer them. Nor is it as representing 
the dominion of Christ over all, both in heaven and earth (And.). It 
is, no doubt, because He is King of kings. (F. A. L. D. H. Bl. St. Ew- 
Dus. Hen. Vol. Lud. Bar. Sim.) 

“written’,—Probably on His forehead (A. Ew. Hen. Dus. BI.), 
rather than on His vesture (Ca.), or on His diadem (Ei.). 

“a name’’,—To conjecture definite names, unless it be that of verse 
13 is useless and a violation of the very context. It is either the name 
mentioned in verse 13, or a name visible to John, but which was to him 
inscrutable (D. B. Eb. Hen. Gro. Dus.). The latter is the more likely 
inasmuch as the name was known to none but the Lord. Those who so 
take it (V.) say the “no one kRnoweth’’ refers to the mystery hidden in 
that name rather than to the name itself. It is perhaps the new and 
glorious name of Chap. 3.12, whose meaning will perhaps be disclosed 


690 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


to believers in the day of their complete union with Him, perhaps at the 
marriage feast of the Lamb. 


Ver. 13. (See Isa. 63.1-6.) The reference here is to the blood of 
his enemies, after the manner of the victor. (F. A. B. D. Zu. St. Dus. Hen. 
Sim. Bar. Mil. Weid.) The prophetic description of Isa. 63.1-6 finds 
fulfillment in these words. 


“The Word of God’’,—Used only by John,—a strong argument in 
favor of his authorship. It indicates His incommunicable Godhead, joined 
to His manhood which He shall then manifest in glory, as Fausset says. 
It is, as Lange says, his theological name and marks His divine nature alone. 


Ver. 14. “the armies which are in heaven’’,—Not the angels only 
(D. Bl. Hen. Lud.), but the glorified saints as well, and pre-eminently 
so, inasmuch as the vesture of the hosts is described as “‘white and pure’. 
(ae a poteeus.Baroim,, Mil,) 


Mackintosh says, ‘““These armies are not angels, but saints; for we 
do not read of angels being clothed in fine linen, which is expressly declared 
in this very chapter (verse 8) to be ‘the righteousness of the saints’.”’ 


“white and pure’’,—i. e., symbolizing the purity and holiness of the 
heavenly armies. 


This mighty host has no armor and most expositors take it that the 
saints are mere spectators of His victory and are there to participate in the 
joy of His triumph and not to engage in the work of blood, their garments 
indeed not being sprinkled with blood as are the garments of their Lord. 
(Mil. Sim. Bar. Weid.) 


Ver. 15. ‘a sharp sword’’,—i. e., the Word of God in its judging 
power, its avenging power. (See on Chap. 1.16.) 


“he treadeth the winepress’’,—Dusterdieck says the idea is that from 
the winepress the wine of God’s wrath flows which is to be given to His 
enemies to drink. We prefer, however, the thought that the winepress is 
the wrath of God and the wine flowing from it is the blood of His enemies, 
i. e., His enemies would be crushed before Him, as grapes are crushed under 
the feet of him who treads the winepress. (St. Hen. Bar.) 


Ver. 16. “on His garment and on Hts thigh’’,—Some (A. F. Sim. 
Weid.) think it is at the place where in an equestrian figure the robe drops 
from the thigh, and so the name is partly on the vesture and partly on the 
thigh. 


Others (B. Bar.) think it was written both on the garment and on 
the thigh so that when the bloody garment is laid aside or is open and 
flowing so as to expose the limb of the rider, the name would be con- 
spicuous. 


Many (D. Su. Dus. Mil. Vol.) take the “and” in an explanatory 
way, i. e., on his vesture, that part of it covering his thigh. It is impossible 
to determine but perhaps this last view is the more correct, the part 
referred to being doubtless his girdle holding the tucked up vesture of one 
advancing to battle. 


691 


THECUREVELATIONSORSIOEIN 


17 And I saw ‘an angel standing in 
the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, 
saying to all the birds that fly in mid 
heaven, Come and be gathered together 
unto the great supper of God; 18 that 
ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the 
flesh of “captains, and the flesh of 
mighty men, and the flesh of horses and 
of them that sin thereon, and the flesh 
of all men, both free and bond, and 
small and great. 

19 And I saw the beast, and the 
kings of the earth, and their armies, 
gathered together to make war against 

1Gr. one 


him that sat upon the horse, and against 
his army. 20 And the beast was taken, 
and with him the false prophet that 
wrought the signs in his sight, where- 
with he deceived them that had received 
the mark of the beast and them that 
*worshipped his image: they two were 
cast alive into the lake of fire that 
burneth with brimstone: 21 and the 
rest were killed with the sword of him 
that sat upon the horse, even the sword 
which came forth out of his mouth: 
and all the birds were filled with their 
flesh. 


3See marginal note on Chap. 13.12 


20r, military tribunes; Gr. chiliarchs 
Vers. 17-21. “THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 


Ver. 17. “an angel standing in the sun’’,—A place of brightness 
and glory becoming such a herald of so great a victory, and the standpoint 
from which he can best call the birds flying in mid-heaven. 

“Come’’, etc..—A close reproduction of Ezek. 39.17. The whole 
description shows how great and universal the slaughter i is to be and how 
relentless the judgment. 

Says Dennett, ‘““The flower of Europe in men and arms will be 
gathered together, and in anticipation of their dreadful fate this angelic 
summons resounds, throughout the heavens.” 

“the great supper of God’’,—It is “‘great”’ 
victims slain; it is “of God’’ because He ordained it and gives it. 
antithesis to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 


Weer 19% 
vial, for the conflict already proclaimed in Chap. 16.14. 
Bar. Sco. Gab. Sim. Mil. Weid.) 

“his army’’,—The singular is chosen to show the unity of Christ’s 
forces in contrast with the rent body of his enemies where the plural is 
usedy-( bi AaB: DusjHens) 

“gathered together to make war’’,—Says Scofield, “The day of Je- 
hovah (called also ‘that day’ and ‘the great day”) is that lengthened 
period of time beginning with the return of the Lord in glory, and ending 
with the purgation of the heavens and the earth by fire preparatory to the 
new heavens and the new earth (II Pet. 3.13; Rev. 21.1). The order 
of events seems to be: (1) The return of the Lord in glory (Matt. 
24.29,30); (2) the destruction of the beast and his host, ‘the kings of 
the earth and their armies’, and the false prophet, which is the “great and 
terrible’ aspect of the day (Rev. 19.11-21); (3) the judgment of the 
nations (Zech. 14.1-9; Matt. 25.31-46); (4) the thousand years, i. e., 
the kingdom-age (Rev. 20.4-6); (5) the Satanic revolt and its end 
(Rev. 20.7-10); (6) the second resurrection and final judgment (Rev. 


because of the number of 
It is in 


“gathered together’’,—At Armageddon, as under the sixth 
(FSA Dus: 


20.11-15); and (7) the ‘day of .God’, earth purged by fire (II Pet. 
3410-13').7. 
Ver. 20. ‘“‘the beast was taken’’,—‘‘This beast,’’ says Scofield, 


the ‘little horn’ of Dan. 7.24-26, and ‘desolator’ of Dan. 9.27; the ‘abom- 
ination of desolation’ of Matt. 24.15; the ‘man of stn’ of II-Thess. 2.4-8:; 


692 


ites h eV Er ATION: OF JOHN 





earth’s last and most awful tyrant, Satan’s fell instrument of wrath and 
hatred against God and the saints. He is, perhaps, identical with the rider 
on the white horse of Rev. 6.2, who begins by the peaceful conquest of 
three of the ten kingdoms into which the former Roman empire will then 
be divided, but who soon establishes the ecclesiastical and governmental 
tyranny dscribed in Dan. 7.9,11; Rev. 13. To him Satan gives the power 
which he offered to Christ (Matt. 4.8,9; Rev. 13.4).” 


“the false prophet that wrought the signs’’,—This shows the false 
prophet to be the same as the second beast. 


“alive’’,—This heightens the idea of the terror and awfulness of 
their punishment. 


Hengstenberg says, ‘“The term ‘alive’, without bodily death, confirms 
the idea that the beast and the false prophet are not human individuals at 
all, but purely ideal forms. A human individual cannot enter hell alive.” 
If this be so, it might be in order to ask Hengstenberg that if the beast and 
false prophet are merely ideal forms or emblems of mere powers, what then 
can be the meaning of the emblematic trait of such ideal forms and emblems 
of powers being cast alive into hell. 

“into the lake of fire’, etc.—The Gehenna, or Hell, properly so- 
called. (Matt. 5.22.) We are told later that Satan and Death and Hades 
are cast into this same place. ‘This is the second death. 


Ver. 21. “‘the rest’’,—1. e., all the followers of Antichrist, not the 
whole remaining human race. (L. F. Bar. Weid.) 


“killed by the sword which came out of his mouth’’,—Weidner 
suggests that they may have been stricken down by the word of Christ 
as were Ananias and Sapphira. A simple word from the mouth of Christ 
suffices to destroy the whole army in an instant. (D. L. Bar. Sim.) “A 
magnificent description, indeed, of his power,’’ says Stuart. 


CHAPTER TWENTY 


1 And I saw an angel coming down years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and 
cut of heaven, having the key of the shut it, and sealed it over him, that he 
abyss and a great chain ‘in his~ hand. should deceive the nations no more, 
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the until the thousand years should be fin- 
old serpent, which is the Devil and ished: after this he must be loosed for 
Satan, and bound him for a thousand a little time. 

1Gr. upon 


Vers. 1-3. SATAN BOUND FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS. 


Ver. 1. “an angel coming down out of heaven’’,—Not Christ (V. 
Ca. Aug. And. Hen.), nor the Holy Spirit (Coc.), but merely as the text 
says, “an angel’. (A. Dus. Weid.) 

“the abyss’’,—Not identical with the lake of Chap. 19.20, but the 
abode of the devil and his angels prior to the Devil being cast into the 
lake. 


Ver. 2. The various names express the character of the Devil and 
show how necessary it is to bind him. 


“bound him’’,— ‘This refers to Satan’s complete banishment from 
earth, so that while sin is still to exist in individuals, it is no longer to be 


693 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


a power forming a fellowship, and thus making a kingdom of sin and 
Satan.”’ 


“a thousand years’’,— (See remarks under verse 4). 


Ver. 3. “‘the nations’’,—It is clearly implied here that after the 
destruction of Antichrist in Chap. 19.21, there will remain nations on 
earth who doubtless did not take part in that conflict. 


What nations are these? ‘They seem to be mentioned again in verse 
8. Bleek says they are the heathen nations still remaining on the earth, 
and who remain there during the thousand years, but at the most extreme 
ends of the earth, so that the citizens of the Millennial kingdom do not 
come in contact with them. (KI.) 


Alford has the same idea except that during the Millennium they are 
“the quiet and willing subjects of the kingdom’”’ who are again seduced 
by Satan at the end of the 1000 years. 

Klieforth says they are different from those intended by the expres- 
sion, ‘‘whole inhabited world’’, which latter refers to the civilized nations, 
while the nations of our verse refer to the barbarous people living far out 
at the four corners of the globe. ‘There is certainly no sufficient ground 
for this last view. Perhaps the view of Bleek covers the ground best, 
although a combination of the first two views might better still answer 
the question. Dusterdieck makes them simply the heathen. 


“must be loosed for a little time’’,—1. e., according to the necessity 
of God's purpose. 


4 And J saw thrones, and they sat 
upon them, and judgment was given 
unto them: and / saw the souls of them 
that had been beheaded for the testi- 
mony of Jesus, and for the word of 
God, and such as ‘worshipped not the 
beast, neither his image, and received 
not the mark upon their forehead and 
upon their hand; and they lived, and 

1See marginal note on Chap. 13.12 


reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
5 The rest of the dead lived not until 
the thousand years should be finished. 
This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed 
and holy is he that hath part in the first 
resurrection: over these the second death 
hath no *power; but they shall be 
priests of God and of Christ, and shall 
reign with him “a thousand years. 

2Or, authority F 


3Some ancient authorities’read the 


Vers. 4-6. "THE FIRST RESURRECTION AND THE ONE ‘THOUSAND 
YEAR REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 
Ver. 4. That the binding of Satan and the events of this verse are 


still future there can be no doubt. Weidner says, “If any one thing is. 
clear, it is this, that the power of Satan has as yet not been bound.’ He 
further says, ‘There is every reason to maintain that this chapter follows 
the preceding one in chronological order, and that there is no recapitula- 
tion here.”’ 

“Indeed,” says Dusterdieck, ‘“‘every exposition must utterly fail which 
in verses 1-10 maintains a recapitulation.” 


“thrones’,—Many (D. Ew. Bl. Dus. Hen. Hei.) think these are 
merely seats for judgment, as the following words show and as the 
prefigurement of Dan. 7.9,22 indicates. But the idea of reigning would 
appear to be the prominent one of the context here, and not only here, but 
in Daniel as well as in other Scriptures on which this passage seems to be 
founded, and many authorities (L. Ei. Zu. Mil.), we believe, take these 


694 


PRE REVERE ATION OPSJOHN 


thrones rightly as places of exalted dignity, that is, thrones of kings, the 
function of judgment belonging to them. 


“and they sat upon them’’,—If those sitting upon these thrones are 
to reign with Christ, then Christ Himself must have been sitting upon one 
of them as the center and the source of their authority. 


But who are the other occupants of these thrones? 


1. God Himself and Christ with His holy angels. (St. Gro.) 

But the statement that judgment was given unto them forbids 
this. 

2. The twenty-four Elders. (D. Dus. Hen.) 

But John always seems to mention the twenty-four Elders when 
he has them in view. 

3. The martyrs and those who had not worshipped the beast, as 

mentioned in this verse. (Ei. Eb. Bez. Bar.) 

But the special mention of these does not necessarily imply, nor 
would it seem from the generally admitted parallel passages 
(Chap. 11.17,18 and Dan. 7.18) that they were the only 
enthroned ones. 

4. The twelve Apostles as in Matt. 19.28, and the saints in general, 

Old Testament and New, as in I Cor. 6.2,3. (F. A. L. B. EI. 
Zu. Ew. Sim. Mil. Tor. Sco. Mor. Gab. Pet. Weid. Gebh. Moor.) 

View 4 is by all means to be preferred. 

“and judgment was given unto them’’,—Milligan says the word 
used for judgment does not mean the act of judging, but the result of 
the judgment, and that this fact together with the word “‘given’’ shows 
that they themselves were the ones affected by the judgment, that is, that 
they were judged worthy and did not therefore have to come into the 
judgment (John 5.24). He says the righteous are not to be seated with 
Christ as assessors in judgment because there were none before them at 
this moment to be judged. 

But the word “‘judgment’’ is by no means to be confined in its mean- 
ing to that asserted by Milligan and furthermore it is assuredly the teach- 
ing of Scripture that those who are to sit on these thrones are to exercise 
a judicial rule of some kind. (F. Hen. Weid.) 

The reference here is more properly to “‘the right of judging’ (Sim.), 
“judgment exercised’”’ (Dus.), “power of pronouncing judgment”’ (Bar.). 

To whom then shall their judgment as rendered refer? Certainly 
not to the judgment of verses 1-3 and Chaps: 19,20,21 (Eb.), since, as 
Lange says, in those passages the sentence of judgment was decided by 
war, and we would hardly expect Antichrist and Satan to be sentenced 
through a trial by jury. 

1. Many (St. Dus. Hen.) say the persons upon whom this judg- 
ment is to pass are the martyrs and those who had not rendered homage 
to the beast, as specified in the next part of the verse, and the sentence 1s 
that they are “‘to live and reign with Christ a thousand years’’, that is, they 
were to have part in the first Resurrection. 

But this view under discussion is, according to Alford, warranted 
neither by the context nor any other part of Scripture, and is contradicted 
by John 5.24. 


695 


THE REVELATION: OF JOHN 


2. Others (El. Sim. Gab, Pet. Weid. Moor.) say the reference can 
only be to a judicial rule over the nations of the earth during the 1000 
years, the nature of which we cannot explain. 


3. Lange combines the two views and says, ‘“The decision to be 
rendered is concerning those who are still living (who were not in the 
antichristian army) as to whether their lives shall be preserved throughout 
the 1000 years; and concerning those who were beheaded and those who 
refused, homage to the beast, as to how far they were worthy of being 
called to the first resurrection.” 


While Dusterdieck and Stuart advocate the same-view as to who 
are the parties judged they each of them have their own view as.to who 
the judges are, Dusterdieck referring them to the twenty-four elders, and 
Stuart to God, Christ and His angels. 


Taking up this view of Stuart’s once more; he claims that if the 
martyrs, etc., are made the judges, we have the difficulty of having them 
take their places upon the thrones before they “‘lived’’, i. e., were resur- 
rected. But the order of the transactions may not be absolutely deter- 
mined by the words of the text; but only the facts of the case, the writer 
combining all of these in a single sentence, grouping things related and not 
narrating them after the strict order of succession. These are practically 
Stuart’s own words, but instead of resting the case thus, he resolves the 
difficulty in another way. He says God and Christ must be included 
among the judges. We do not see why God must be conceived of as one 
of the judges, but on this view Stuart is confronted with the difficulty 
found in the sentence, ““And judgment was given unto them’’. He asks, 
“who could commit judgment to them?’’ To relieve this situation he 
brings in the angels, and then thinks of John having these angels in mind 
in the use of the expression, ‘“‘given unto them’. 

Now this interpretation is possible, but hardly probable. It is quite 
true that the cooperation of angels, in some important sense, on great 
occasions, is not foreign to the Bible. But where in Scripture are the 
angels represented as judging? ~Besides I Cor. 6.3 says the/Christians “‘shall 
judge angels’. II Tim. 2.12 says that saints ‘‘shall sit down with the 
Redeemer upon His throne’. Matt. 19.28 says the Apostles “‘shall sit on 
thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel’’. 

So far as the view of Dusterdieck is concerned, it is sufficient to 
inquire as to the propriety of having ordinary saints, or the twenty-four 
elders, who represent the Church, sit in judgment on the martyrs as to | 
whether they were worthy of the first resurrection. It would seemingly be 
more appropriate to reverse the case. 


There is no other safe way to interpret this passage than in keeping 
with Scripture representations elsewhere, and the view that takes the 
sitters upon the thrones as saints in general, including the martyrs, and 
as exercising a rule over the nations, the nature of which we are not, to 
conjecture, is perhaps the best that can be advanced. In this case the 
martyrs and those who had not bowed to the beast are set forward as 
worthy of special mention. 


Where are these thrones? 
We are inclined to think of them as in heaven where the martyrs 
and the glorified saints, throughout the Apocalypse and Seriptures in 


696 


Mie Vy EATON: OR JOHN 


general, are represented as being with Christ. Fausset’s objection, however, 
that “‘earth is not yet transfigured and cannot therefore be the meet locality 
for the transfigured Church”’ is hardly to the point, for while it may be 
true, and doubtless is, that the transfiguration of earth spoken of in the 
following chapter refers to the condition of things at the close of the 
Millennium and of all time, namely, at the beginning of eternity, yet if 
there is to be in any sense a glorification of earth during the Millennium, 
the beginning of this glorification must follow immediately after the close 
of Chap. 19 and therefore be coincident with the vision of Chap. 20 with 
which we are now dealing. 


But so far as our exegesis has led us we see no reason to take issue 
with Stuart when he says that there is no intimation anywhere that Christ 
comes from heaven and takes up his abode upon the earth, nor must we 
overlook the difficulty of conceiving of a material earth fitted up as the 
abode of spiritual bodies, or the physical association of those with spiritual 
bodies with those of material bodies even on a glorified earth. 


“them that had been beheaded’’,—Referring to decapitation by the 
axe, the old Roman method of execution (literally, ‘‘struck with an axe’’), 
and used here as a symbol of any and every kind of martyrdom. 


“for the testimony of Jesus’’,—1i. e., because of their testimony con- 
cerning Him, referring both to those who preached the Christian doctrine 
and to those who believed it. 


“for the word of God’’,—An expression somewhat wider in extent 
than the former one, embracing all the doctrines of true religion. 


“and such as worshipped not the beast’’,—Is this a mere relative 
clause referring to ‘‘the souls of them that had been beheaded’’, or does it 
designate a different or additional class of Christians, who had suffered in 
various ways but had not been actually martyred? Plainly the latter. (St. 
Dus. Pet. Gab. Weid.) 


“souls’’,—This word has caused some to deny to the following word 
“lived” the idea of a literal resurrection of the body. 


Barnes says, ‘If he saw the souls of the martyrs, not the bodies, this 
would seem to exclude the notion of a literal resurrection and of a literal 
reign of the saints with Christ during the Millennium. The word used 
here is fatal to this notion. There is here not the slightest intimation of 
the resurrection of the body, and John did not mean to teach the doctrine 
of any such resurrection occurring at this time.’’ (Brown, Whitby, Faber.) 


Alford on the other hand says, “‘As regards the text itself, no legiti- 
mate treatment of it will extort what is known as the spiritual interpre- 
tation now in fashion. If in a passage where two resurrections are men- 
tioned, where certain souls lived at the first, and the rest of the dead lived 
only at the end of a specified period after the first,—if in such a passage 
the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual rising with 
Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave; then there 
is an end to all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a 
definite testimony to anything. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then 
so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain; 
but if the second is literal, then so is the first, which in common with the 
whole primitive Church and many of the best modern expositors, I do 
maintain and receive as an article of faith and hope.’’ Dean Alford has 


697 


THE: REVELATION, OF JOHN 


here without doubt the weight of scholarship with him. (F. El. St. Lud. 
Mil. Sim. Pet. Gab. Bla. Sco. Mor. Tor. Mack. Weid. Crav. Moor.) 


We are convinced that if the argument for a non-literal resurrection 
had to depend alone upon the meaning of the word “‘souls’’, it would have 
a scant and unsubstantial ground upon which to rest. 


Milligan is doubtless right in saying that the analogy of Chap. 6.9 
makes it clear that they were no more than souls which John says he saw, 
and that at the time to which John refers they had not yet been clothed 
with their resurrection bodies. 


Fausset also is quite clear here. He says, ‘“The word ‘souls’ expresses 
their disembodied state as John saw them at first in Chap. 6.9; and the 
expression ‘they lived’ implies their coming to life in the body again so as 
to be visible. It accords with Paul’s expression, ‘they that are Christ's 
at His coming’. While ‘souls’ is doubtless used here in the sense of dis- 
embodied spirits when first seen by John, the word is also used in general 
for ‘persons’ and even for ‘dead bodies’.”’ 


Various reasons are given by others for taking the resurrection here 
mentioned in a spiritual sense, i. e., the soul as raised now by vivifying 
faith from the death of sin, i. e., regeneration; and while these reasons 
are not altogether without force, they are hardly sufficient to overthrow the 
more normal intrepretation of Alford and the many others who agree 
with him. 


“and they lived’’,—Milligan says, “By every rule of interpretation 
this word must be understood in the same sense here as in the following 
clause, where it is applied to ‘the rest of the dead’.”’ 

Stuart handles this question quite thoroughly, as follows: 


(a) It cannot mean simply “‘to live’; for thus it would imply that 
the soul had been dead; whereas the Apocalypse and all Scrip- 
ture teaches that the soul continues to exist after the death of 
the body. [The word therefore cannot mean merely to recover . 
a psychological existence which was lost. 

(b) It cannot mean to live spiritually, in opposition to being dead 
in trespasses and sins, for all the saints and martyrs possess such 
a life from the moment of their regeneration. 

(c) It cannot mean to become immortal; for this they always were. 

(d) It cannot mean merely to become happy at the beginning of 
the Millennium, for those who die in the Lord are made happy 
immediately. “There would seem to remain therefore only one 
meaning which can consistently be given to the word, namely, 
that they are now restored to life, such life as implies the revivi- 
fication of the body—a union of the soul with a spiritual 
body. 

Those who take the opposite view find here only a prophecy of a 
resuscitation of the martyr spirit at the beginning of the Millennium; the 
“raising up of increased zeal and holiness; the revival in the Church of the 
sp.rit and energy of the martyrs of old.” 

“reigned with Christ’’,—Seiss says, ‘“This thousand years’ reign of 
the saints is specifically preceded by a description of the coming forth from 
the opened heavens of the Lord of lords and King of kings, accompanied 
by the glorified saints, to judge and to make war (Chap. 19.11-21), to 


698 


MihibeRiny BCATION OF JOHN 


crush out the antichristian beasts and their armies, to bind Satan, and to 
tread ‘the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God’. What- 
ever then this judgeship, regency and dominion of the saints may be, the 
record places it after the Second Advent and not before it.”’ 


Here again all that Barnes can see in these words is, ‘“They were 
exalted in their principles and in their personal happiness in heaven, as 1f 
they occupied the throne with Him and shared in its honors and triumphs.” 


“a thousand years’’,—The equivalent of this expression in the Latin 
language is the word Millennium, at the very mention of which word we 
are at once confronted with a number of varying views as to what it means 
and what relation it holds to the Parousia of our Lord. These views fall 
into four general classes: 


I. No-Millennium. 


The expression is to be taken in a symbolical sense without reference 
to any time period whatsoever. (KI. Dus. Mil. Naylor, Heagle.) “There 
is to be no Millennium whatsoever. The Old Testament prophecies: of 
the time when swords shall be beaten into plowshares and the wolf shall 
dwell with the lamb and the lion eat straw like an ox are only figurative 
expressions of the peace that was to come to humanity as a result of Christ’s 
first coming as the Saviour of the world (Naylor), or describe in a figura- 
tive way the full blessing and glory of the world to come (Heagle). The 
first resurrection is a spiritual one from the death of sin into life in Christ, 
and when Christ comes again the general resurrection of all dead will 
take place, at which time Christ will judge both them and the living, and 
usher in the eternal. world. The Millennium being thus disposed of, 
Christ may return at any moment when time will end and eternity will 
begin. 

These one thousand years, according to Milligan, are to be taken 
“simply as an exalted symbol of the glory of the redeemed at the particular 
moment referred to by the Seer.’’ The expression, he says, denotes com- 
pleteness, thoroughness, and the reign of one thousand years refers to the 
completeness of the blessedness when Christ’s people shall shine forth in 
the glory they have received from Him. As referred to Satan the one thou- 
sand years represent the completeness of his overthrow, and as referred to 
the saints they represent their confirmation in happiness as above noted. 
“They complete the picture of that glorious condition in which believers 
have all along really been, but which only now reaches its highest point 
and is revealed as well as possessed.”’ 


Klieforth finds in the expression only the idea that the Lord’s victory 
is absolute, i. e., complete. Dusterdieck calls it merely an ideal descrip- 
tion, a poetical picture in a long series of special acts, of what according 
to the real prophecy of Scripture falls upon one day of the coming of the 
Lord. 


Fausset says, ‘‘As seven mystically implies universality, so a thousand 
implies perfection, whether in good or evil. Thousand symbolizes that 
the world is perfectly leavened and pervaded by the Divine; since thousand 
is ten, the number of the world, raised to the third power, three being the 
number of God.” 


Lange says, ‘The one thousand years are a symbolic number denct- 
ing the aeon of transition.”’ 


699 


THE:REVELATION: OR JOHN 


It is hard, however, to think that these are legitimate interpretations 
of John’s words, and seems rather to be a somewhat gratuitous way of 
avoiding seeming exegetical difficulties. [he interpretation of the various 
Scriptures involved, both. those which have gone before and those which 
are to follow, will show how unreliable are the grounds upon which this 
whole unsubstantial theory rests. Besides to so take the expression is 
a radical departure from the method of interpretation applied to other 
designations of time in the Apocalypse which are referred to in a numerical 
way. 

Stuart is well worth quoting here. He says, ‘The great question 
whether this is to be taken literally or symbolically, is one that must be 
settled by the analogy of the book in regard to specific periods. We have 
seen that the famous period of three and one-half years—forty-two months 
—twelve hundred and sixty days—is to be understood, in all probability, 
in its literal sense, not indeed with rigid arithmetical exactness, but as 
designating at least a period of moderate extent. Here, then, assuming a 
similar usage with respect to numbers, we may suppose that the thousand 
years may be taken in their ordinary sense, or at least for a very long period. 
The latter idea is sufficient; and the general tone of the book may justify 
such a mode of interpretation.” 


This leaves us to deal with the expression as a designation of time, 
and as such it may be taken either (1) as an expression denoting literally 
one thousand years, or (2) as a symbolical expression for a long but 
indefinite period of time, or (3) as a symbolical expression for 365,000 
years, according to the year-day theory, a day standing for a year. ‘The 
expression may, of course, be taken in either of the last two ways, but as 
long as there is no good reason for rejecting the literal interpretation 
(‘‘When the literal sense will stand, that furthest from the letter is the 
worst’), and no difficulties are resolved by accepting either of the other 
explanations, it would seem best to adhere to the literal meaning of one 
thousand years or a period of about that length. (E. A. El. Gab. Pet. Sim. 
Sco. Mor. Tor. Weid. Mack. Moor.) 


Accepting then the time element in the expression we have next to 
consider as to what period in the world’s history the time indicated refers, 
and this introduces us to the second general theory. 


II. Past-Millennium. 

A Millennium which began in the fourth century with the reign of 
Constantine the Great, and ended with the assault made upon Christen- 
dom, in the fourteenth century, by the Ottoman Turks. This view was 
especially advocated by Grotius and Hammond, and while it has had some 
advocates in recent times it never has been taken seriously by critics in 
general. Much, if not all, of what is said of criticism of other views 
might be said here, our purpose being served by the mere mention of the 
theory. 

Il. Present-Millennium. 

A Millennium reaching from the first to the second coming of Christ, 
and in which, of course, we are now living. This is the old Augustinian 
or spiritual theory, and that usually accepted by Catholic theologians. 
The resurrection mentioned is a spiritual one, from the death of sin to 
spiritual life in Christ. “The Devil is the “‘strong man armed’’, who accord- 
ing to Christ’s own saying was bound and expelled from the-hearts of 


700 


Lire REV BUATION, OF JOHN 


His disciples, and so their reign over him made to begin. The resurrection 
mentioned is one which will go on wherever the Gospel is preached, and 
this will continue until Christ's Second Coming at the end of time to 
destroy the Antichrist, the one thousand years being the world’s sixth 
chiliad, the length of which is to be determined only by the end of time, 
when the final judgment takes place and eternity begins. (Wor.) 


But there are serious objections to this view. 


1. The place in the book where the vision is found is unsuitable to 
it. It cannot be a recapitulation. It describes a condition of the 
Church after the reign of the beast in Chap. 13 and after the great 
struggle with the Antichrist in Chap. 19. 

2. The blessed reign is ascribed to all who have been faithful unto 
death, and if the period intended is the present reign of the Church 
many of the saints will not reign throughout this time because 
they have been already a long time dead. “Those who died in 
the early times of the Christian dispensation have missed the most 
of it. 

3. Surely Satan cannot be spoken of as bound now. If so, it will 
be a sorry world indeed when he is loosed. 

4. Making the first resurrection spiritual and the second one literal 
is not at all according to the principles of sound exegesis. 

It might be said in passing that Augustine tells us he was induced 

to forsake the pre-millennial view of the early Fathers because some per- 
verted the doctrine to carnal views. A strange reason indeed! 


IV. Future-Millennitum. 


There remains, therefore, only the explanation which takes the 
expression as a statement of a Millenntum which 1s still in the future, a 
period of one thousand years preferably, as we have seen, although even 
with this view it may be taken as an indefinite period of time. Here again 
we have two widely diverse views as to the relation in time of this one 
thousand years to the Second Coming of Christ. 


A. The Post-Millennial, or Whitbyian view, teaching that Christ's Sec- 
ond Coming takes place after the Millennium. This view was first 
fully propounded by Whitby and explains the first resurrection as a 
resurrection of the cause, spirit, doctrine, principles and character of 
the Christian martyrs and saints departed, which, after the evil of 
the world has been largely overthrown, will usher in a thousand 
years of paradisical blessedness. At this point comes division of 
opinion. Vitringa and others regard the implied second resurrection 
as that of the literal dead, small and great, who shall appear before 
the judgment of the great white throne; while Whitby, Brown and 
others explain it as the uprising (the living again) of antichristian 
principles at the end of the Millennium in the persons and con- 
federacy of Gog and Magog. The New Jerusalem Whitby and 
Vitringa explain as the blessedness of the earthly Church during this 
Millennium; while Brown and Faber explain it as including the 
whole company of saints in heaven after the Millennium. (H.) 

The objections which have been brought to bear against this view, 
so far as the immediate text and context is concerned, and with this only 
we have here to do, are as follows: 


701 


ja 


THESREVEDLATIONSOR JOHN 


. The “‘souls’’ beheld by the Seer were of those who had been 


beheaded. ‘This fixes their death as a literal one. So, too, then 
must the resurrection have been a literal one, for it is a rule that 
must never be overlooked that the resurrection must be of a cor- 
responding nature with the death out of which it is a revival of 
life. 

The first resurrection is contrasted with the second at the end of 
the one thousand years. These dead even Vitringa and many 
others of the Postmillennial School admit to be the literal dead. 
The expression, “‘the rest of the dead’’, connects these with those 
first mentioned; the rest of anything is a part of what was the 
whole. If, therefore, “the rest of the dead”’ refers, to those liter- 
ally dead, then must those of the first resurrection have been also 
literally dead people. 


It is now conceded by practically all scientific scholarship that 
the result of the Seventh Trumpet refers to that which is sym- 
bolized in this chapter. Even Drs. Whitby and Brown are agreed 
as to this. At the sounding of this trumpet it is said that the 
time has come for “‘the dead to be judged’’—literal dead, of course, 
and if these dead, “‘the rest of the dead’’, refer to those literally so, 


then those of the first resurrection must have likewise been liter- 
ally dead. 


The Greek word for “they lived’ (Cynoav) is in the New Testa- 
ment always applied to man in his complete condition of body 
and spirit united, and is never applied to the “‘soul’’ as a dis- 
embodied entity. 


The Greek word used for “‘resurrection’’ (dvaotacis) always sig- 
nifies in the New Testament, with perhaps a single exception, cor- 
poreal resurrection. It is used some forty-two times. 


. Whitby, Brown and others contend that the “rest of the dead”’ 


refers to the dead antichristian cause and faction slain in Chap. 19 
by Him who sat on the white horse and revived in the person and 
through the instrumentality, inspired by Satan, of Gog and 
Magog. But if the first resurrection refers to the revival of 
Christian doctrine, cause and spirit, as these authorities hold, then 
we are forced to think of the Christian cause and the antichristian 
cause as being dead at the same time. 


If there is such a thing as a dead Christian cause to be revived is 
it not strange that it is nowhere symbolized in the Apocalypse? 


The pre-millennial view teaching that Christ’s Second Coming takes 
place before the Millennium. This view, which is that of the earliest 
Fathers of the Church, explains the first resurrection to be literally 
that of departed martyrs and saints which takes place at the Second 
Coming of Christ before the Millennium, during which Millennium 
Satan’s power is to be restricted and the government of the earth is 
to be administered by Christ and His risen saints, until at length, the 
Millennium having ended, and Satan again gone forth to deceive 
the nations, the final consummation will follow, which consists in 
the antichristian hosts of Gog and Magog being destroyed by fire 


702 


oP sREVEL ATION OF JOHN 





from heaven, the resurrection and judgment of the wicked, the Devil 
and his servants cast into the lake of fire, and the Millennial reign 
of the saints being extended into one of eternal duration. 
A number of arguments have been brought against this view in gen- 
eral. But again, we are concerned only with those that have to do 
with the text or context before us, and these are as follows: 


1. It is said that John saw only what is described as the “‘souls’’ of 
certain saints, which fact excludes the notion of a literal resur- 
rection. (See Barnes on page 697.) But this does not indicate 
that they were still disembodied spirits or souls- anymore than 
I Pet. 3.20 indicates that the eight souls (Wuyds—same word) 
mentioned there are to be taken in this sense, or that the “‘dead”’ 
whom John saw in the twelfth verse of our chapter “‘standing 


before God” were still at the very time of their standing before 
God, dead men. 


2. It is said that only martyrs and those “who had not worshipped 
the beast’? were seen sitting upon the thrones. But this does not 
necessarily imply that they were the only enthroned ones. Cer- 
tainly Christ, though unmentioned, must be supposed to have 
appeared in this self-same vision, since the enthroned ones are 
spoken of as retgning with Christ, and may not the vision have 
been equally inclusive of others though not receiving special men- 
tion which for some reason was given to the martyrs and saints 
under consideration. 


3. It is said that ‘‘the rest of the dead’’ did not live till the thousand 
years were finished and that therefore they lived again tmmediately 
after the Millennium, and consequently they could not have been 
raised, just before the final judgment, as the Premillennial view 
teaches, because this would leave no room for the “‘little space’ 
of the Devil’s loosing. But surely this objection rests, as Elliott 
says, ‘upon a quite mistaken assumption of the requirements of 
the preposition till’. 


Further objections, as drawn from other Scriptures, have been regis- 
tered against this view. Alford and Barnes, indeed, have twelve arguments 
against it, while David Brown contents himself with nine, but these argu- 
ments do not, however, seem to us formidable, while the exegetical diff- 
culties which arise on any other view are seemingly quite insuperable. 


Ver. 5. “The rest of the dead’’,—The rest of the pious dead, says 
Barnes, inasmuch as only the martyrs and those who had not worshipped 
the beast take part in the first resurrection and the reigning (St. Dus.), 
and are therefore included exclusively in the first resurrection. For his 
depleted idea of what this first resurrection means see under verse 4, page 
697. Gebhardt says the first resurrection is that of the martyrs and all 
the saints of this dispensation who had died, and that the second resurrec- 
tion is of the wicked dead and the saints of the Old Testament. By 
others “the rest of the dead” is taken to mean the wicked dead only, in- 
cluding of course those who die during the Millennium, although nothing 
is said in the text of this latter class. (F. A. El. Mil. Pet. Gab. Sim. Sco. 
Mor. Tor. Moor.) 


703 


THEAREVEDATIONSOP AORN 


“This ts the first resurrection’’,—Referring to those who were to 
reign with Christ during the one thousand years. 


Ver. 6. “Blessed and holy’’,—All saints are blessed and holy, but 
here the words are used in an emphatic sense, the resurrection being the 
precursor of a higher degree of blessedness and an eternal and complete 
consecration of God. It is possible that the word “‘holy’’ has a special 
reference to the priestly dignity and character coming forth then in com- 
plete glory. 

“the second death’’,—The casting into the lake of fire and brimstone 
which is to take place at the final judgment. (See verse 14.) 


“priests of God and of Christ’’,—A strong proof of Christ’s coequal 
Diety. (See Chaps. 1.6 and 5.10.) They shall be near to God and 


Christ and most honorably employed in their service. 


7 And when the thousand years are 
finished, Satan shall be loosed out of 
his prison, 8 and shall come forth to 
deceive the nations which are in the four 
corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, 
to gather them together to the war: the 
number of whom is as the sand of the 
sea. 9 And they went up over the 


camp of the saints about, and the be- 
loved city: and fire came down ‘out of 
heaven, and devoured them. 10 And 
the devil that deceived them was cast 
into the lake of fire and brimstone, 
where are also the beast and the false 
prophet; and they shall be tormented 
day and night *for ever and ever. 


breadth of the earth, and compassed the 
1Some ancient authorities insert fro God 
°Gr. unto the ages of the ages 


Vers. 7-10. “THE LOOSING AND THE DOOM OF SATAN. 


Ver. 7. Says Weidner, ‘‘In the providence of God, Satan is once 
more permitted to turn his demoniacal power against the Church, that 
the glory of God may be manifested in his irrecoverable overthrow. The 
reign of the saints does not cease and it is highly probable that this final 
struggle will be as brief as it is fierce.”’ Stuart seems to think that the 
reign of the saints will be somewhat interrupted, and commence again in ~ 
full glory and power after the overthrow of Satan with his great army of 
Gog and Magog. 


Ver. 8. “‘nations which are in the four corners of the earth’’,— 
These are the nations which were left on the earth when the one thousand 
years began, heathen nations who had not, of course, been in the anti- 
christian army, all of which was destroyed. The question now arises 
whether these nations had become subject to the kingdom during the 
Millennium and then apostatized when seduced by Satan (F. Bar. Hen.), ~ 
or whether they were heathen nations in the far corners of the earth which 
Hes pane come into close contact with the Gospel, if at all. (A. L. V. D. 

Wises 


Stuart advocates the latter view, declaring them to be nations who 
live beyond the boundaries of the Millennial empire. Says he, ““Not,an 
intimation is given that they become apostates from the former profession 
of Christianity, or that Christianity had ever spread among them. If 
this were not so, how comes it that Satan finds no access to men anywhere 
except in the four corners of the earth?”’ 

Lange argues for the second view from the fact that Satan “goes out’’ 
to deceive the nations and that these nations “‘go up”’ on the breadth of the 


704 


ieee vi LON DOP JOHN 


earth. The fact also that the word for ‘‘nations’’ is the usual one for the 
heathen nations argues in its favor. 


The only objection with any force against this view is that it limits 
the Millennial kingdom of Christ and His saints to only a portion of the 
earth, the same not being world-wide. 


Gaebelein says that many during the Millennium will yield a feigned 
obedience, submitting perhaps to the divine government through fear, 
while sin is in their hearts and they long for the time when they can throw 
off the restraint. 


It is perhaps a combination of these last two views that ought to be 
accepted, and this will appear the more acceptable when it is remembered 
that the expression “‘the four corners of the earth’’ may, as Hengstenberg 
affirms, be taken to mean not only the dwellers at the remotest corners 
of the earth but all between those corners and the central point from which 
the distance is calculated and may be equivalent to the expression in the 
following verse, “the breadth of the earth’’. (See Judges 20.1,2; I Sam. 
14.38; Isa. 19.3; 11.12.) It would then meah that Satan went every- 
where seducing the people and gathering his army. 


Satan was, of course, loosed according to God’s divine method of 
testing, just as he was allowed to enter the first Paradise. 


“Gog and Magog’’,—(See Ezek. 38 and 39, the final and complete 
fulfillment of which seems to be here referred to). Magog was the son 
of Japheth (Gen. 10.2), who with his brothers represented the northern 


and north-eastern nations. Gog seems to have been their prince. (Ezek. 
SOfz.) 


Josephus says Moe denoted the Scythians, and Hitzig says John 
chose the expression on account of the Scythians being the most remote 
people. Winer says Magog seems to be a collective name denoting the 
sum of the peoples situated in Media and the Caucasian mountains con- 
cerning whom a vague report had reached the Jews. They are. of course, 
used here in a mystical or symbolical sense as representing the final adver- 
saries of Christ led on by Satan in person. 


“to the war’’,—1. e., the last great war foretold by prophecy. 


“as the sand of the sea’’,—The usual Biblical expression for an in- 
numerable multitude. 


Ver. 9. “went up’’,—Dusterdieck says, ‘A common expression for 
a military expedition, the place of attack usually being an elevated position, 
and here especially appropriate because of Jerusalem’s elevated position, 
the approaching of which from any quarter of the earth, is in the idiom 
of Scriptures called ‘“‘going up’. It may, however, be taken, together with 
“over the breadth of the earth’’ (meaning Palestine) in accordance with 
the Old Testament conception (Zech. 12.7,8), as the image of an invad- 
ing army overspreading all the land. 

“encompassed the camp of the satnts’’,—The saints are represented 
as encamped about their beloved city to stand in its defense against the 
enemies of God. 


“the beloved city’’,—Says Dusterdieck, ‘‘That the ‘beloved city’ is 
the earthly Jerusalem,—not the new Jerusalem of Chap. 21.1,—1s 
acknowledged with substantial unanimity.” 


705 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Many (V. B. Kl. Aug. And. Hen. Bar.) take the city as a symbolic 
expression for the Church, but this would seem to be an ordinary eluding 
of the context. Barnes says, ‘‘all that is necessarily implied is that there 
will be a state of hostility to the Church of Christ which would be well 
illustrated by such a comparison with an invading host of barbarians’. 

“fire came down’’,— (See II Kings 1.10,12,14; Ezek. 38.22; 39.6). 
To be taken literally or symbolically according to one’s method of inter- 
pretation. 


Ver. 10. ‘“‘forever and ever’’,—As strong an expression for absolute 
endlessness as Biblical language affords. 


Vers. 11-15. 


11 And I saw a great white throne, 
and him that sat upon it, from whose 
face the earth and the heaven fled away; 
and there was found no place for them. 
12 And I saw the dead, the great and 
the small, standing before the throne; 
and books were opened: and another 
book was opened, which is the book 
of life: and the dead were judged out 
of the things which were written in the 
books, according to their works. 13 


Versi: 


And the sea gave up the dead that were 
in it; and death and Hades gave up the 
dead that were in them: and they were 
judged every man according to their 
works. 14 And death and Hades were 
cast into the lake of fire. This is the 
second death, even the lake of fire. 15 
And if any was not found written in 
the book of life, he was cast into the 
lake of fire. 


THE LAST JUDGMENT; THE DOOM OF THE UNBELIEVING. 
“a great white throne’’,—It is “‘white’’ as symbolical of 


the holiness and purity of its occupant and the judgment to be adminis- 
tered, and “‘great’’, not so much in comparison with the throne of verse 4 
(Sim.), as in correspondence with the great Being who sits upon it, 
although by these descriptions this throne is distinguished from those in 
verse 4. It is probably, though not absolutely, the same throne as in Chap. 
4.2, upon which the Occupant now sits as a Judge. 

“Him that sat on it’’,—This is by many referred to God, the Father 
(A. D. Zu. Dus. Hen. Sim. Weid.), but it would seem best to refer it to 
Christ, seeing here God in Christ as His Revealer. (F. B. L. Ew. St. Ei. ~ 
Gab. Bar. Mil.) The analogy of Christian doctrine throughout the Word, 
as well as Rev. 21.5-8 seems to substantiate this interpretation. (See John 
Dp LOsLi 4) 

“the earth and the heaven fled away’’,—This is elsewhere represented 
as their consumption by fire, says Alford (II Peter 3.10-12). It would 
seem from this that the final conflagration precedes the final general judg- 
ment, as Fausset says, although this conception is not necessarily impera- 
tive by reason of the order of the language used here. The reference in 
any case is to the passing away of the present corruptible state and the 
changing to a state glorious and incorruptible. Even the natural creation 
shrinks back with awe and seeks to hide itself. 


Ver. 12. “‘the dead’’,—i. e., the rest of the dead, as in verse 5. 
Alford says, ‘“That this judgment refers to the wicked dead alone there 
can be no doubt from a plain exegesis of the word “‘dead’’ and from the 
context. All the righteous who had been resurrected and caught up before 
the Millennium as well as those who had died during the Millennium and 
those who were alive at the close of the Millennium will be there also, 
not, however, to be judged (John 5.24), but to have their judgment con- 
firmed. We must all appear, etc.”’ 


706 


PHiEeREVeLAIONTOR JOHN 


Fausset says the number will consist of the wicked who have died 
from Adam to the Millennium and the wicked who have died during the 
Millennium and the righteous who have died during the Millennium. 
The living believers, he says, are not especially mentioned, as they, just 
before the destruction of the ungodly, or after it (having been preserved 
from the judgment of fire which destroyed all the living wicked), shall 
probably be first transfigured and caught up with the saints transfigured 
at the first resurrection. Some think, however, that all believers dying 
during the Millennium will be immediately glorified, given their resurrec- 
tion bodies as were those in the first resurrection. But whether this be so 
or whether their bodies are to await the final resurrection, it would seem, 
contrary to Fausset, no more appropriate for them to be judged than for 
any other class of believers. [hey will doubtless be glorified, given 
resurrection bodies either immediately upon their death or at the time 
just preceding the final judgment and escape the judgment just as all other 
believers, except in the sense mentioned a moment ago, 


Our reasons for confining this judgment to the wicked dead only, the 
living wicked having been destroyed, are as follows: 

1. The word ‘‘dead’”’ as used by John is used of the wicked oat, 

(See verse 5 and Chap. 11.18.) 

2. The assurance of John 5.24 that the believer shall not come into 
judgment. 

3. The judgment takes place according to what is written in “‘the 
books’’, and the books are expressly distinguished from the “‘book 
of ltfe’’. 

“books ... and another book’’,—Hengstenberg says a name cannot 
be written in both books. When erased from the books by the blood of 
Christ, the name is then written in the other book. 

Dusterdieck says, ‘‘According to the works which stand indicated in 
the books, the names are or are not found in the Book of Life.’’ The ques- 
tion naturally arises then: What use for the Book of Life at all, since the 
record of the books decides the matter? 

Alford says. that both bear record independently of one another; the 
books by their records and the book by the inscription or otherwise of 
the name, the books being as it were vouchers for the Book of Life. Thus 
also the majority (F. L. St. Dus. Bar. Sim.). Many others (Mil. Pet. 
Gab. Weid.) agree with Hengstenberg and we are inclined to believe that 
a plain and natural exegesis of the text favors this view. Note in addition 
to the above three reasons, that it is only the “‘dead’’ who are judged, i. e., 
the wicked who are raised from their graves at that time, and they are 
judged out of the ““books’’, which, as Hengstenberg says, are books of guilt, 
condemnation and death. 

The reason why the books relating to the wicked are more than one, 
while there is but one Book of Life, is that names only are recorded in the 
latter, while both names and works are recorded in the former, or it may 
be also because there are few that are saved in comparison with the many 
who are lost. 


Ver. 13. The reference is to the fact that all the dead, both unburied 
(in the sea) and buried, rose again. 


“death and Hades’ ,——These appear personified as demoniacal powers 
exercising sway over wicked men. This is not only proven by Chap. 6.8, 


707 


‘VHETREVELATIONSOR MORN 


but by the fact that they are both in the next verse cast into the lake of 
fire; another proof that the souls they were called upon to give up were 
the souls of the wicked, i. e., that it was a resurrection especially of the 
wicked dead that is referred to here. 

Says Dusterdieck, ‘‘Since verse 5 is understood as applying to all 
believers, this is only the resurrection of those who are to be delivered 
to the second death.”’ 

“according to their works’’,—The constant teaching of Scripture. 
(See Rome2i6 sl GorioAGaMar alo. 27, ) 

Hengstenberg takes “‘sea’’ in a figurative sense, maintaining that the 
reference is to those who have perished in the battles of the nations. Milli- 
gan also takes the figurative view and refers it to the tossed and troubled 
evil world. Not only are these views unnatural, but there is no good 


reason at all for not taking the word in its literal sense, as the vast majority 
do. 


Ver. 14. The second death is the being cast into the lake of fire, 
the intensified death, the coming of the w:cked in their risen bodies to 
eternal perdition. “This explains Chaps. 2.11 and 20.6. 


Ver. 15. Says Milligan, “‘Here, then, is the purpose and the only 
one for which the book of life is spoken of as used at the judgment before 
us. It was searched to see if any man’s name was not written in it.”’ 


~CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 


1 And I saw a new heaven and a new 
earth; for the first heaven and the first 
earth are passed away; and the sea-is no 
more. 2 And I saw ‘the holy city, new 
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven 
from God, made ready as a_ bride 
adorned for her husband. 3 And I 


the throne said, Behold, I make all 
things new. And he saith, *Write: for 
these words are faithful and true. 6 
And he said unto me, They are come 


to pass. I am the Alpha and the 
Cmega, the beginning and the end. I 


heard .a great voice out of the throne 
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God 
is with men, and he shall “dwell with 
them, and they shall be his peoples, 
and God himself shall be with them, 
“and be their God: 4 and he shall 
Wipe away every tear from their eyes; 
and death shall be no more; neither 
shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor 
pain, any more: the first things are 
passed away. 5 And he that sitteth on 


1Or, the holy city Jerusalem coming down 
new out of heaven 


will give unto him that is athirst of the 
fountain of the water of life freely. 
7 He that overcometh shall inherit these 
things; and I will be his God, and he 
shall be my son. 8 But for the fear- 
ful, and unbelieving, and abominable, 
and murderers, and fornicators, and sor- 
cerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their 
part shall be in the lake that burneth 
with fire and brimstone; which is the 
second death. 


4Or, Write, These words are faithful and 
true 


2 
2Gr. tabernacle 
3Some ancient authorities omit, and be /¢heir 


God 
Vers. 1-8. "THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH. 


“We now come,” says Gaebelein, “‘to the revelation concerning the 
final and eternal state of the earth.’’ Says Weidner, ‘The final judgment 
has taken place, as well as the final consummation of all things. What 
follows in these last two chapters refers to the eternal kingdom of God in 
the new heavens and earth. The purified and renewed earth has become 
the abode of glorified humanity and the tabernacle of God is with man.” 
(Mor.) It would seem as though we must take these things literally 
because there is no other way to take them. 


708 


WHE RREN ERATION, OF JOHN 


Ver. 1. Now Isa. 65.17 and 66.22 have received their fulfillment. 

“a new heaven and a new earth’’,—The first creation had _ passed 
away by being changed, and a renovated and purified creation had taken 
its place. 


“passed away’’,— The annihilation of the old creation is by no means 
here necessarily implied, but only, as Alford says, ‘‘its passing away as to 
its outward and recognizable form and its renewal to a fresh and more 
glorious one.’’ 


Though not here stated, it is evident that the method of this renewal 
and purification is that described in II Pet. 3.13. 


“the sea ts no more’’,—Inasmuch as the sea is a constituent part of 
the old creation, we see no reason why the meaning of this passage should 
not be that the sea passed away just as did the earth and the heaven and 
that a new sea accompanied the new earth and the new heaven. Many 
(F. A. Be. Bar. Sad. Aug. Gab. Weid.) take the removal of the sea in 
an absolutely literal sense. Bede says it is dried up by the universal 
conflagration, as Alford and Weidner seem also to imply. Sadler says that 
three-fourths of the earth’s surface is to be no longer barren and unin- 
habitable. Andreas says navigation is no longer necessary. 

Others (Mil. Sim. Wor. Hen. et al.) take the word symbolically. It 
is the sea of peoples, the wicked restless world, and the turbulent state of 
nations shall cease. 


Ver. 2. “‘the holy city, new Jerusalem’’,—The new earth must have 
a new metropolis. (See Gal. 4.26; Heb. 12.22 and Heb. 11.10.) The 
name of the material city stands for the community formed by its inhabi- 
tants, says Alford. It is the glorified Church coming down out of heaven 
upon the renewed earth. 

“made ready as a bride’’,—Says Lange, ‘‘The new Jerusalem as the 
sum of perfected individuals is the City of God, the Holy City, and in 
its unity it is the Bride of Christ.’’ (See Chap. 19.7,8.) 


Ver. 3. “‘a great voice’’,—Not perhaps the voice of God Himself, 
but of one of the presence-angels as in Chap. 16.17 and Chap. 19.5. 

“the tabernacle of God’’,—1. e., the place where God dwells. An 
allusion to the tabernacle of the wilderness where God dwelt symbolically. 

“ts with men’’,—They, as it were, pitch their tents around His. Thus 
the ancient promises are fulfilled. (Exodus 29.45; Lev. 26.11; Ezek. 
/ E272) 

“they shall be his peoples’’,—In the Old Testament it is “‘people’’ ; 
here the many peoples of redeemed humanity are substituted for the single 
elect nation; the world is substituted for Israel. 


Ver. 4. “wipe away every tear’’,—i. e., gently l’ke a mother from 
the face of her child. It means, of course, that He will so constitute 
things that no more tears will be shed. 

“death shall be no more’’,—Sin being no more, its results also dis- 
appear. Morgan says, ‘“‘Some regard the promise that death shall cease, 
as applying to the Millennium; whereas the old prophets tell us that in that 
period the sinner shall be accursed and the child shall die. But in this city 
of God, on this renewed earth, the great ultimate place of the kingdom 


709 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


of Christ after the thousand years, there shall be no death, pain, nor curse 
because there is no sin. No temptation to sin shall ever be allowed to 
assault the dwellers in that home of the future, as verse 27 clearly fore- 
tells.’ (See Chap. 20.14.) 


“neither shall there be mourning’ ,—1. e., because of death. 
“nor crying’’,—1i. e., because of violence and oppression. 
“nor pain’’,—1. e., grievance or misery in general. 


“first things are passed away’’,—The trials just mentioned belonged 
to the “‘first things’, to the old earth, and the old earth has passed away. 
The reference is to the whole order of things which existed in the first 
creation, especially the evils of this present age. 


Ver. 5. “‘he that sitteth on the throne’’,—We would perhaps think 
here of God (A. L. Sw. Sim. Sad. Mil. Dus. Hen. Gab. Weid.) rather 
than Christ (St. Ew. Bar.). Simcox aptly remarks that the reference is 
rather to the eternal throne of Chap. 4.2 than to the judgment throne of 
Chap. 20.11, so far as the two can be distinguished. 


“make all things new’’,—1i. e., an order of things to correspond with 
the new creation. The former state of things when sin and death reigned 
will be changed and the change will extend of course to everything. 


“And he satth’’,—Many make this an interlogue on the part of the 
angel of Chap. 19.9. (A. B. Sw. Zu. Hen. Dus.) They call attention 
to the fact that the second “‘said’’ of verse 5 is a different verb from the 
first “‘said’’ of this same verse, and also from the third ‘“‘said’’ of verse 6. 
This and the nature of the command they think argue in favor of a 
change of speaker, and so they refer the second “‘said’’ to the angel. This 
is a possible construction, and yet we find ourselves asking, Why should 
an angelic speech interrupt the voice of God from the throne, or an angel 
corroborate the language of God Himself? 

“words faithful and true’’,—-The same sense as in Chap. 19.9, 1. e., © 
they may be relied upon with entire confidence. 

Swete says, ‘“These great sayings which concern the future of human- 
ity and the world must be seen to rest upon a secure basis. Men need to 
be assured that they are not only worthy of confidence, but answer to 
realities which in due time will enter into the experience of life, though 
for the present they cannot be fully realized or adequately expressed.”’ 


Ver. 6. “‘he said unto me’’,—i. e., the one sitting on the throne, 
which is the throne of ‘‘God and the Lamb’’. It makes little if any 
difference whether we think of God or of Christ here speaking. Some (L. 
Sim. Dus. Mil.) refer the speaker to God, while Barnes and Stuart think 
of Christ, the latter calling attention to the fact that the promises are 
such as Christ was wont to make. 

“They are come to pass’’,—The same expression as in Chap. 16.17. 
Lange refers this to the “‘words’’ just mentioned in the sense of their 
highest realization. (Sw. Mil.) 

Simcox thinks the reference is to the “‘all things’ just mentioned, 
and similarly Alford and others (Dus. Sad. Weid.), by whom it is taken 
as the perishing of the old creation and the bringing in of the new. In 
the ultimate all these views amount to one and the same thing. 


710 


Hint Kev eEeATIONSOFR JOHN 





“the Alpha and the Omega’’,—The reference is here "perhaps to the 
eternal Father as in Chap. 1.8, by whom the old was and the new shall 
be. (D. A. L. Sw. Sim.) 


“the beginning and the end’’,—The beginning from whom all things 
created sprung and the end to whose glory they all converge. 


“fountain’’,—Oriental thrones usually have a fountain of cool water 
springing up, and from this John doubtless draws his picture. 


“freely’’,—Not abundantly, but ‘“‘gratis’’, as the Greek implies. 


“T will give unto him that ts athirst’’,—The meaning is not that He 
would do this in the future, the words being spoken to those who had 
already drunk of the living water, but the words as well as those of 
the next two verses are written for the encouragement and warning of 
believers yet in this life. “‘Added,’’ says Fausset, ‘‘lest any should despair 
of attaining to this exceeding weight of glory.” 


Ver. 7. “‘He that overcometh’’,— (See Chap. 2.7,11,17). 


“these things’’,—1. e., the fulfillment of all these promises, the glories 
of the New Jerusalem, the new creation with its immunities from sorrow 
and death, the fullness and freeness of the water of life, the dwelling with 
God and the consciousness of the filial relation spoken of in this verse. 


Ver. 8. “the fearful’’,—1i. e., as contrasted with the overcomer. 
Many refer these to the cowards in Christ’s army, the apostates, those men- 
tioned in Heb. 10.38. (B. A. D. St. Ew. Hen. Dus. Mil.) 

“abominable’’,—Referring not alone to idol worship, but to the 
foul and abominable sins committed in the licentious rites practiced in 


idol-worship. (See Chap. 17.4 and Romans 1.) 


9 And there came one of the seven And the city lieth foursquare, and the 
angels who had the seven bowls, who length thereof is as great as the breadth: 
were laden with the seven last plagues; and he measured the city with the reed, 
and he spake with me, saying, Come twelve thousand furlongs: the length 


hither, I will show thee the bride, the and the breadth and the height thereof 
wife of the Lamb. 10 And he carried are equal. 17 And he measured the wall 


me away in the Spirit to a mountain thereof, a hundred and forty and four 
great and high, and showed me the holy cubics, according to the measure of a 
city Jerusalem, coming down out of man, that is, of an angel. 18 And the 
heaven from God, 11 having the glory building of the wall thereof was jasper: 
of God: her ‘light was like unto a stone and the city was pure gold, like unto 
most precious, as it were a jasper stone, pure glass. 19 The foundations of the 
clear as crystal: 12 having a wall great wall of the city were adorned with all 
and high; having twelve *gates, and at manner of precious stones. The first 
the *gates twelve angels; and names foundation was jasper; the second, *sap- 
written thereon, which are the names of ~ phire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, 
the twelve tribes of the children of emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the 
Israel: 13 on the east were three *gates; sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; 
and on the north three ’gates; and on the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; 
the south three *gates; and on_ the the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, 
west three “gates. 14 And the wall ‘jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21 And 
of the city had twelve foundations, and the twelve “gates were twelve pearls; 
on them twelve names of the twelve each one of the several *gates was of 
apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he that one pearl: and the street of the city was 
spake with me had for a measure a pure gold, °as it were transparent glass. 
golden reed to measure the city, and the 22 And I saw no “temple therein: for 
*gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 the Lord God the Almighty, and the 
1Gr. luminary 8Or, lapis lazuli 
°Gr. portals 4Or, sapphire 


5Or, transparent as glass 
6Or, sanctuary 


711 


iHEAREVEVATION*SOERSJONN 


> 


Lamb, are the “temple thereof. 23 And by day (for there shall be no night 
the city hath no need of the sun, neither there): 26 and they shall bring the 
of the moon, to shine upon it: for the 


glory of God idid witehted lat “and othe glory and the honor of the nations into 


lamp thereof is the Lamb. 24 And the it: 27 and there shall in no wise enter 
nations shall walk ‘amidst the light into it anything “unclean, or he that 
thereof: and the kings of the earth “maketh an abomination and a lie: but 
bring their glory into it. 25 And the only they that are written in the Lamb’s 
*gates thereof shall in no wise be shut book of life. 

7Or, and the lamb, the lamp thereof °Gr. common 

S0Or, dy Or, doeth 


Vers. 9-27. “THE BRIDE OF THE LAMB; THE NEW. JERUSALEM COMING 
DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN. 


Ver. 9. One of these angels had shown John the great harlot in 
Chap. 17. Note the contrast of the bride here with the harlot there, 
which is maintained throughout these opening verses. 


Ver. 10. “in the Spirit’’,—(See Chap. 17.3). 


“mountain great and high’’,—-Compare the parallel vision in Ezek. 
40.1,2. While the city is descending from heaven to earth, John is carried 
away to the mountain that he might have a nearer and fuller view of the 
vision already communicated to him in verse 2. It is not said and prob- 
ably is not meant to be inferred that the city itself descends upon a moun- 
tain. ‘“‘Any attempt to spiritualize the description of this city,’’ says 
Campbell Morgan, “‘is out of harmony with the whole proper prophetic 
treatment of the book of Revelation. We may no more discuss this than 
the resurrected body of Jesus, which was palpable to the touch of ‘Thomas, 
yet was spiritual enough to stand in the midst of His Disciples without the 
opening of doors.” 


Ver. 11. “the glory of God’’,—Not merely a divine and celestial 
brightness, but the glorious presence of God Himself, the Shekinah abiding 
in her. ‘The splendor which surrounds the presence of God, the “‘light- 
inaccessible and full of radiance’ cuts off all need of sun or moon. 

“her light’’,—The effect of the divine glory shining in her. 

“jasper stone’’,—Perhaps the diamond, as what we know of jasper 
is opaque and not clear as crystal; nor is it one of the most precious stones, 
unless reference is made to some particular crystalizing jasper selected for 
its beauty, splendor and diaphanous nature. 


Ver. 12. “a wall great and high’’,—As may be seen in verse 17. A - 
type of the absolute security of the ‘heavenly city. 


“twelve gates’’,—Corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, and 
denoting also, as Stuart says, free and easy access. (See Ezekiel 48.30.) 


“twelve angels’ ,—Stationed there to set forth the divine and eternal 
security of the city, and to preserve the image of a well-ordered city. It is 
not that they are stationed there as ‘‘guards’’ (St. Ew.) because the New 
Jerusalem is no longer menaced by enemies. The case does not call for 
speculation. Angels are described as ‘‘ministering spirits sent forth to 
minister to them who are heirs of salvation’, and as Craven says, “‘veri- 
table angels ministering at the gates of that glorious abode would add to 
its glory, and might perform other: offices which in our present condition 
it is impossible for us to conceive.’ 


712 


Hite Elim LON OF JOFIN 


“twelve tribes of the children of Israel’’,—Spiritual Israel of course 
is here symbolized by the names of the actual tribes of Israel, the whole 
people of God being in the mind of the Seer. (A. L. F. Sw. St. Dus. Bar. 
Mil. Weid.) 


Ver. 13. The gates stand open on all sides, says Swete, and so 
represent the catholicity and universality of the new Society. 


Ver. 14. “‘twelve foundations’’,—Probably each portion of the 
wall between the gates, each section thus representing one vast foundation 
stone. (A. D. Sw. Dus. Sad. Sim. Weid.) Lee thinks of twelve layers, 
one on top of the other, and each layer or course running clear around the 
city. [his magnifies the splendor a bit and is adopted by Stuart. 


“on them twelve names of the twelve apostles’’,—Because they by 
their doctrine founded the Church and in this respect it rests upon them 
as an immovable foundation. The Apostles were the first leading and 
most important instruments in building up the Church of Christ and erect- 
ing His spiritual temple, and they are here honored as the founders. 


Ver. 15. (See Ephesians, where, however, the ruling idea is a dif- 
ferent one.) The measuring shows that the discourse is of something 
real, and that the city is not to be resolved into mere thought and imagina- 
tion. 


Ver. 16. It is impossible to decide whether the entire circumference 
of the city is 12,000 furlongs (F. A. L. V. St. Sad.), or that each side 
was 12,000 furlongs in measurement (B. Sw. Zu. Hen. Dus. Sim. Mil. 
Weid.), but it would seem that the latter is the plainer meaning of the 
text. Literally interpreted this would mean that the city is about 1500 
miles in breadth and length and height. That the city is one vast cube 
is typical of its perfect nature, setting forth the love of God, as Williams 
says, “‘Infinite and perfect on every side’. 


Swete is assuredly correct when he says, “Such dimensions defy 
imagination and are permissible only in the language of symbolism.’ And 
so Stuart, ““‘Everything shows that a literal exegesis in such a case as the 
present, excepting merely so far as to get a proper idea of the grandeur 
and the congruity of the image, is entirely out of the question.”’ 


Alford says the height of the city may include the hill on which the 
city is built; but there is no evidence that the city is built on a hill. and 
besides the highest mountain in the world is little more than five miles 
high. 

Sadler agrees with De Wette in seeing a certain looseness in the use of 
the word “‘equal’’, and in thinking that while the length and breadth are 
equal to each other, the height is equal all around and is only 144 cubits. 
as stated in the next verse. But the account given is that of a vision and 
inasmuch as the description must be taken symbolically there is no need 
to attempt to reduce the enormous dimensions given here, as no reduction 
could bring them within the bounds of verisimilitude, and no effort in 
that direction is required. ‘The stupendous height, length and breadth 
being exactly alike imply its faultless symmetry, transcending in glory all 
our most glowing conceptions. The city being measured implies the 
entire consecration of every part, all things being brought up to the most 
exact standard of God’s holy requirements.”’ (F.) 


713 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


Ver. 17. “measured the wall’’,—The wall seems to be introduced 
rather for the purpose of completing the idea of a city. Some (Mil. Will. 
Weid.) think the measurement of the wall refers to its thickness, but we 
see no reason to depart from the natural inference of the text; the length | 
of the wall is, of course, identical with the length and breadth of the city, 
and this measurement would therefore naturally be of the height of the 
wall. (F. L. St. Bar. Dus. Sim.) The wall is but 216 feet high, less 
than the height of the walls of Babylon. Lange reminds us of the fact 
that the wall being so much less than the height of the city should occasion 
no difficulty inasmuch as all is to be taken symbolically. “The glory of the 
city is not thus obscured. The unnatural and grotesque difference between 
the height of the city and of the wall is that which had led many to think 
of the thickness of the wall being intended by its measurement. 

“the measure of a man, that is of an angel’’,—-Not that “‘the measure 
of a glorified man is like that of an angel’ (Eb.), nor that in this matter 
of measure men and angels use the same standard (A.), but that the meas- 
ure of the angel (who makes his measurement for men) is like the measure 
-of men (Dus. Hen.), which is really the same as the explanation of 
De Wette, Stuart and Sadler, namely, that the angel adopted a human 
standard of measurement. 


Ver. 18. “‘the building of the wall’’,—i. e., the superstructure built 
upon the foundation. 


“jasper”, (See verse 11). 


“pure gold, like unto clear glass’’,—-The most precious metal known, 
but in this case transfigured and glorified. 


Ver. 19. ‘“‘foundations’’,— (See verse 14): 


“adorned’’,—Not that they are merely beautified with precious stones, 
but as the following description shows, that the foundations themselves 
consisted of these stones. 


Vers. 20,21, together with verse 19, describe the city, as Dusterdieck 
says, ‘“with the greatest glory whereof human fantasy is capable’. 


Ver. 22. “‘no temple theretn’’,—The temple was the place where 
God dwelt, but here all is temple. As Alford says, ‘“The inhabitants need 
no place of worship, the object of all worship being present; they need no 
place of sacrifice, the great sacrifice Himself being there.’’ There is no 
conflict here with Chaps. 3.12 and 7.15, for there the language is figura- 
tive and means they shall dwell in the divine presence and behold His glory.. 
But in the New Jerusalem God and the Lamb are everywhere and so the 
whole place is to the worshippers what the temple of old was to him 
who visited it, and they shall see his face (Chap. 22.4), no veil between 
Him and them—no inner sanctuary to be approached but once a year. 

Ver. 23. God and the Lamb, being everywhere and always sur- 
rounded with a light that is full of glory, give a radiance far exceeding 
that of the sun and moon. There is no occasion to individualize the 
members of the sentence, making the glory of God to be the sun and that 
of the Lamb to be the moon. (See verse 11 and Isa. 60.9.) 

Ver. 24. (See also verse 26, and Chap. 22.2.) There are several 
views as to the meaning of these verses: 

I. Simcox, Stuart and others think that these expressions are only a 


714 


i; 


III. 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 





part of the imagery, the conception of John being modeled by the 
representations of the Old Testament prophets, and the New Jeru- 
salem is conceived, as in Isa. 45.14; 49.23; 60.10,11, as an imperial 
city receiving the tribute of the world, simply because that was the 
form of world-wide sovereignty recognized and understood in the 
prophets’ times. 


Fausset, Lange, Milligan, Weidner and many others think the refer- 
ence is to the nations and kings who lived on this earth before the 
renovation and before the judgment on Satan and his army, and 
who were believers at that time, and now are pictured as walking 
in the midst of the light of the Holy City and bringing their glory 
and honor into it. In verse 27 it is said distinctly that none shall 
enter the city save those whose names are written in the Lamb’s 
Book of Life, and therefore the names of these nations and kings 
must have been written in these books, 

Says Fausset, ‘The kings of the earth, who once had regard only for 
their own glory, having been converted, now in the new Jerusalem 
do bring their glory into it to lay it down at the feet of their Lord 
and their God.”’ 

Dusterdieck says, “In the tone and the language of the ancient 
prophets, John describes the people who are to find entrance into the 
future city, and here the Gentiles are expressly designated as those 


‘who, according to the ancient prophecies, are to find admission into 


the city. The Gentiles, just as the Jews, receive full citizenship in 
the new Jerusalem, and in like manner partake of the blessed glory 
of that holy placé.”’ 


Others, again, conceive of these nations and kings as those who will 
still be living on this renewed earth outside of the city and in whom 
there still remains original sin. ‘‘They are,’’ says Sadler, ‘‘outsiders, 
and yet friendly, evidently holy in a certain sense and fearing God’; 
while Craven asks, ‘“May it not be that the great truth is adumbrated 
in this revelation that even after the new creation the human race 
is to be continued under the government of the glorified Church, and 
ever propagating a holy seed such as would have been begotten had 
Adam never sinned?”’ 

Alford says, ‘““Among the mysteries of this new heaven and new 
earth this is set forth to us; that besides the glorified Church there 
shall still be dwelling on the redeemed earth, nations organized under 
kings and saved by means of influences of the heavenly city. 

But we ask: 


(a) If the whole earth is purified and renewed by fire and there is 
a new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness’, how are we to 
conceive of people unclean in any respect dwelling in it, who 
shall in no wise enter into the city? 

(b) How did these nations survive the judgment and the passing 
away of the old earth and the old heaven, or, if they did not 
exist prior to that time, where did they come from? ‘They 
could not be the offspring of those in the city, for these neither 
marry nor are given in marriage. 


715 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 


IV. Gaebelein and Elliott refer the whole section (Chap. 21.9-7 to Chap. 
22.5) to the period of the Millennium. Gaebelein says, ‘“We have 
followed from Chap. 19.1 events which are chronological, but with 
the ninth verse of Chap. 21 we are brought back once more to the 
Millennial state. “The coming down mentioned in verse 10 precedes 
the one mentioned in verses 2-3 by a thousand years, the chronologi- 
cal order at verse 9 being interrupted. The coming down mentioned 
in verses 2-3 is undoubtedly to the new earth, but here in verse 10 
the holy city comes down to be over, still above, the earth. The 
holy city of verse 10 will be seen by the inhabitants suspended in the 
heavens, and human eyes will look up to behold the flashes of glory 
never ceasing. It is from this city of verse 10 that Christ and His 
saints shall reign during the Millennium, and the twelve Apostles 
judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19.28). No doubt there 
will be communication between this Holy City, the heavenly New 
Jerusalem, and the earthly Jerusalem.” 


This last view, if it can be substantiated, does furnish the easier 
explanation of the nations that “shall walk by its light’, and of the kings 
of the earth who shall “bring their glory and honor unto tt’’ (Gaebelein 
reads ‘‘unto’’ in place of “‘into’’ of the Revised Version), for these are 
the saved nations of the Millennial times, who not only walk in its eternal 
and undiminished light, but bring their glory and honor unto it, i. e., bow 
in homage in its hallowed presence. 


Elliott defends, in general, this view at great length. He says: 

1. In Chap. 19 the twenty-four elders gave in glad shout the an- 
nouncement of two things, (a) the beginning of Christ’s reign, 
and (b) the presentation of the bride. The first of these is 
immediately seen in Chap. 20.4, but where is the second unless 
it be this new Jerusalem of Chap. 21 coming down out of heaven 
as a bride adorned for her husband? Surely there cannot be one 
thousand years between the bride’s preparing and her presenta- 
tion. 

But may not the marriage of the Lamb and the bride have taken 
place in Chap. 19 at the Rapture, and this coming down of the 
bride in Chap. 21 be a new manifestation of the bride? 

2. There are kings on the earth who bring glory into the holy city 
and men in need of healing, and therefore the reference must be 
to Millennial times. 
But may not the answer to this be found in general view number 
II, and also in the fact that the word “‘healing’’ may be trans- 
lated “‘health’’. (See explanation of this word under Chap. 22.2.) 

3. It was a Vial angel who showed the vision to John and therefore 
it must have followed right after the Vial judgments and so during 
the Millennium, while the fact that John fell at the feet of the 
angel in each instance indicates that the reference must have been 
to the same thing. 

But these conclusions by no means necessarily follow. 

4. Dan. 7.18 dates the saints’ everlasting reign from the fall of the 
Antichrist, and the everlasting reign of Rev. 22.5 ought to be 
co-temporaneous with it and not begin one thousand years later. 


716 


The REVEDATION SOR JOHN 


But there need be no discrepancy here. ‘The reign of the saints 
beginning with the beginning of the Millennium is everlasting, 
but at the close of the Millennium when earth has been trans- 
figured and eternity has begun there certainly can be nothing 
contradictory in saying that the saints shall continue to reign or 
reign forever and ever. 


. Paul says that creation’s deliverance from bondage is at the mani- 
festation (the Rapture) of the sons of God, and this is without 
doubt at the beginning of the Millennium, and therefore the new 
earth and new heaven of Chap. 21.1 cannot be at the end of the 
Millennium. 

This is one of Elliott’s strongest arguments, and the only reply 
is that given by a number of scholars, namely, that there was a 
partial glorification of heaven and earth at the beginning of the 
Millennium and a fuller and complete one at the close. 

. Isaiah’s new heaven and new earth commence at the restoration 
of the Jews at the opening of the Millennium, and John’s being 
the same, must begin at the same time. 

But are these two necessarily the same? Gaebelein puts Isaiah's 
on earth and John’s above the earth, both beginning at the same 
time, but Isaiah’s ending in one thousand years and John’s con- 
tinuing “‘forever and ever’’. 

Keil argues against the restoration of the Jews, and makes the 
- reference both of Isaiah and John pertain to the same thing 
beginning after the Millennium and continuing through eternity. 
Even if Jewish restoration be admitted may not Isaiah’s predic- 
tion have been realized during the Millennium and John’s begun 
upon afterward, upon an earth wholly transformed and fitted for 
the abiding place of the eternal city, which he calls the New 
Jerusalem ? 

Elliott accordingly says the throne upon which Christ sits during 
the Millennial reign is the Great White Throne and this judgment 
lasts a thousand years, the books being opened before Him, as 
stated both in Daniel and Revelation. The Judgment continues 
right on through the Millennium, there being two great and 
special acts connected with it, one at the beginning and the other 
at the close, the Seventh Trumpet at the beginning of the Millen- 
nium being the time when the dead were judged. 


It must now be noted that there is a big difference between the view 
of Gaebelein and that of Elliott. Elliott refers the Holy City, the New 
Jerusalem of Chap. 21, both of verses 1,2 and verse 10, to the earthly 
Millennium while Gaebelein refers the Holy City of verse 10 to the New 
Jerusalem above the earth, and that of verses 1,2 to the same New Jeru- 
salem coming on down at the close of the Millennium. 


As against the views of both these authorities it may be said that 
Chap. 20.11 plainly affirms that the old earth and heaven that was fled 
away from the face of Him that sat on the Great White Throne, and then 
in the next chapter, following chronologically, John “‘saw a new heaven 
and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away’’, 
and to this new earth John saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, descend. 
This ought to settle the New Jerusalem here mentioned as post-millennial. 


UAT 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 





Furthermore, so far as Elliott’s view is concerned, the fourth verse 
of the twenty-first chapter distinctly says of this New Jerusalem that 
“death shall be no more’’, whereas it is an undisputed fact that death does 
continue throughout the period of the Millennium. 


To the views of both these authorities there can be only one answer, 
and it is given well by Weidner, ‘‘“This Holy City which John saw coming 
down from God out of heaven (Chap. 21.10) is the same city which 1s 
referred to in Chap. 21.1,2, and belongs to the new heaven and new 
earth there mentioned. ‘The final consummation has taken place, and on 
this renewed earth there shall be no other inhabitants save the glorified 
saints, which compose the Holy City Jerusalem, even the bride, the wife 
of the Lamb (verse 9). Any other interpretation is contrary to the whole 
context, and belongs to the crudities of exegesis.’’ 


Our own conviction is that the second (Il) general view given is the 
much to be preferred one. 


Alford remarks, “‘It follows then that these nations and these kings 
are written in the Book of Life; and so perhaps some light may be thrown 
on one of the darkest mysteries of redemption. “There may be—lI say it 
with diffidence—those who have been saved by Christ without ever form- 
ing a part of His visible organized Church.”’ But this, says Fausset, is ‘‘a 
rash speculation above what is written, and entirely uncalled for by the 
textin: 


Ver. 25. “not shut by day’’,—1. e., never, seeing it is always day, 
for there shall be no night there. 


Ver. 27. Blunt says, ‘‘This verse may be said to be retrospective, 
referring to the times preceding the last judgment, since all evil was then 
destroyed.’’ It does not mean that such persons, at the time to which the 
vision refers, were living outside the Holy City and could not enter in 
because they were unclean. 

“The smallest part of the meaning of this verse,’ says Morgan, “‘is 
that which lies on its surface. It does teach that no unclean person and 
no liar shall be able to pass into the ctiy; but it teaches vastly more. How 
came the mystery of sin into Eden? He who worketh abomination made 
a lie and tainted the brightness of the garden; and the stream of evil out- 
worked into all human history. But into this fair city, Christ’s all- 
glorious bride, the earthly dwelling place of a heavenly people, shall no 
unclean thing come. No temptation to sin shall ever be allowed to 
assault the dwellers in this home of the future. This truth reveals a 
Divine purpose more glorious than even the blessedness of the Millen- 
nium. 


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 


1 And he showed me a river of water that was *the tree of life, bearing twelve 
of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out “manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every 
of the throne of God and of *the Lamb, month: and the leaves of the tree were 
2 in the midst of the street thereof. for the healing of the nations. 3 And 
And on this side of the river and on there shall be *no curse any more: and 

1Or, the Lamb. In the midst of the street *Or, a tree 
thereof, and on either side of the river, was 3Or, crops of fruit ; 
the tree of life &c. 4Or, no more anything accursed 


718 


THE REVELATION OF JOHN 





the throne of God and of the Lamb more; and they need no light of lamp, 
shall be therein: and his ‘servants shall neither light of sun; for the Lord God 
serve him; 4 and they shall see his face; shall give them light; and they shall 
and his name shall be on their fore- reign “for ever and ever. 

heads. 5 And there shall be night no 

5Gr, bondservants °Gr. unto the ages of the ages 
Vers. 1-5. THE RIVER AND THE TREE OF LIFE-IN THE NEW JERU- 
SALEM. 


These verses are a continuation and a completion of the description 
of the glory prepared for believers in the New Jerusalem. 


Ver. 1. “river of water of life’’,—The description depends, as no 
doubt does Ezek. 27.1-12, upon the prototype Gen. 2.10. Stuart thinks 
John had in his mind only the passage in Ezekiel, while Barnes thinks he 
drew his picture from Genesis. But why not believe that both these rivers 
were in the mind of John as he gave us this description. 


Of course, the expression is symbolical. The waters are those of 
peace and spiritual life; those drinking of these waters are immortal and 
will never die. 


This symbol has often, and with no little propriety, been interpreted 
of the Holy Ghost, of whom water is one of the most frequent Scriptural 
emblems. (Li. Ca. Ger. Blunt.) These authorities call attention to the 
fact that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, no less than from the 
Father, just as the waters here proceed from the throne of the Father and 
the Son, God and the Lamb, this throne being one and the same. (See 
Ghan73.21.) 


“proceeding out of the throne’’,—The idea is strictly in accordance 
with oriental imagery. Here is symbolized the uninterrupted continuance 
of life derived by the saints ever fresh from God who is the fountain- 
source of all grace. 


“the throne.of God and the Lamb’’,—Dusterdieck says it is the 
Lamb’s no less than God’s because only through the mediation of the 
Lamb is the participation of believers in the eternal life of God made 
possible. 


Ver. 2. The punctuation of the Authorized Version is much to be 
preferred to that of the Revised Version. If the words “tn the midst’’ 
belonged to verse 1 they would more naturally have been placed before the 
word “‘shewed’’ than after the word “‘Lamb’’. Again, the words ‘‘on 
either side of’’ are adverbial rather than prepositional. “The better reading 
is that of the margin of the Revised Version, ‘“‘In the midst of the street 
thereof, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life...” 


Stuart and Barnes think of the river running through the city, with 
a street running parallel on each side of the river and then the trees planted 
on either side of the river between the river and the street. It is better, 
however, to think with others (A. Dus. Sei. Weid.) of the river flowing 
through the broad street, a row of trees being on either bank, the tree 
(without the article, and therefore best taken collectively) being therefore 
manifold but of course all of one and the same kind. It was certainly 
not as Durham thinks, namely, that the tree was in the midst of. the 
river, extending its branches to both banks. 


719 


‘THB; REVELATIONS OF JOHN 


“twelve manner of frutts’’,—It is not clear whether twelve kinds of 
fruit are intended, signifying, as Ebrard says, ‘‘the ever new enjoyments 
of the blessed’ (A-V. R-V. A. F. Eb. Ew. Sad.), or whether twelve 
crops of fruit are intended (L. St. Mil. Sim. Bar. Dus. Weid.). We prefer 
the latter of the two interpretations, in fact it is almost demanded by the 
third clause of the verse, ‘yielding her fruit every month’. The general 
idea of the passage is, as Milligan says, rather that of continuous nourish- 
ment than of variety of blessings. 


Two questions present themselves: What is the fruit for? and, What 
are the leaves for? ‘The last question is answered by the text, but to the 
first question no explanation is offered. ‘The fruits, many aver, are for 
the sustenance of the glorified bodies of the saints. (St. Sw. Dus. Sad. Mil. 
Weid.) ‘In eternity, the continually growing fruits of the tree of life 
serve the blessed for food.’’ (Dus.) 


“According to all analogy of God’s dealings, the various forms of 
life have to be sustained by nourishment, and here God provides the water 
of life as well as the tree of life to sustain the eternal life of His people.’’ 


(Sad. ) 


“leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations’’,—(See Chap. 
21.24,26). 


1. Alford thinks here of “‘nations outside’ and ‘dwelling on the 
renewed earth, organized under kings and saved by the influences 
of’ the heavenly city’. (Thus also D: Bl) Ew.-Eb;*ZuSty) 


2. Fausset takes severe exception to Alford’s view and says, ‘‘The 
‘nations’ mentioned are those which have long before, viz., in 
the Millennium, become the Lord’s and His Christ's. The leaves 
shall be the health-giving preventive securing the redeemed against, 
not healing them of, sickness.”’ 


Similar to this is the view of Milligan, who says, ‘‘It is impossible to 
think that the nations here spoken of have yet to be converted. They 
have already entered the New Jerusalem, and that they are healed. can 
signify no more than this, that they are kept in constant soundness of 
health by what is there administered to them.” 


This view of Fausset, which is no doubt correct, is adopted by the 
majority (Dus. Sim. Bar. Mil. Weid.). The reference, says Weidner, is to 
“the converted Gentiles who are among the glorified saints’. 


Says Morgan, “‘On the authority of a Greek scholar of repute we 
may substitute the word health for healing. Healing pre-supposes disease, 
while health does not. In the perfect kingdom, where sin is cast out, the 
nations can have no need of healing. This and the previous descriptions, 
as well as verses 3, 4 and 5, which follow, are passing glimpses of the 
glory of a kingdom on earth, beyond the Millennium, the Great White 
Throne, and the final casting out of evil. This is a picture of the fullness 
of the times when all things shall be subdued to the sway of Jesus.”’ 


Bengel holds that the reference is to the conversion of the heathen 
to whom in this life the Gospel had not been preached (!) while Heng- 
stenberg thinks it refers to the conversion of the heathen of the present 
age (!). Gaebelein makes this to be still a part of the Mio scene, 
which closes with verse 5 of this chapter. 


720 


THE JREVEVATIONS OF. JOHN 





Dusterd.eck well remarks, ‘“The expression, ‘for the healing of the 
nations,’ is as little to be pressed, in the sense that a still present sickness 
of the heathen were pre-supposed, as it is to be inferred that the tears 
which God will wipe away from the blessed (see Chap. 21.4) are the 
signs of pains still endured in the eternal city.”’ 


, 


Ver. 3. “no curse any more’,—The word “‘curs2’’ is perhaps meant 
as a translation of that rendered ‘“‘utter destruction” in Zech. 14.11, of 
which this verse is doubtless a reminiscence. It means literally ‘‘no more 
an accursed thing’’; for every evil has been judged and received its merited 
punishment, and there is therefore nothing upon which the curs? o: 
Almighty God can or needs to rest. (See Chap. 21.4.) 


“his servants shall serve him’’,—In ministration and holy service they 
shall perform their priestly functions forever in His presence. (See Chap. 


Beuoeand Chap. 2 b3°) 


Ver. 4. “‘they shall see his face’’,— Whey shall be admitted to His 
‘immediate presence, an honor seldom granted to private individuals by 
earthly sovereigns. This is the reward of the pure in heart. (Matt. 5.8.) 


“his name on their foreheads’ ,—Herein is conveyed the idea of entire 
consecration to the service of God; they belong absolutely to Him. (See 
Spapsmiae soles; 2.17.) 


Ver. 5.. “‘And there shall be night no more’’,—A repetition of 
Chap. 21.25 stated there to indicate that the gates of the city shall be 
continually open so that the redeemed can enter in continually with their 
gifts in order to magnify their King; stated here to show that having 
entered they shall suffer no interruption in their joyful service, and shall 
need no nightly rest to recruit their weary frame for the service of the 
following day, says Milligan. 


“they shall reign forever and ever’’,—In a higher sense than during 
the Millennium. (A. D. St. Wei.) (See Chap. 3.21.) 


; Sadler asks, ‘‘Over whom shall they reign?’’ and then answers, ‘‘Per- 
_ haps over countless worlds which God created, and will create.” 


With this verse the Apocalypse proper closes and the Epilogue begins. 


6 And he said unto me, These words 10 And he saith unto me, Seal not 
God of the spirits of the prophets, sent ; . . 

: fee book; for the time is at hand. 11 He 
his angel to show unto his ‘servants the 3 : : d 
things which must shortly come to pass. that is unrighteous, let him do unright- 
7 And behold, I come quickly. Blessed eousness “still: and he that is filthy, let 
is he that keepeth the words of the him be made filthy “still: and he that is 
prophecy of this book. righteous, let him do righteousness °still: 

8 And I John am he that heard and and he that is holy, let him be made 
saw these things. And when I heard holy ‘still. 12 Behold, I come quickly; 


and saw, I fell down to *worship before and my ‘reward is with me, to render 
the feet of the angel that showed me to each man according as his work is. 
these things. 9 And he saith unto me, 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the 
See thou do it not: I am a fellow- first and the last, the beginning and the 
servant with thee and with thy breth- end. 14 Blessed are they that wash 
ren the prophets, and with them that their robes, that they may have ‘the 
keep the words of this book: *worship right to come to the tree of life, and 
God. may enter in by the “gates into the city. 
1Gr. bondservants 8O0r, yet more 
“See marginal note on Chap. 13.12 4Or, wages 
‘Or, the authority over. Comp. Chap. 6.8 
®Gr. portals 


72 


THE REVELATION: OF JOHN 


15 Without are the dogs, and the sor- 
cerers, and the fornicators, and the mur- 
derers, and the idolaters, and every one 
that loveth and ‘maketh a lie. 

16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to 
testify unto you these things “for the 
churches. I am the root and the off- 
spring of David, the bright, the morn- 
ing star. 


17 °And the Spirit and the bride say, 


18 I testify unto every man _ that 
heareth the words of the prophecy of 
this book, If any man shall add “unto 
them, God shall add “unto him the 
plagues which are written in this book: 
19 and if any man shall take away from 
the words of the book of this prophecy, 
God shall take away his part from the 
tree of life, and out of the holy city, 
“which are written in this book. 

20 He who testifieth these things 


Come. And he that heareth, let him 
say, Come. And he that is athirst, let 
him come: he that will, let him take 
the water of life freely. 


TOr, doeth. Comp. Chap. 21.27 
8Gr. over 


saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: 
come, Lord Jesus. © 

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus “be 
“with the saints. Amen. 


Gr. upon 
UOr, even from the things which are writtex 
; 


Or, Both 12Some ancient authorities add Christ 
13Two ancient authorities read with all 
Vers. 6-21. FINAL TESTIMONY, INVITATION, WARNING, PROMISE 
AND BENEDICTION. 
Ver. 6. “‘And he said unto me’’,—Who is speaking here? The 


angel of Chap. 1.1 (L. Eb. St. Mil. Weid.), or the angel of Chap. 21.9 
(D. Bl. Vol. Bar. Dus. and the majority), or “‘he that sitteth on the 
throne’ as in Chap. 21.5, or Christ, as in verse 16. “The second view, the 
angel of Chap. 21.9, is perhaps the right one. 


“these words’’,—i. e., the whole book. (L. Mil. Dus. Bar. Weid.) 


“fatthful and true’’,—The absolute certainty that the testimony John 
had received is trustworthy and true, and could be fully relied upon. 


“the spirits of the prophets’’,—Are we to understand the spirits of 
the prophets themselves (A. F. St. Dus.), or the Spirit of God by which 
the prophets were inspired (D. Mil.) ? The latter view is doubtless the 
correct one. By “‘spirits’’ is meant, of course, the spirit of each prophet, 
which God by His Holy Spirit inspires and directs. 


“Ais servants’,—1. e., believers in general, by the instrumentality of 
John through the visions as interpreted by the angels. 


“shortly come to pass’’,— (See Chap. 1.1). 


Ver. 7. “I come quickly’’,—Words spoken no doubt in corrobora- 
tion of the “shortly come to pass’’ of the previous verse, and spoken by 
the angel in the name of the coming Christ. (A. Sw. St. Dus. Bar. Weid.) 
Milligan thinks that Christ Himself speaks. 


“Reepeth the word of the prophecy of this book’’,—The word “‘keep- 
eth’? may mean ‘‘to remember’’, ‘‘to keep in the mind” (St.), or it may 
mean ‘‘to obey’ (Mil.). The latter idea is, no doubt, the main one, 
although in it the former must be included. Stuart supports this view 
from the fact that the record is mainly prediction and precepts to be obeyed, 
and says the blessings to be derived from this storing of the mind with 
the saying of this book are those which arise from the promises and en- 
couragement which are contained in the book. “The book referred to is 
not the whole Bible (Sad.), but the now all but completed roll lying on 
the Seer’s knee. 


Ver. 8. “‘fell down to worship’’,—Ebrard is entirely wrong in 
thinking that John is here merely recapitulating what had taken place in 
Chap. 19.10. Auberlen says that rapturous emotion, gratitude and 


Fae 


Daten PLALION*OP JOHN 


adoration at the prospect of the future glory of the Church transported 
John out of himself so that he all but fell into an unjustifiable act. 


Fausset says it is not likely that John when having been once re- 
proved for his intention of worshipping an angel would fall a second time 
into the same error; but the explanation given of this passage by Fausset 
is rather weak and cannot be accepted. He says in the former instance 
John fell down at the feet of the angel to worship him, but that here he 
fell down at the angel’s feet to worship, that is to worship God. It is 
better with others (St. Bar. Dus.) to think that the words, “I come quick- 
ly’, which he had just heard might easily have given rise in John’s mind 
to the suspicion that the one speaking was Christ Himself, although per- 
haps Milligan is right, when he says, ‘‘We need not wonder that John 
should do it again. Such had been the glory of the revelation that a 
mistake of this kind might easily be made more than once.’ If the angel 
speaking here was the same as the one in Chap. 21.9, it looks like John 
would have known he was not the Christ. 


Ver. 9. (See notes on Chap. 19.10 where almost the identical words 
are found.) 


Ver. 10. ‘The book is not to be sealed up because it is to be put to 
immediate use, the time being at hand. Unlike the book of Daniel (Dan. 
10.4), which was to be sealed because the time was for many days, it 
is to be diffused, read and explained. 

“the time ts at hand’’,—There is not a moment to be lost, the 
Lord is at hand. Let all who believe prepare themselves for His coming.. 


Ver. 11. (See Ezek. 3.27). ‘The punishment of sin is sin and 
the reward of holiness is holiness,’’ says Fausset. 

Alford has well commented on this verse, ‘The saying has solemn 
irony of it (compare Matt. 26.45), the idea being that the time is so short 
that there is hardly any room for any change, but down in its depths the 
lesson conveyed is, ‘Change while yet there is time’.”’ 


Ver. 12. Jesus is now plainly speaking in His own name. It is 
entirely out of keeping with the claims that are made to regard the speaker 
as the angel, as a few have done. If the angel should be regarded as the 
speaker, he must of course be considered as speaking, not in his own, but 
in the name of Jesus. But all interpreters of note, regard the speaker as 
Jesus Himself. 

“according as his work 1s’’,—It is faith alone that saves us, but we 
are rewarded according to our works. 


Ver. 13. (See notes on Chaps. 1.8,17 and 21.6). ‘These are plainly 
the words of Christ. (L. F. Sw. St. Sad. Bar. Sim. Weid.) Dusterdieck 
thinks God is the speaker, or rather seems to be in verse 13, because those 
expressions were used of God elsewhere; he also thinks that Christ is the 
speaker of verse 12, or rather seems to be. Because this seems to be the 
case, he says it will not do to represent the angel as speaking first in the 
name of Christ and then in the name of God, and to think of Christ and 
God themselves as actually speaking introduces too many changes in the 
speakers; therefore Dusterdieck thinks that John himself speaks these words 
of verses 12 and 13, ‘‘after the manner of the ancient prophets, and thus 


123 


DHE REVELATION OR IOHN 


in two compendious Divine declarations fixes the fundamental thoughts 
of this entire prophecy’’. Dvusterdieck says it is true that these words were _ 
in other places spoken by God Himself, but this is no reason why Christ 
cannot use the same declaration of Himself. (See Rom. 11.36 and Col. 
1.16.) 


Ver. 14. “‘wash their robes’’,—This reading must be preferred to 
that of the Authorized Version, “‘keep his (God’s) commandments’. All 
whose sins are forgiven and whose names are therefore written in the Book 
of Life, have a right to enter into the city and eat of the tree of life. 


Ver. 15. Dusterdieck, Benson and some others take the words in the 
sense of acommand. “‘Out with the dogs,” etc. But this not only destroys 
the clearness of the antithesis which the region of the lost presents to Para- 
dise, but furthermore, the dogs, etc., have already been cast out. 


“dogs’ ,—The dog was unclean and therefore odious to the Jews, 
and is used in this sense as representing impure, filthy persons. 


Ver. 16. Jesus attests the good faith of His angel messenger, refer- 
ring now perhaps to the angel of Chap. 1.1. (St. Bar. Weid.) 


“unto ycu’’,—Some (Hen. and Dus.) refer this to the prophets, but 
it is more likely that it is to be taken insthe sense of the “servants of God” 
as in verse 6, ministers and people in the seven Churches, representative 
churches, and through you, to testify to all Christians of all places. (F. L.) 


“for the churches’ ,—Not the seven churches only, but the Christian 
churches throughout the world. The Authorized Version reads ‘‘in the 
churches’. But the preposition, and the more important and proper mean- 
ing is ‘for the churches’, on ‘‘in reference to the churches’, on “‘on account 


of the churches’. (St. Zu. Bar. Dus. Hen. Weid.) 


“A book for the congregation; not a book merely for the few and for 
a select circle, is this book of prophecy,’ says Ludhardt. 


“the root’’,—Not the root in the sense that David sprang from him, 
as a tree does from a root, but in the sense that he was the ‘“‘root-shoot’’ of 
David, or that He Himself sprang from David, as a sprout starts up from 
a decayed and fallen tree. [he meaning is that He was the true Messianic 
progeny of David foretold in Scriptures, i. e., the product of the root. 

“the offspring’’,—Plainly stating what the other word set forth in a 
figure of speech. He is the root and the offspring, the beginning and the 
end of the whole economy associated with the Davidic family. 


“the bright, the morning star’’,—(See Chap. 2.28, where the mean- 
ing is quite akin to this, this being an interpretation of that.) He brings 
in the everlasting day. He is the star that never sets. 


Ver. 17. By some this verse is taken as a reply to Christ’s previous 
words, spoken by the Seer in the name of the Holy Spirit and the bride, 
the Church. (A. D. Eb. Hen. Dus.) This is perhaps the case, as it would * 
be unusual to find Jesus thus addressing Himself, ‘“Come, Lord Jesus’’, for 
this, the word “‘come’”’ in this instance really means. 

Lange, on the other hand, refers the whole verse to John as the 
speaker, remarking that John utters his own “‘Come, Lord Jesus’’ in verse 
20, while the latter part of our verse seems to demand the Lord Christ as 
the speaker, 


124, 


bene EATON: OF JOHN 


Barnes makes the speaker throughout the entire verse to be Christ 
and avoids the difficulty mentioned above by making the word “‘come”’ 
mean an invitation to the Gospel throughout the entire verse. 


Milligan thinks of the Church speaking in the first clause, of John 
speaking in the second clause, and of Christ speaking in the last two 
clauses. But such an interchange of speakers in a single verse can hardly 
be appreciated. 


“the Spirit’’.—TVhe Holy Spirit who inspires the prophets and 
dwells in the Church, the bride herself. 


“he that heareth’’,—This may be taken as hearing the cry of the 
Spirit and the bride (A. Sad.), or as hearing the contents of this book 
wherever it is read (St. Sw.), which latter is perhaps the better idea. 


Milligan says that ‘‘these words must be taken in the same sense as 
the similar words in Chap. 21.6. The thirst is of one who has already 
been refreshed for deeper, fuller draughts. The persons referred to are 
believers within the city, within the reach of the water of life.’’ Lange, 
however, we think, is nearer the truth when he says, ‘‘It is the last full 
evangelic tone in the New Testament.”’ It is the invitation given for the 
last time to the weary and heavy laden to come and drink of the water of 
salvation. 


Ver. 18. “every one that heareth’’,—1. e., those reading the book or 
present where it is read. It was thus designed to be read aloud in the 
churches. 


It is not said who the speaker is here but the majority of the com- 
mentators (B. St. Mil. Wor. Dus. Bar. Weid.) refer him to John himself. 


Swete says, ‘“‘It is not uncommon for writers to protect their works by 
adding a solemn abjuration to the scribes to correct the copies carefully, 
and in no case to mutilate or interpolate the original. If the solemn 
warning of the present verse was intended in this sense, it has signally 
failed, for in no other book of the New Testament is the text so uncertain 
as in Revelation. It is, however, no error of judgment that is condemned, 
nor merely intellectual fault, but the deliberate falsification or misinter- 
pretation.” 


Says Wordsworth, ‘‘Here is a prophetic protest against the spurious 
Revelations forged by false teachers in the name of the Apostles.’ Stuart 
says, ‘The practice of tampering with books of such a nature must have 
been somewhat frequent in the region where the Apocalypse was pub- 
lished; otherwise there would be something not perfectly natural in the 
severity of the interdict before us.”’ 


Simcox says, ‘The curse denounced is on those who _ interpolate 
false doctrines in the prophecy, or who neglect essential ones; not on 
transcribers who might unadvisedly interpolate or omit something from 
the text. The curse, if understood in the latter sense, has been remark- 
ably ineffective, for the common text of this book is more corrupt, and 
the true text oftener doubtful, than in any other part of the New Testa- 
ment.”’ 


Some (V. Bl.) say the threat is directed against careless transcribers, 
while others (D. Ew.) say it is against oral inaccuracies of repetition, and 


(3) 


THE REVELATION. OF JOHN 


Dusterdieck and Alford agree with Swete in referring it to deliberate falsi- 
fication. Hengstenberg says it is against anything that affects the actual 
kernel of the book. 


Fausset has remarked, ‘‘As in the beginning of this book (Chap. 1.3) 
a blessing was promised to the devout, obedient student of it, so now at its 
close a curse is denounced against those who add to or take from it.’’ 

Sadler thinks that by “‘book”’ the whole New Testament was meant. 
But when John wrote there was as yet no united whole New Testament, 
and he could not therefore have had this in mind, and the reference is to 
be immediately referred to this book of Revelation. 


Ver. 19. Says Alford, ““This is at least an awful warning both 
to those who add to it by irrelevant and trifling interpretations.” 


Ver. 20. Christ is the speaker in the first part of the verse and John 
in the last. “The Lord Jesus answers, as it were, the cry of the Spirit and 
the bride and him that heareth. “hey had bidden Him come (verse 17), 
and here He replies that He is coming quickly. Christ Himself here bears 
testimony, that is, vouches for the truth of what John had disclosed. 


Ver. 21. The following benediction is the usual form of benedic- 
tion in the epistles of the New Testament, and it no doubt has special ref- 
erence to the blessings disclosed and promised in the book before us. With 
the benediction of grace the Apocalypse opens and with the same benedic- 
tion it closes. 


For those who desire the satisfaction of knowing what authorities uphold the various 
interpretations, a list of those consulted and quoted in the preceding pages is here appended. 
The economy of space makes necessary the use of abbreviations. 




















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